~ Bertrand Russell (Principles of Social Reconstruction)
What does this quote by noted philosopher, mathematician, and philanthropist Bertrand Russell mean to you? Do you agree or disagree with Russell? In this response, answer those two questions, and discussion why it is important to do away with fear in Critical Thinking.
Don't forget to respond to at least one of your peers.
The image is taken from: http://thinkorthwim.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/fish-3.jpg
79 comments:
Fear is something we all have. No matter how much we hate it, we have to live with it. Fear is something that hold us back from doing something. For instance,if I have a fear of heights someday sooner or later I will have to deal with the consequences. In my opinion that's what I think Bertrand Russell is trying to say. We all have to face our fears in order to become a better person. The more we conquer our fears the less we suffer from our fears. Bertrand Russell made a great point when he stated, "fear lest they themselves should prove less worthy of respect than they have supposed themselves to be" I agree with what he is saying because I think no matter what your fear is don't let it stop you from what you do at best. Fear is important in critical thinking because it is something we all have in common. We live in a small world with a lot of chaos and that is something we all can share about.
Hi Roger,
I agree with what you said about the analysis of Bertrand Russell's quote in your comment. Also, I also agree that facing fears can become a better person.
Besides this, I think we should think how to deal with the fears correctly. Do you have any suggestions to share?
By the way, I am not quite understand what you are trying to say for your example. What is the consequences about the fear of heights? Would you like to explain a little more for your idea.
For my understanding, the sentence wants to tell me that fear will make you suffer something later. Is that right?
Thank you for your help and your nice comment.
The quote is saying that fear is what holds us back when we want to do something. Overcoming a fear is not only a mental it is also emotional. Many people’s fear stem from an experience they went through that had negative results. The people who do live in fear do not live life to the fullest because they let fear run their lives. However, fear does not have to be the end of you; it can also be the one thing that pushes you to want to overcome it. They want to prove to everyone that they do not live in fear. Despite this, I do agree with Russell and how it holds people back. Fear is a real reality and it is real as it gets. There are people who live in fear every day.
It is important to get rid of fear in a critical thinking class because critical thinking requires you to step outside of your comfort zone. We as people cannot think critically if we believe that we are correct and that everyone else is wrong. In every story and in every argument there are two sides.
What I believe that Bertrand Russell is trying to say is that our mind lets us fear when there is no reason to fear. Fearing something is basically crippling what we think and feel as humans. Fear does hold us back as Russell says in his quote. I agree with Russell in that fear does corrupt the state of mind and that it leads the mind in the wrong direction as Russell states from his quote "fear lest their cherished beliefs should prove delusions". This hear is saying that we hide behind what our fears tell us whether we are afraid of heights or to speak up in a room full of people. When we fear something we hide from it and not address is it and that is what we need to do is to address it so that "we must have done with fear" as Russell says in his quote. So basically we need to let our fears go so that we are not controlled by it and have it hold us back from what ever it is we might want to do or be.
"It's fear that holds men back" I agree what Bertrand Russell states because fear is what keeps an individual from learning and growing. When you have fear it holds you back from achieving things you would like to achieve. It holds you back from enjoying life to the fullest. When you have fear you are always afraid that one day you might have to overcome this fear.
"It's fear that holds men back" I agree what Bertrand Russell states because fear is what keeps an individual from learning and growing. When you have fear it holds you back from achieving things you would like to achieve. It holds you back from enjoying life to the fullest. When you have fear you are always afraid that one day you might have to overcome this fear.
"Fear lest cherished beliefs should prove delusions" is saying that people cant let go of their beliefs to expose themselves to the other side, it is delusional to them. "Fear lest the institutions by which they live should prove harmful" means that if you do what everyone tells you to all fo the time, it can prove harmful in the long run. You ultimately become a robot with no beliefs and feelings of your own. "They themselves should prove less worthy of respect than they have suposed themselves to be", is saying that fear and your own self can stop you from doing or becoming what you really want to do.
I agree with Bertrand Russell on this topic. He makes a good point about fear and how it affects us in many areas. We are afraid to step outside of our own comfort zones to realize that anything else is possible. It is important to do away with fear in critical thinking because there is no way to critically think something through effectively without looking at the opposing viewpoint.
