
“Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.”
Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton : The Illustrated London News, 1905-1907 (1986), p. 71
Pg 27.
Conquest of Abundance (2001 [posthumous])
Context: Many "educated citizens" take it for granted that reality is what scientists say it is and that other opinions may be recorded, but need not be taken seriously. But science offers not one story, it offers many; the stories clash and their relation to a story-independent "reality" is as problematic as the relation of the Homeric epics to an alleged "Homeric world."
“Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.”
Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton : The Illustrated London News, 1905-1907 (1986), p. 71
The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody (1950), Part II: Ancient Greeks and Worse, Pericles
Source: Sceptical Essays
Abott (2002) “Welcome to the University of Chicago http://www.ditext.com/abbott/abbott_aims.html Aims of Education Address. 2002
The Future of Ideas (2001)
Context: A time is marked not so much by ideas that are argued about as by ideas that are taken for granted. The character of an era hangs upon what needs no defense. Power runs with ideas that only the crazy would draw into doubt. The "taken for granted" is the test of sanity; "what everyone knows" is the line between us and them.
This means that sometimes a society gets stuck. Sometimes these unquestioned ideas interfere, as the cost of questioning becomes too great. In these times, the hardest task for social or political activists is to find a way to get people to wonder again about what we all believe is true. The challenge is to sow doubt.
Free Culture (2004)
Context: Common sense is with the copyright warriors because the debate so far has been framed at the extremes — as a grand either/or: either property or anarchy, either total control or artists won't be paid. If that really is the choice, then the warriors should win.
The mistake here is the error of the excluded middle. There are extremes in this debate, but the extremes are not all that there is. There are those who believe in maximal copyright — "All Rights Reserved" — and those who reject copyright — "No Rights Reserved." The "All Rights Reserved" sorts believe that you should ask permission before you "use" a copyrighted work in any way. The "No Rights Reserved" sorts believe you should be able to do with content as you wish, regardless of whether you have permission or not.... What's needed is a way to say something in the middle — neither "all rights reserved" nor "no rights reserved" but "some rights reserved" — and thus a way to respect copyrights but enable creators to free content as they see fit. In other words, we need a way to restore a set of freedoms that we could just take for granted before.
“We need to the right thing. Take this seriously, not to verbalize about it, and not to talk.”
Source: Fort Portal Bishop calls for more environmental protection awareness https://www.ntv.co.ug/ug/news/national/fort-portal-bishop-calls-for-more-environmental-protection-awareness-3328498 (March 19, 2021)
Source: Introduction to Waterwise in Marion Zimmer Bradley (ed.), Sword and Sorceress 7 (1990), p. 199