The past few days have seen me tearing my hair out over a semi-serious piece about the current popular(ish) obssession with Reason, Logic and Rational Argument.
It seems to me that, when it comes to living one's mundane everyday existence, these three things are massively overrated, and can often be counter-productive. Ironically though, I'm finding it incredibly difficult to sling together a half-decent rational argument as to why.
It's partly down to my belief that almost all of what we call intution or feelings actually have their roots in logical thought processes, even if we're not immediately able to recognise or articulate them.
It's also partly because very logical people can be incredibly irrititating, and certainly never seem to be any happier as a result of their dedication to the cause. I will grant though, that they are often quite wealthy.*
Lastly, it's because I'm a mum, and if I took the time to reason out appropriate and consistent responses before acting, my toilet would be stuffed full of cuddly monkeys and giraffes, and Dynorod would be laughing at me.
So for now, I will simply supply a visual approximation of what I think might happen to the human race if we all began to rationalise every last detail of our existence:
Personally, I'm not in favour...
*Which reminds of the most logical thing my mother has ever said; 'Money won't buy you happiness, but at least you can be miserable in comfort'
6 comments:
I always go by instinct, especially regarding parenting. I've never even bought a parenting book, shame on me!
It is almost certainly for the best - they all contradict each other in any case! And you only get into rows with other mums who disapprove of whatever method you're doing. I just keep my trap shut these days, unless horribly provoked!
Logic has no place at all in my thought processes. Loved your mum's piece of advice....that was gold.
My mother has her moments of brilliance, although she is pretty much completely barmy the rest of the time!
I do try to be logical on occasion - the problem is choosing those occasions - all too often, the (time) costs of doing so far outweigh any potential benefits to be had. Gut feeling therefore usually wins the trick with me...
The late Carl Sagan was being pressured as to whether he thought there was life on other planets. He refused to answer on the basis that there wasn't enough evidence to lean one way or the other. When pressured to give his gut feeling he answered "I try not to think with my gut."
He wasnt being flippant. His point, similar to yours, was that surely instinct is just the subconscious application of reason and knowledge anyway.
It's perfectly fine for a mum to have a gut feeling that the reason her little Johnny's cradle cap cleared up was washing his head with paint remover every night. But before that mum gets on a shopping channel, or opens an "alternative" practice... I think you'd want to see that intuition tested by rational debate and logic. You might even want her reasoned with.
In our everyday mundane lives there are plenty of things I wouldn't settle for someone's "gut feeling" on.
If Mr Sainsbury only had a gut feeling that the fish on his fish counter was safe to eat.....
If Mr Ford only had a gut feeling that the fuel tanks on his cars wouldn't explode....
If the egg marketing board quality controlled salmonella infected eggs by intuition....
If my boss only had a gut feeling that I wasn't pulling my weight....
When you think about it, what you're calling intuition/gut feeling is really the rapid application of the knowledge you have to a reasoned answer.
What you are calling logic/reason is the careful application of the knowledge you have without time constraints. The key difference being the opportunity to go in search of more data if you find you can't come to a conclusion.
I guess when you have a gut feeling that you can't reach a gut feeling.
In support of this, ask yourself how many times you go with instantaneous "gut feeling" and then, with more time to reason, or when more data comes to light, say "I should have done X but I just didn't have time to think...."
Rely on instinct when the question is "shall I put my hand in this fire..."
Perhaps not when it comes to "so I connect the red wire to the black wire..."
Digitarry: Wow, a whole essay! Much of your reasoning here was included in the content of my original piece, currently languishing in 'drafts' for being too long, too serious, and too verbose. Which makes it impossible to give you a succinct reply just now.
Leave it with me. I'm not done with this one yet.
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