This quote means when a person is fearing something in there life, it will hold them back from accomplishing their ambitions and goals they have set for themselves. Fear can be very powerful because we can let it take control over our mind. Therefore, I agree with Bertrand Russell because fear make us handicap and weak. I like how Russell said, "fear lest they themselves should prove less worthy of respect than they have supposed themselves to be." When fear take over, we are simply saying that we as humans are not worthy to be happy and enjoy life. However, when we take charge of our mind and tell ourselves that we are not going to summit to our fear. We as human are taking the control back which means nothing is going to hold us back. We will learn as much as we can to be successful and grow by moving forward.
Chung Wing Wan, I was using that as an example for someone who has a fear of heights. For example, what if one day the world was going to end and we have to hop in a space ship to go to Mars? If that person was too afraid to go get on a space ship will he/she risk their lives for not going on a space ship?
We all live with fear in our life. Fear is something that make us feel distrustful with ourselves, and it can not make us success on the way in our life. Fear is something that help us to find out the imperfection of ourselves, and we can use fear to improve ourselves to become better in our life. Therefore, we have to look back our fear and face with it in order that we succeed in our life. For example, students are always fear that they can not get good grade on the exam. In order to fear, we have to study hard for the exam to face with our fear. That is Bertrand Russell mean to me and I agree with him about “ we must have done with fear. It is fear that holds men back” Fear help us to review our imperfection, we need to improve ourselves by facing with our fear.
Hi Anonymous
I agree with you about the analysis of Bertrand Russell quote you said in your comment "Fear is what keeps an individual from learning and growing." Fear is helping us to improve ourself to become better in the life. By the way, it also help us become successful in our life if we face with our fear.
After reading this quote, Bertrand Russell is trying to say that most people are afraid of getting things done. The worriment that people get makes them stay at the original position. They will not easily step forward or improve themselves. I think the first sentence is to tell people that we have to be brave. Besides this, Russell also wants to say that “fear” is actually afraid of you. Once people can bravely face to their own fears, their mind can be shaped, and they will learn a lot.
For me, I strongly agree with Russell because of the following reason. Here is an example. When I was seven years old, my grandfather asked me to learn how to ride a bike. A first, I was so afraid of getting hurts since I might lose my balance on the bike. However, my grandfather told me the same idea to me, and I tried to ride on it. Even though I got hurts, I still keep practicing until I knew how to balance my body well. I think this is not only my personal experience. Many people might have this “fear” when they tried to learn this.
It is important to do away with fear in Critical Thinking because the fear causes us to stop thinking constantly. It goes against the idea of Critical Thinking, examining possibilities, and challenging ourselves. Therefore, it is really important for us to do away with fear in Critical Thinking.
Thank you.
Bertrand Russell quote seemed like he was trying to say don't let fear hold you back from your ambitions, dreams and goals in life. "Fear lest they themselves should prove less worthy of respect than they have supposed themselves to be" for me here's an example that relates to me. Everybody who knows me knows that I am a picky eater and never wanted to try anything I thought I wouldn't like but recently my best friend made me try a taco and I actually liked it, she would always say, "how would you know what you like if you don't try it out first" which is true. I learned facing my fears of trying different things before judging it.
I agree with Russell because how else would you learn to say your fear if you don't face them first.
Hi Jennifer,
I totally agree when you said, "When fear take over, we are simply saying that we as humans are not worthy to be happy and enjoy life. However, when we take charge of our mind and tell ourselves that we are not going to summit to our fear" because I think anybody can relate themselves to that because the only thing that is stopping us achieving our goals is our minds.
I think this quote is telling us to keep fear away, you can be success. I am totally agree with Russel. In critical thinking, there are no exactly right answer. It is just your opinion, talk about what you think. Nobody will judge you. Some people are afraid to communicate with other people of their idea. They think the people would tease them. But critical thinking are having many different view point.
Agreeing with the quote, I believe that if we are to let go of fear and disallow it from hindering us as it so often can, then we are free to really be and think for ourselves. Real and true critical thought must be done with the absence of fear for only then are we able to properly and fully analyze the world around us. Similar to dismissing preconceived notions, we must use only our truest instincts when thinking critically. Fear is one of the many aspects of life that can cloud our judgements...
Caresse-
Nicely put. In my response, I was so consumed by the idea of fear and how it relates specifically to critical thinking that I neglected to note it and how it relates to the many other aspects of ones life.
