phi103 week 5 discussion RESPONSE s.b.

For example, you might discuss what you learned from their musings and how you have learned from similar experiences. You might add to the understanding of the points they have raised. You might comment on the value of the intellectual traits they have discussed. You might discuss how these traits can help us to be more successful in our daily lives. You might comment on some aspect of the Chapter or any other resources you have used during this course as they may relate to the discussion. Enjoy. Respond in 5 sentences or more.

Discussion Week 5

To become a stronger critical thinker, there are traits I would like to strengthen. Those traits would be Intellectual Courage, Intellectual Empathy, and lastly Intellectual Humility. I think everyone can strengthen these traits. Not only to become a better critical thinker but to become a better human being as well.

Intellectual Courage: Is defined by basically having consciousness of the need to face and fairly address ideas, beliefs, or viewpoints that may be negative and have negative emotions. To strengthen this trait, I can focus on becoming wiser and being rational in situations that I might not agree with. I need to work on educating myself before I try to argue a point. I think that is the most difficult situations for me, when I have a different opinion than someone, it is easy to get defensive and see things one way, instead of reasoning. When you have more knowledge because you educate yourself on the situation, it makes it easy to reason and be fair in an argument. You cannot be afraid of standing up for something you believe in even if others do not agree. Showing courage even when you are afraid will uncover truth and give you the answers you are looking for. As Tadeusz Kotarbinski has said, “Intellectual man is a parasite that produces culture”. To produce a new culture, one has to have courage to believe in themselves and their ideas enough to teach others to learn about them.

Intellectual Empathy: Is defined by having awareness to put yourself in someone else’s shoes to understand them before making a judgement or assumption. This is truly a trait I need to work on. Too many times I act out of emotion and do not stop and think how I would feel if it was the other way around. In doing so, I think so many arguments would go a different route. When you stop and think about things before harsh words are said, you can come up with a reasonable response rather than argue who is right and so on. Having empathy, slows you down a bit and brings out truth to the situation instead of a big argument full of emotion and gets nowhere. This is probably the strongest trait I need work on but I am not afraid to admit it, and with knowledge I have gained from this class about thinking more logically and reasoning, I have no doubt I will strengthen this trait.

Intellectual Humility: Lastly, this trait is defined as having sensitivity to someone else’s circumstances and being consciousness of ones limits of knowledge. I feel empathy and humility are very similar. But the difference between the two to me, is being humble simply means you are pretty sure of your position in a situation but instead of acting like you know it all, you are very humble about it and don’t want to poach or brag. Instead you share your views with others but stand strong with your position but also listen to the views and opinions of others, even when you do not agree. I am very good at this. I had a guy once tell me, “You are so pretty, I thought you would be stuck up, but you’re not. That makes you more beautiful”. A little cognitive bias don’t you think? But it was definitely a compliment to know that I didn’t come of that way to others. I hold Humility very high on my list of things that I want to be growing in. We all need to realize that we can never know everything, but instead be aware of our limitations. I never want to become a Dogmatists and lose sense of the world around me. I work hard every day to stop and appreciate the small things in life, because in reality those are the big things.