Thought under threat : on superstition, spite, and stupidity /

Thought under threat : on superstition, spite, and stupidity /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Beistegui, Miguel de, 1966- author.
Imprint:	Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2022. ©2022
Description:	278 pages ; 23 cm
Language:	English
Subject:	Thought and thinking. Superstition. Stupidity. Stupidity. Superstition. Thought and thinking.
Format:	Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/12709367

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	9780226815565 0226815560 9780226815572
Provenance:	Copy 1. Binding: Includes dust-jacket.
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references (pages [263]-274) and index.
Summary:	"Thought Under Threat is an attempt to understand the tendencies that threaten thinking from within. These tendencies have always existed, but today they are on the rise and frequently encouraged even in democracies. People "disagree" with science and distrust experts. Political leaders appeal to the hearts and guts of "the people," rather than their critical faculties. Stupidity has become a right, if not a badge of honor; thinking is considered "elitist." For Miguel de Beistegui, however, thinking is intrinsically democratic, a crucial part of exercising freedom. In the book, de Beistegui describes a long philosophical tradition, according to which it is the job of the philosopher to guard against these vices that threaten philosophy from within, with the philosophical life amounting to a form of intellectual care or self-vigilance. For de Beistegui, stupidity is not simply the opposite of intelligence or common sense; spite is not only a moral vice, distinct from the exercise of thought; and superstition is not reducible to a set of false beliefs. Rather, he argues, thoughtlessness grows from within thought itself. Or, put differently, thought needs to engage in a recurring struggle against these vices, which it carries within itself, to thrive. De Beistegui alerts us to the blind-spots in our thinking and shows how thought itself can be used to ward them off, making possible productive dissensus, deliberation, and, ultimately, a thinking community"--

Description
Summary:	Thought under Threat reveals and combats the forces diminishing the power and role of critical thinking, whether in our individual lives or collectively. <br> <br> <br> <br> Thought under Threat is an attempt to understand the tendencies that threaten thinking from within. These tendencies have always existed. But today they are on the rise and frequently encouraged, even in our democracies. People "disagree" with science and distrust experts. Political leaders appeal to the hearts and guts of "the people," rather than their critical faculties. Stupidity has become a right, if not a badge of honor; superstition is on the rise; and spite is a major political force. Thinking is considered "elitist."<br> <br> <br> <br> To see those obstacles as vices of thought, Miguel de Beistegui argues, we need to understand stupidity not as a lack of intelligence or judgment, but as the tendency to raise false problems and trivial questions. Similarly, we need to see spite not as a moral vice, but as a poison that blurs and distorts our critical faculties. Finally, superstition is best described not as a set of false beliefs, but as a system that neutralizes one's ability to think for oneself.<br> <br> <br> <br> For de Beistegui, thinking is intrinsically democratic and a necessary condition for the exercise of freedom. Thought under Threat shows how a training of thought itself can be used to ward off those vices, lead to productive deliberation, and, ultimately, create a thinking community.
Physical Description:	278 pages ; 23 cm
Bibliography:	Includes bibliographical references (pages [263]-274) and index.
ISBN:	9780226815565 0226815560 9780226815572