The best distributed quality in the world.

in philosophy •  4 years ago 

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There is nothing more evenly distributed than reason: everyone is convinced that they have enough.

Rene Descartes


Many years ago, when I was beginning my studies at the university, I had to read the Discourse on the Method of Descartes, I remember that I seriously did not understand him well, but after reviewing several times I could find that his approach was quite logical and his method for Addressing problems by segmenting and organizing stages I found it useful throughout my academic life.

A detail that few colleagues noticed, I think that was the case, was the touch of peculiar humor ... yes, I'm talking about humor. It is something that I did not expect, but in the first part of the Discourse, the author narrated a little about his life and its eventualities that led him to consider the method he was about to expose.

Among the phrases that made me think that the author was feeling a bit sarcastic and used a humorous key was precisely the quote that I am using as a corollary of this post. In any discussion or confrontation of ideas, each participant is convinced that they are right or at least right enough for the other party to be wrong, so the author pointed out that this was the best-distributed gift in the world, to the extent that if Well you can always find people dissatisfied with any other condition or characteristic of their own, they would always be satisfied with their intelligence and reasoning.

It seemed to me at the time that Descartes was being ironic with the statement, which led me to believe that he did not consider his contemporaries very worthy of praise in terms of their ability to reason since he was convinced that they were reasoning in a disorganized way and inadequate to solve problems and acquire new knowledge.

Nowadays, the phrase serves as a reminder to me, for the times when I feel too sure of my own reasons, it serves to remind me that other people also have their reasons and that they are also convinced that they are valid.



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