When is the right time to question?: Philosophy Forums

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When is the right time to question?

ndicorti
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Posted 09/29/04 - 04:06 PM:	#1
Ofcourse everyone should be able to think for themself and form their own opinions based on weighing data and knowledge others have given to them, but when does society find it "alright" to allow someone to start thinking more for themself, or even challenging those things around you. Is it at a certain age, a certain place in society? If not, what is it?

Gassendi1
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Posted 09/29/04 - 04:24 PM:	#2
ndicorti wrote: Ofcourse everyone should be able to think for themself and form their own opinions based on weighing data and knowledge others have given to them, but when does society find it "alright" to allow someone to start thinking more for themself, or even challenging those things around you. Is it at a certain age, a certain place in society? If not, what is it? Which society? In a democracy, when you can.

bushbuddy4
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Posted 10/01/04 - 01:41 PM:	#3
I think people accept someone's right of being able to think for themselves and have their own opinion at their beginning of adolescence. Age 14-17, depending on your parents. In a lot of people I know, this is where they go from being "just a teenager" or "just (their name)" to a real identity and person that they themselves recognize. Also, this is about when someone's parents stop trying to keep them from thinking one thing and "shielding" them and begin teaching them to have their own opinion (or letting them have one), teaching them what they should know about politics, real life, how to get around, etc. From what I've heard
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Sagewoman
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Posted 10/01/04 - 02:01 PM:	#4
Who even says we ARE thinking for ourselves? Doesn't that imply some free will? I personally think there is some mass mind control going on, call it "divinity", call it "government", whatever - we barely think at all!

bushbuddy4
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Posted 10/01/04 - 10:47 PM:	#5
I somewhat agree with that, believing nothing is really "random", everything has some sort of natural or chemical cause, even if it means being "unpredictable"... However, this still can be defined as free will, as we have control over what we think, but the way we choose things is because of solid things that have happened and are remembered. This is so weird, when I think about it how the hell can just a simple thing like me be moving my fingers around and making something in a completely weird language as an organized set of straight lines and curves organized into "letters" and "words" even make sense to anyone who happens to "percieve" what I'm writing, and why am I even talking (or doing this complicated physiological process of "typing")? Maybe it's just the fact that it's 11:45 at night, but stuff like this never fails to amaze me.
LAUGH AND THE WORLD FEELS OKAY ABOUT LAUGHING TOO.

kstuart
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Posted 10/03/04 - 02:02 PM:	#6
ndicorti wrote: ... when does society find it "alright" to allow someone to start thinking more for themself, or even challenging those things around you? Never.

sensabile
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Posted 10/03/04 - 02:16 PM:	#7
ndicorti wrote: Ofcourse everyone should be able to think for themself and form their own opinions based on weighing data and knowledge others have given to them, but when does society find it "alright" to allow someone to start thinking more for themself, or even challenging those things around you. Is it at a certain age, a certain place in society? If not, what is it? When is society ever unanimous about what is "alright"?
For the winner there was a big three-legged cauldron to stand over a fire - it was worth a dozen oxen by the Greek's reckoning - and for the loser he brought forward a woman thoroughly trained in domestic work whom they valued at four oxen. -Homer's The Illiad Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? -Mark 9:50

Ki-Rin
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Posted 10/03/04 - 02:36 PM:	#8
Teenagers are expected to start thinking for themselves, and formulating their own opinions. Think about the gap in the rules between middle school and high school. Middle school is strict about everything, dress code, grades, behavioral issues, attendance. Many pre-teen 6th-8th graders still have to walk single file down the hallways, silently, supervised by a teacher, almost everything is regulated, down to assigned seating during lunch, and when kids can go to their lockers. High school rules are much more lax, and bare bones. Don't bring drugs or weapons to school, make sure that body parts are covered and don't park in the teacher parking lot. Many people say that the freedom comes with maturity, but what is maturity if not being able to make the right decisions for yourself? That's not to say that many high schoolers are actually mature, but it's expected of them. As for me, I was formulating my own opinions and political views by age 8, but i was exposed to the intellectual world at an early age.
It's all a matter of perspective...

kstuart
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Posted 10/03/04 - 05:43 PM:	#9
Teenagers are expected to start thinking for themselves, and formulating their own opinions. Opinions are currently merely expressions of taste, they don't involve any thought. Generally, young people select a group identity that they feel some affinity with (jock, punk, stoner, skateboarder, goth, cheerleader, whatever) and then they adopt the opinions that go with that, just like picking accessories to go with an outfit. This is why the positions of all public groups - Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals, islamic terrorists, and all the rest - are all logically inconsistent.

wuliheron
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Posted 10/03/04 - 09:06 PM:	#10
ndicorti wrote: Ofcourse everyone should be able to think for themself and form their own opinions based on weighing data and knowledge others have given to them, but when does society find it "alright" to allow someone to start thinking more for themself, or even challenging those things around you. Is it at a certain age, a certain place in society? If not, what is it? Sincere questions are not challanges. However, society does have an assortment of rules governing who can and cannot challange something, and what is an appropriate time and place to do so. It's sometimes called keeping the peace, but more often is simply one group taking advantage of it's dominance to supress all descent.

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