On Blogging

It is a characteristic trait, perhaps unique to democratic societies, that each person believes their own opinions to be of merit. This is connected to the democracy in the form of the concept of the individual’s right “to be heard".  The problem of this delusion of self-importance in some ways is manifold. 

All thoughts are not of equal consideration, and all people do not have the same propensity for thought. To the first, we are no longer naïve enough as a society to subscribe to Helvétius' view of absolute substitutable equality. After all, nature itself is a meritocracy. Simply put, there are those whose thoughts or opinion are simply of higher merit or depth than others. To the latter, the relationship between thought, belief and upbringing must be analyzed. Many people are indoctrinated in some form or another, but this does not necessitate that they maintain the same views of their parents or of those in their childhood. In fact, often points of view that are contrarian to such views are held, particularly by those who are young.  Indeed it was the Baron De Montesquieu who pointed out that a human receives three differing educations- that of their father, that of the schoolmaster, and that of the world- the latter upsetting the others. This last takes time to acquire. It is perhaps true then that through this one loses the clarity of the systemic homogeneity of a well-thought out system.

It helps, however, to classify the thought patterns of others in order to understand where exactly their opinions originate. There are two different kinds of people in terms of thought- deontologists and consequentialists. The deontologist is a person who judges and end based upon the means to achieve it. The consequentialist is a person who believes that the end justifies the means.  The healthiest condition for a human is a combination of both as any circumstance or action is defined by both the means and the consequences. I do not mean to imply however, that the middle path is the right one. The middle path is defined by the extremes, and the correct or least damaging path is one which may not be in the middle.

I hope, therefore, what will follow in this section- my thoughts and opinions- in your view will be considered as not lacking for thought and consideration.