Sep 27, 2011
Bertrand Russell’s 10 commandments for teachers everyone with a brain
Bertrand Russell’s “Liberal Decalogue”…
The Ten Commandments that, as a teacher, I should wish to promulgate, might be set forth as follows:
- Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
- Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
- Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
- When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavour to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
- Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
- Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
- Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
- Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent that in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
- Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
- Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.
(via MetaFilter)
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I feel that I cannot be certain of his first commandment.
The reason I am uneasy with it is because I feel nearly certain that everyone will think I am lame for pointing this out.
I don’t think you’re lame. You have a valid point, if we follow his first “commandment” one thinks wait is he certain of the following things he is saying? Though I believe what he is trying to say here is always leave the option open that you could be wrong. Never become blinded, just incase new evidence presents itself.
1 and 5 trivially combine to “trust nobody, not even me, unless what they say actually makes sense”
My review:
2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9 are all good.
1 – leads to conviction-less people. Some people could do with fewer convictions but not everyone.
4 – true, but there’s wisdom in not arguing everything out all the time before making a decision. Particularly when married.
5 – should be ‘limit your respect…’
10 – fine, but Bertrand Russell’s opinion of what makes someone a fool is probably wrong. Someone I know once had tea with him – allegedly, Bertrand didn’t know how to make a cup of tea.
1 – may lead to “conviction less” people .. but maybe it’s better to be conviction less than having wrong convictions.
Being unsure of something doesn’t mean you won’t act when a situation calls for it. Let me give you an example, if you were 95% sure there was someone in a burning house .. wouldn’t you run in there to check? A person of conviction may believe the fire department will be there on time.
You don’t have to be 100% sure of things to be a contributing member of society.
Wow, this would never fly with the Texas Board of Education who essentially approve of all textbooks in the US.
#1 just seems a little too absolute for me.
And under what authority does Russell put forth #5?
Good job, Jimmie. You may proceed to #2.
No-one does commandments as well as God, it seems.
But, if God knew anything about blogging he would have called them the Top 10 Commandments.
That was a good one!
As to rule #1, Russell seemed pretty certain that God does not exist. Hmmm.
He wasn’t absolutely certain. He was pretty certain.
I just dropped by to say what Josh just said. :)
Okay, good one. I’m from the south, so forgive my colloquialism.
A southerner living in California? :)
He felt the same way about space werewolves, underpants gnomes, and all the other similarly-evidenced things, too.
I really like #4, so true. Embarrassed but I don’t think I get number 6. How will they suppress me?
These would be really hard to live by.
Rule no 11. Remove the broom once in a while.
Is #9 where Al Gore got the phrase “inconvenient truth”?
five more from his lost apocryphal manuscript:
11. Never believe a thing simply because you want it to be true.
12. Never Eat at a place called ‘Mom’s’.
13. Never play poker with a man named ‘Slim’.
14. Never buy a used pickup from the pool guy.
15. No matter how much the wife insists on buying white counter-tops for the kitchen, it is a terrible idea and don’t give in to her.
16. (and I can’t stress this one enough…) Never, ever get laid where you get paid. (also known as the Clinton/Sandusky maxim)
Now you tell me.