Haley Scholars Fall 2013 Reading Groups
"Our faith that we are right is faith that someone else is right" (141). --Kathryn Schulz
We're moving forward with Kathryn Schulz's Being Wrong, a book that is has been presenting us with all kinds of useful ideas for consideration. In chapter 7, Schulz discusses "our society" and our dependence on others in our understanding of being right and wrong. She covers a variety of other issues as well.
A we continue building a sense of the key issues of the book, what did you view as a central idea or concept of chapter 7? Why or how so?
9 comments:
In chapter 7, a key concept was the fact that we are blind to error. We don't know if our beliefs are ethical in the eyes of others. It is true that are beliefs are beliefs of others so in reality, there are almost no original beliefs. This is puzzling and something to really think about because we must question our beliefs and those if others.
I thought the main concept of chapter 7 was focused on "how" we believe. Schulz stated that what we believe is influenced by our environment and our environment is influenced by what we believe; or in other words, we have a "status quo" mentality. This means that we form our thoughts and opinions based on the thoughts and opinions we have accepted as true from the people around us. In addition to that concept, she also went on to say that based on our surroundings and whether or not we feel accepted, we have a tendency to shelter or withhold our own beliefs to avoid being the outcast.
A key concept of chapter 7 was that we rely on others for the majority of information we get. I never realized this before reading this chapter, but we do. Even the simple fact of who are parents are is information that we have to rely on others for. We may have been there at our birth, but we cannot possibly remember.
The main concept in chapter 7 in my opinion was error with emphasis on how our believes influence error. On page 137, Schulz discussed how the English philosopher Roger Bacon described error as an obstacle of the truth containing three parts; the tendency for us to cover our ignorance with the pretense of knowledge, there persuasive power of authority, and being blind to adherence to custom. This shows how defensive humans are by nature when their belief is questioned to be an error.
I think that one of the main concepts on Chapter 7 was how we understand what is right or wrongg. Everything that we think is right or wrong is based of off what someone else told us. Everyone relies on someone else to get their nformation from
I believe the main idea of chapter 7 is that we rely on much more than just our own thoughts and perceptions to understand the world and to shape our beliefs. It made me think of how much influence other people, that came before me, have on my beliefs. I also never really stopped to think about how most of the time people just go along with what is the most familiar to them, even if they realize there is a possibility it could be wrong.
The central idea of chapter 7 is the idea of error and how our beliefs influence the cause of error. Because we hold very strongly onto our own values and our own beliefs,we don't realize that our opinions and reasoning for why we believe things can be flawed. Also, we accept things to be true when taught that they are true although we have not produced our own reasoning for why something is plausible.
In chapter 7, I was very interested in the concept that we rely on others for the information we understand. Thinking about this concept, I find this to be true. Even discussing simple matters, we look to others for their input. Prime example is as a child, we go to our friends and parents to learn information.
A key concept that I found interesting in chapter 7 is the Solomon Asch experiment with the lines on the card. I found that the experiment demonstrates exactly how we "see things as those around us see them." The participants judgements of how they saw the lines changed with the group. This is a perfect example of how society can unwillingly influence our thoughts and behaviors.
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