To Dany Kheau, I agree with you when you stated fear holds you back from your dreams, ambitions, and goals. I liked your example when you said you were always afraid of trying new things and once you overcame your fear, you noticed that you actually like tacos. I have the same fear, im afraid of trying new foods because i set in my mind that i wont like it.
Hi Danny,
I agree totally and that is exactly what I was talking about with ones own self can stop you from doing what you want to do. Self Talk can be both harmful and productive but definitely harmful. Depending on ones mind, one can deter bad thoughts. If you are weak minded, you will make excuses and talk yourself out of something that can make you credible or enhance your life.
Hi Roger,
First, thank you for your clarification.I am happy to see your reply. Now, I clearly understand what you mean by using analogy, the space ship.
Yes, if the world is going to end, and we need to hop in a space ship to go to other stars, people who are afraid of getting on the space ship, will probably stay at the earth. Some natural disaster such as earthquake and tsunami will happen, and they must suffer from them.
Thanks.
Hi Camerron! I agree with you of if we obsense of fear, we are free to really be and think for ourselves. We can have better critical thinking, because our feeling will affect our mind, affect what we think. And our brain can nor run so good if we are in a scare. So relaxe can have a better thinking.
“But if thought is to become the possession of many, not the privilege of the few, we must have done with fear.” Bertrand Russell’s quote is telling me that fear lead us to the thought of possessing many over the thought of seeking privileges of the few. The word many and few can mean in opportunities, values, items, etc. The quote tells me that fear will take action on an individual’s cherished beliefs that makes them delusional. Fear will bring its action upon the institution, which can be the society or foundation we live in. We who continues to have the fear may bring harm to that society. Lastly the fear we have can make ourselves feel less worthy than what we are because the quote means to me that the fear will also affect ourselves and that can make us feel less about ourselves.
I agree with Bertrand Russell’s quote because fear is among all of us, when you fear something you often chose not to this or to do that in a way that can stop the fear. For example, you are a student who is trying really hard to pass the paper and if failed you will repeat the grade, disappointed your parents and also disappointed yourself. The fear of that led to the solution of cheating off of another classmate’s work. When being confronted of having two of the same papers, your afraid of getting caught, that fear led you to lie and accused the classmate for cheating. Imagine you aiming for career but you have no knowledge to skill. The greater disappointment to the beliefs, institutions and to yourself is that fact that you lie, cheat, and accused the wrong person. You don’t have the efficient knowledge to work the job because you cheated way to the possession and the possession will not accept you. It is important to do away with fear. Fear is a brick wall that holds you back. The fear to speak up, and the fear to try anything when you have the privilege to. The less you fear the stronger and braver you are to overcome obstacles.
To me, this quote means that people live with fear and avoid certain things because of fear. I agree with Bertrand Russell because fear is so powerful that it traps people from doing things they believe they are afraid to do. Fear is delusions that is brainwashed in people’s minds and most people, if not all, are overestimating their fears.
To Jennifer,
I agree with you about fear holding people back from obtaining their ambitions because I've experienced it. I wanted to go to school for cosmetology and become a hair stylist but I decided not to due to my fear of failure and my fear of not being good enough with the thought of others who are more talented than I am.
I think it means if the "privileged", really knew how by accepting their privilege and by believing they've earned it truly created others to have so much less, they would struggle to forgive themselves and maybe even go crazy. Therefore fear is a necessary tool to keep them from these realizations in order to maintain their lifestyle. After all it is a dog eat dog world, or is it? Fear is what holds the walls up. Fear hides people away. People afraid to be people. Not good, not bad, just being, human. The daily pressure to be civilized, to provide and keep up appearances distracts and doesn't allow the time to make happy people. It is a strange world.
I regarded Russell's quote as a direct hit on high society elites. Those with the most money who can afford top education and whatever else they want. I regarded this quote as a comment on the divide between the rich, the working class and the poor.Stating fear is what enables this vicious cycle to repeat. I took this as a declaration for independence and the peoples revolution. Now that I've read what everyone else has said i wanted to share that of course I have my own short comings due to fear. My worst preconceived notions are the ones that I have about myself. I challenge myself everyday to change and grow with self confidence because I can. Also because I enjoy my life. I am blessed to be in good company. Thank you.
