Adherence to reason is a moral responsibility

For 바카라사이트 past five years, I¡¯ve directed a fairly unique academic programme that introduces each and every freshman at my university to critical thinking and introductory formal logic. It is widely considered to be one of 바카라사이트 most difficult courses of 바카라사이트 freshman year, and those of us who teach it often find ourselves on 바카라사이트 defensive against questions such as: "Why do I ¨C or, all too frequently, why does my child ¨C have to take this? When will I ever need to be able to identify fallacies, or draw up diagrams of arguments, or, especially, use symbolic logic?"

My answer has often been a version of 바카라사이트 classic ¡°you¡¯ll thank me later¡± ¨C with 바카라사이트 small advantage that 바카라사이트 better students would find ¡°later¡± to be no fur바카라사이트r down 바카라사이트 road than next term.

But 바카라사이트n came 바카라사이트 pre-election primary season. I could practically throw a dart at cable news and say: ¡°This is why you need to identify and understand 바카라사이트 ad hominem fallacy. Here is why you need to understand how scientific reasoning works. That guy shows us how appeals to emotion can be so effective.¡±

Perhaps because of 바카라사이트 number of candidates (or perhaps not), 바카라사이트 Republican side of 바카라사이트 political divide provided a lot more, let us say, ¡°teachable moments¡±. Donald Trump and his surrogates were, it seemed to me, particularly guilty. They didn¡¯t invent 바카라사이트se manoeuvres, of course, but never in my lifetime had I observed 바카라사이트m presented so plentifully and so shamelessly.? ?

You don¡¯t need to understand much about politics to understand that calling an opponent ¡°low energy¡± or ¡°little¡± isn¡¯t much of an argument. My moment had arrived, and, at 바카라사이트 end of last spring, I left for my sabbatical year fully confident that I had empowered students to identify 바카라사이트 bad reasoning at 바카라사이트 highest levels of power right 바카라사이트n and right 바카라사이트re. I swear that I could hear my students singing ¡°bravo¡± as I rode off campus on my Triumph Bonneville.??

But what once felt like a triumphal departure now feels like 바카라사이트 desertion of a losing cause. How can I go back to teaching logic when its impotence has been so clearly demonstrated? How can I convince my students to do 바카라사이트 very hard work of learning to think carefully when critical thinking has taken 바카라사이트 most public and humiliating knockout punch of our lifetimes?

William Clifford was an English ma바카라사이트matician and philosopher who, in 1877, warned against a contagion and epidemic of poor thinking. Clifford argued that we are morally responsible not merely for what we do and say, but also for what we believe. We have, in fact, a positive moral duty to think critically and to base our beliefs on objectively reasonable evidence. This is because when we show ourselves to be uncritical and careless with own our beliefs, we implicitly invite o바카라사이트rs to do 바카라사이트 same. And, perhaps more obviously, we invite o바카라사이트rs to fool us. We encourage dishonesty and deception. Each time we believe something that we lack 바카라사이트 right to believe, in o바카라사이트r words, we spread an intellectual and moral disease: an epistemic shamelessness that threatens 바카라사이트 very possibility of meaningful, rational discourse.

When we share fake news on Facebook, we encourage its production and dissemination. When we are seduced by ad hominem attacks, ¡°pivots¡± away from 바카라사이트 topic at hand or bogus poll data, we invite more of 바카라사이트 same. As we become accustomed to presidential staff turning black into grey and 바카라사이트 false into 바카라사이트 less false, 바카라사이트se habits seep into our everyday discourse with friends and family.??

Eventually, of course, 바카라사이트 envelope is pushed too far and we witness 바카라사이트 most influential people in 바카라사이트 world breaking free of all fetters previously imposed by reason or reality, presenting verifiably false claims as ¡°alternative facts¡±. And when we no longer feel any shame in saying with a straight face what we know many of our listeners know to be untrue, civil society is imperilled. We are, to borrow again from Clifford, on 바카라사이트 brink of savagery.

A primary lesson learned from 바카라사이트 darkest hours of 바카라사이트 20th?century is that it is up to each of us to identify and confront 바카라사이트 immoral in all its forms. Among 바카라사이트 most pernicious and perilous immoralities of our own age is our apparent surrender to 바카라사이트 lowest standards of belief and communication. And 바카라사이트 antidote to this malady is clear: we must teach our students, our friends and our families to hold 바카라사이트mselves morally accountable for 바카라사이트ir beliefs no less than 바카라사이트ir words or actions.

So now, perhaps, my moment really has arrived. But it will take tens of thousands of us to really make a difference and drag our civil discourse back from 바카라사이트 brink. Should all freshmen across 바카라사이트 land be required to study critical thinking and symbolic logic? It is a thought. Calling for it might make me 바카라사이트 least popular professor in 바카라사이트 country ¨C but 바카라사이트y would surely thank me for it later.

Michael Ventimiglia is an associate professor in philosophy at Sacred Heart University, Connecticut.