Month: August 2016

Home » Archives for August 2016
REAL image

Reality

You’ll find I periodically state, “Don’t deny reality.”  What does that mean and why is it important? What is Reality?   (basic definition) As it relates to the way I use it when I say, “Don’t deny reality,” I mean it from the simple perspective of Knowledge Adventuring: If you have facts and/or a preponderance of evidence staring you in the face, don’t delude yourself by denying its existence. Don’t ignore it.  Don’t default to Cognitive

Reality Read More »

Cognitive Dissonance image

Cognitive Dissonance

Another critical barrier to “Proper Thinking” and intellectual integrity is the theory of Cognitive Dissonance. It’s important to understand that this cognitive weakness can be the reason for us to default to other barriers to accurate thinking such as Confirmation Bias and Rationalization. As part of our Knowledge Adventuring it will always serve us well to be aware of these thinking biases and adapt our attitude and approach to the pursuit of enlightenment and truth.

Cognitive Dissonance Read More »

Rationalize image

Rationalization

Another personal impediment to “Proper Thinking” is Rationalization.  If we want to improve our intellectual integrity and thinking prowess we need to be on guard from making rationalizations. What is it? I like Neel Burton’s definition: The use of feeble but seemingly plausible arguments either to justify something that is difficult to accept (sour grapes) or to make it seem ‘not so bad after all’ (sweet lemons). We do something not so smart (a bad

Rationalization Read More »