 Bertrand Russell Quotes 366 |
Most of what was formerly taught was useless in itself but had the merit of teaching accuracy. What is taught in up-to-date schools is often worth knowing on its own account but is usually taught in such a way that the pupils do not know it at the end. The consequence is that adults have slipshod habits of mind and cease to notice distortions of fact which have a sinister motive.
Source: Bertrand Russell: The decay of intellectual standards (written in Oct. 19, 1932 and pub. in Mortals and Others, v.1, 1975.
More info.:https://russell-j.com/DECAY-IS.HTM
* a brief comment: original text in Japanese, translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Lack of information can make us anxious and irritable, which is not good. However, when we receive a large amount of information that we cannot process, we have to make a selection, so we are more interested in information that is interesting to us, which inevitably leads to a bias in our knowledge and information. As a result, people with prejudices tend to seek out and acquire more and more information that defends and supports their prejudices (and preconceptions) (there is a risk of this happening). In contrast, those who try to avoid preconceptions as much as possible (i.e. to avoid having prejudices and preconceptions) find it difficult to obtain necessary and correct information and become increasingly unable to express strong opinions. As a result, they are tempted to say Russell's following words themselves.
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.