Russell quote indicates that fear blocks our ideas. Fear would limit our thinking. It sets borders to our imagination. I agree with Russell. People mostly stop to think beyond when fear comes by. Fear weakens people’s self-belief. It makes people to be not confident enough to challenge themselves. Blocking the way to think beyond is the reason that to do away with fear in Critical Thinking, I think.
hi Cameron Attaran,
I like your saying "Fear is one of the many aspects of life that can cloud our judgements." I also experience that fear hold me back from exploring the object, which I was focus on, more. Fear does "cloud our judgements".
After reading the quote, I think it means that fear is powerful which could influence us losing our mind. People are weak when they fear. As fear blocks our thoughts, we lose the ability to improve thinking skills. Fear is something that we can overcome. Without fear, we will be easy to open our mind and have more ideas. I agree with Russell because in critical thinking, we could freely express what we think. It is liked to speak out your ideas bravely. Given that fear, we could not be the person we actually are.
We all grew up with fear. It is part of our life. We fear of challenge, fear of speaking in the public, fear of changing, and fear of everything. I think Bertrand Russell’s quote means that what we want the most is what we fear the most because we are afraid to lose it. Fear is something that we can’t stop or prevent because it is inevitable. However, we can overcome and we should not let it control our life. We need to overcome fear, in order to learn our lesson or to success in our life.
I agree with Russell about “we must have done with fear. It is fear that holds men back” Fear is the only thing or darkness that keeps us from getting what we want. But at the same time, fear is an energy that keeps us from challenging ourselves. We can use fear as a tool to help us to grew, to learn, and to challenge ourselves. Remember, each time we face our fear; we gain more courage and confidence.
It is important to do away with fear in critical thinking because fear causes us to limit our imagination and makes us afraid of challenge. We should not afraid to speak out our own opinion, because there are no limitations in critical thinking. Same as there is no right or wrong answer. (in critical thinking)
To Xiao Mei,
I'm unsure about whether I agree or disagree that fear is inevitable, but I definitely agree that we can overcome our fears and not let them limit the things we are capable of accomplishing. I just wanted to add that even though it seems as though fear has come naturally to us, I feel that fear is learned because of the environment around us whether it's the people or our experiences or whatever else. Fear is definitely caused by some kind of influence. Maybe fear can be stopped if people were influenced to be unafraid rather than afraid.
Fear is a word that we carry in our vocabulary no matter how small or big our fears can be we have it. I was terrify of been in on top floor of a building, after what occurred on September 11. However, am now handling normal. I worked on the 15 floor and there were 20 floors above the one I worked. Once I let my fear vanish I became a better person, it was like something had been taken away from me. In my opinion that's what I think Bertrand Russell, if we use our fears in the proper matter it will only make the individual stronger. To be determining to accomplish something more complicated for us. Taking that fear and proving us that is only something in our heads. I completely agree on he’s quote, there powerful words. Fear is something that each of my peers and I have in common, we all have different fears or even the same fears but sharing our thoughts can be helpful to one another.
Hey Xiao
I totally agree with you fear is something that can be used in our lives as positive and negative, it just depends from which angle you are looking at it from. Our fear can give us the strength to become better individuals and to set our minds to accomplish more in life. However, our own fears can stop us from conquering anything we desire. What do you think has been your biggest fear in life…
Jessica Alvarez
Hello Dany Kheav,
Or course our minds can be our biggest weapons in life and they can either make us become individuals or they can makes us fail to become failures. Yet we are the only ones that have that control in our lives to either be successful and failures. Fear is only a word in our vocabulary and it depends how we use it that it can be interpret as.
Jessica Alvarez
Hi Anonymous, I agree with you about fear is what keeps an individual from learning and growing. But I also believe fear is an energy that helps us to challenging ourselves. Our fear can stop us from experiencing new things and we shouldn’t let it to control our life. “When you have fear you are always afraid that one day you might have to overcome this fear” if we are not going to face our fear. Fear will become a darkness that holds our back forever. Fear is like our enemies. They make us to become stronger. Fear has positive and negative effect in our life, but depends which angle we look at.
