[LM_NET] The January Issue of the Question Mark - Good Doubt and Bad Doubt

[Jamieson McKenzie <fromnowon@EARTHLINK.NET>]

Vol 3|No 4|January|2007

  Good Doubt                            
  and Bad Doubt
                                
  By Jamie McKenzie             
  (C) 2006 Jamie McKenzie, all rights reserved.

This is a preview selection, the first chapter from Jamie
McKenzie's forthcoming book, Leading Questions, available
in May of 2007.

  Blind faith is often required by
  leaders along with blind obedience,
  but this kind of loyalty is   
  self-defeating for all involved.
                                
  Unless leaders permit and encourage
  doubt, they will find themselves
  surrounded by yes men and women who
  will isolate them from reality. They
  will tell them only what they want
  to hear. They will make wishful
  thinking an organizational habit.
  Denial and distortion will rule as
  truth becomes a casualty.     
                                
  -----

  Each chapter of "Leading Questions" will include one
  or more cartoons as well as quotations from famous people.

  Quotations

   "Doubt is the beginning not the end of wisdom." Proverb

   "Modest doubt is called the beacon of the wise." William
  Shakespeare

   "Dubito ergo cogito; cogito ergo sum."
    (I doubt, therefore I think; I think therefore I am.) Rene
  Descartes

   "Doubt is not the opposite of faith; it is one element of
  faith." Paul Tillich

   "He who knows nothing, doubts nothing." Spanish proverb

-----

  1. Good Doubt and Bad Doubt.

  Good doubt is questioning that springs from a positive spirit
  - a constructive skepticism that wonders about risks and
  pitfalls out of a wish for the enterprise to succeed.

  Bad doubt is questioning that springs from a negative spirit -
  a destructive skepticism that dwells on issues and problems
  with the hope that the whole project will come tumbling down.

  Proponents of blind faith tend to portray all doubt as evil.
  They point to the biblical story of a Doubting Thomas who had
  the audacity to ask for evidence that Jesus rose from the
  dead. They make doubt seem disloyal, corrosive and possibly
  unpatriotic. They lump all doubt into the same category. Doubt
  is sin and doubters should be replaced by true believers.
  Doubt is heresy. Doubters are heretics.

This article is continued at http://questioning.org/jan07/doubt.html



Jamie McKenzie
Editor
 From Now On
The Question Mark
No Child Left

fromnowon@earthlink.net

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law.
  You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings
  by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book.
To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu
In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET  2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL
3) SET LM_NET MAIL  4) SET LM_NET DIGEST  * Allow for confirmation.
 * LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/
 * LM_NET Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/
 * EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://elann.biglist.com/sub/
 * LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------