Neal's Workshop

Rich Nikoley over on Uncommon Sense wonders why people think the way they do.

I concluded that it was because, like I, they were taught from the moment of birth to submit to some authority or the other at all times and without question. Of course, that's appropriate for infants and small children. I'm aware that there are many who go to great lengths to push their children into independent problem solving, but that's not the same. How about: what problem? Why does it exist? And who says it's a problem, anyway, why do they say it, and why is it of any importance to me whatsoever?

He goes on to say:

Throughout the ages, people submitted to false authorities all their lives because they were taught to do so and thought they had to . . . Most never realized once in their entire lives that their mind and conscience was just as competent as anyone to judge the propriety and validity of such practices. [Added emphasis mine]

When I was a kid, I hated when I would ask the question, "Why?", and the response I'd be given was, "Because."

Despite demanding answers as kids to the whys of the world, we grow into adults who accept authority by default. Why? Why do we defer to others on matters we could certainly understand? Why do we allow others to demean our own capacity to comprehend? Why do we stop asking, "Why?"? Why are we automatically dogmatic?

Here are my thoughts (Originally written as a response to Rich's post):

One theory I have on man's seemingly inherent dogmatism is that the benefits of critical thought and coherent, rational belief systems are ambiguous compared to the costs of not complying with majority opinions, which are often clearcut. Enlightenment is expensive in a dark world.

If an individual perceives a system to be complicated, he is more likely to outsource his understanding of that system to so-called experts. And it is often in the best interests of experts to perpetuate these misperceptions. Look at the church: pastors almost always know the fallacies of the Bible; however, they rarely (if ever) preach on these fallacies. The more confusing the expert can make the subject-matter , the more the individual's original conclusion is reaffirmed.

Perhaps we need authorities to proclaim the merits of questioning authority. Thus, the emergence of the bumper sticker: "Question Authority!"

Why?