All human being is having fears. People always fear of something but some can face it and some can’t. I agree with Bertrand Russell’s quote because if people can face their fear, people can be strong and successful. So, don’t let fear hold our back and we have to learn to face our fear. It’s important to face and get away from our fear in critical thinking because critical thinking is asked us to step outside of our small world to come to the bigger world and speak up and learn from the others.
After I read Bertrand’s quote, I realize what it’s telling to me is that we sometimes do thinking which contains many things. Here, there is a lot of heavy work, we explore and analyze them for searching which is more important, and filter out what we want. However, once a thought covers and connects with many ideas, there is a big challenge to narrow out a penetrating point.In this situation, if we fear, we will not be able to take a further step, and we will just get lost on the way. Based on this, I tend to agree with Russell. We should not be afraid of drowning in these many things when thinking. Therefore, as he says, we must have done with fear. Since fear is an obstacle in critical thinking and a challenge for advance, it means significance if we overcome it. On the other hand, there is a fact that everyone does get a fear in life. In my opinion, we are growing up from overcoming fear one by one somehow, and we keep going this way. Critical thinking is just the same. If we fear, we stop, and we will never get more strength. Thus, it’s very important to do away with fear in critical thinking.
In Bertrand Russell’s quote, I believe he is saying fear is the only obstacle that stops us from sharing our thoughts and opinions. We all have our own ideas and beliefs, but what holds us back from communicating it to others are our intrapersonal, interpersonal, and environmental fears. When people express something out of the social norm, they fear that they will not be accepted or ridiculed. We all have fear on way of another that stops us from doing or expressing what we want.
I agree with Russell because I believe fear is a great obstacle to overcome when communicating ideas. It stops us from revealing how we really feel. I can come from many different reasons, such as thinking our ideas are stupid. I believe that people need a sense of security for their inner selves and their surroundings so that they are able to share how they feel. That is why I think it is important to do away with fear in Critical Thinking.
I agree with what you are saying. When people experience a traumatic event, it takes them a while to open up to share how they are feeling and get pass that fear. Only when a person opens up can they get past that experience. When we share with people is when we can find common grounds and further progress in light of it.
You can also say that when we overcome fear, we are a better person because of it. It also depends on how we handle fear. We can use fear to our advantage to make us stronger and influence others. We can use it as an example to help people get out of their shell. In that way, fear can also make us stronger.
P.S. nice snowman
The quote from Bertrand Russell means that we need to do away from fear because fear will make us lack of confidence. Fear is related to many additional emotions, such as worry and anxiety which would restrict our activities. In additional, fear is an obstacle for people to continue their studies and work. When people have some challenges to the work which they have done before, they will not get the correct answers if they fear to make some changes. I agree with Bertrand Russell’s quote about “It is fear that holds men back — fear lest their cherished beliefs should prove delusions”. It is true that fear will influence men to explore unfamiliar ideas and opinions. Critical thinking requires a thinker to observe, explore thoughts with underlying feelings, and develop his intellect and confidence. Meanwhile, critical thinking requires men brave enough to explore things in an open-minded way. Therefore, it is important to do away with fear in critical thinking.
I agree about the part of stepping outside of our small world. It is kind of like looking at the big picture and learning from that beyond of what we know today.
Hi Tevita Mafi,
I agree with your idea about” Fearing something is basically crippling what we think and feel as humans”. Fear makes people become weak, and it would limit our thoughts. People should brave to seek out all possible answers to a problem and observe things in different ways. Moreover, we can improve our thinking skill by analyzing the answer which is different from the original thoughts.
Agreeing with Bertrand Russell. Fear is inescapable, it is an emotional that we can't control throughout our life phase. It is a feeling that restrict us from stepping up to the next caliber and you can also think that it's something we fear to lose.
To make a precise judgment, one can't do it without a clear mind. Critical thinking requires accurate analyze and observation which leads to our instinct making the correct decision.
Hi Ken, I like your example you used in your post about "For example, students are always fear that they can not get good grade on the exam." I can relate to this. There are times where I'll fail my test and tried really hard to study but because of this "fear" feeling, it makes me more anxious and nervous where my mind is stuck without thinking correctly. It causes confusion and lead me to the wrong direction making the wrong decision. That's how powerful "fear" is.
