Overactive distrust leads to a dangerous endgame of broken institutions: politics, media, religion, science, expertise itself are all more suspect than ever. Should we complain about that? Fear it? Fix it? Or is the real problem within us?
Author: Mark Kingwell | Source: The Walrus | Subjects: Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy
We are all addicted. Whether it’s drugs, alcohol, work, weight-loss programs, shopping, online videos, gossip, gambling, apps, comic books, at-home delivery, or new phones—anything, really, that the heart desires—we can’t seem to calm a relentless inner urge, a longing that will not be satisfied.
The least visible but perhaps most harmful addiction is thinking ourselves right. This particular form of cognitive dependency is something we may … [ Read more ]
Author: Mark Kingwell | Source: The Walrus | Subjects: Life & Society, Personal Improvement, Psychology | Behavior
The presence of affective polarization in democratic nations has grown perceptibly since the turn of the millennium. This is the term political scientists use to describe negative feelings about political opponents. “Affective” because it is a matter of feeling: that the other side is not just divergent in views but beyond redemption, perhaps insane or evil. Actual policy differences may be less stark, but that … [ Read more ]
Author: Mark Kingwell | Source: The Walrus | Subject: Politics & Public Policy
Trust works, in large measure, on assumptions about who people are, not just what they do before our eyes. We trust because we cannot observe and judge everything ourselves.
Author: Mark Kingwell | Source: The Walrus | Subjects: Life & Society, Psychology | Behavior, Relationships, Trust
All inquiry, whatever its subject, has as its final object the matter of how to go about living.
Author: Mark Kingwell | Source: An old philosophical maxim | Subjects: Life & Society, Meaning, Thought | Inquiry
Our most basic choice, the one that grounds all the others, is this: Do we attend closely to the business of our choices, or do we flee from them, in arrogance, or fear, or boredom – or some combination of all three? That’s the only ultimate purpose or meaning that we can make sense of.
Author: Mark Kingwell | Subjects: Life & Society, Meaning, Psychology | Behavior
All inquiry, whatever its subject, has as its final object the matter of how to go about living.
Knowingness is murderous of wonder and of insight, and ultimately it does a violent disservice to that which it sought to serve.
Our most basic choice, the one that grounds all the others, is this: Do we attend closely to the business of our choices, or do … [ Read more ]
Author: Mark Kingwell | Subjects: Intelligence | Knowledge, Meaning, Personal Improvement, Philosophy