To me, Bertrand Russell's quote means that everyone has fear when they have to think and speak out their views. However, they have to fight the fear back so it cannot control their minds and influence their thinking. I agree with Russell that "if thought is to become the possession of many, not the privilege of the few, we must have done with fear". I believe that many people don't want to think about the things they need to think about and struggle with fear because they want to themselves feel easy and comfortable. For instance, they don’t want to use their minds and find out how to challenge others or themselves. They want to avoid thinking and fear as much as possible.
In critical thinking, we need to challenge our fear of thinking and sharing our views and don't let it control our minds. If we are afraid of speaking our ideas and thinking deeply, it becomes very hard for us to do well on critical thinking. In other words, we need to overcome the fear. Only in this way, we can express what we have on our minds freely and challenge ourselves or others successfully.
Hi Xiaomei Wu,
I agree with what you have said, “We need to do away from fear because fear will make us lack of confidence.” As fear, we don’t believe ourselves that we can be successful. I believe that fear is a powerful object that could influence our thought. Sometimes, we give up something we want because of fear. In fact, fear is liked a challenge. We need to overcome this challenge and find our ways back. Then, we will find out the word “success”.
"My instructor said, go home a write a page tonight and let that page come out of you, then it will be true."(Langston Hugues 1949)
At one point or another, (Fear) reaches out to all our peers. However, as i was informed sometime ago. As we mature fear becomes a situation that is more in our control then out of it"! ( I beg to differ)
As I sit here writing this summary. Fear is bestowed upon me. So many thoughts run through my mind such as, did i answer the questions correctly? Did my argument make since,and was it well organized?; but most importantly, is my ability to write, and be creative be as good as the other students in class. Fearful, of the response, i see my confidence slip away!
Therefore, i can honestly state that i agree with Mr.Russell's quote. Yes, Fear has a heavy negative hold on one, and it is definitely harmful!!
In closing, the world is very broad, and it would in one's best interest to rid fear from critical thinking. If not, how is a person supposed to learn from others, and think out side there conservative way's!!
Yours,
Francisco Santos
Hi Anonymous:
Great response, and well stated! You have put it all into perspective! How fear, can limit your learning environment, and growth, but most importantly enjoying life. Sad to say, but this thing of fear has a great deal of power!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
Regards,
Francisco Santos
Thinking and analyzing (critical thinking) is what makes us free and ultimately lightens up the way, through which we can seek out the truth. If all of us learn to think and question, little by little we will learn to look beyond; we will learn to question our own values and beliefs in addition to those of others around us. As Bertrand Russell says in his quote “But if thought is to become the possession of many, not the privilege of the few, we must have done with fear.” if we want thinking to become a route for us that leads us to freedom, we have to overcome the biggest obstacle on its way: the fear of thinking.
Fear is what opposes critical thinking. People are usually holding on tight to some ideas that they have been raised with. They define themselves and the world around them as good or bad, fair or unfair. But many times it is much easier for them to label things instead of questioning them, since questioning is a path that may also potentially leads to their disbelief. Thinking can proof to them that their own beliefs and values can also be defined as unfair and bad in their new found world.
If we can overcome our fear, critical thinking becomes an important element through which we can find truth and freedom since it is only by questioning that we will not accept the enforcement of any absurd ideology.
To jessica vigil
Jessica, I like the way you have expressed your ideas. I think your ideas are so similar to what I said. I really like your last sentence “When you have fear you are always afraid that one day you might have to overcome this fear”. For me that is the scariest part of having a fear because it stops me from seeking change.
Bertrand Russell quote means people are fear of failure, rejection from others that make them become weak, incompetent, or lack of confidence. Thus, they will lose their control on expected purpose, and everything they do would just go worse. I agree with Russell that fear can prevent people from getting their fullest potential. Therefore, by keeping up our courage and overcoming our own fears, we can master, and improve ourselves to the highest strength. We also can make a difference, and do things beyond what you have not thought or done before. Fear is a big obstacle to success, but we all have to face with it in order to move up to the highest and most admire level of all position in our career.
Hi Jenn R, I agree with your point that Nothing is impossible and many people have great courage to build up and improve our society or human kind just like Martin Luther King, or Abraham Lincoln. We do not need to be like those heroes, but we have to try our best to reach our goal. The more you try, the better you are and there is no cost for you to give a try. Therefore, we have to overcome all the obstacles and be brave to deal with things that we are capable to do.
The quote by Bertrand Russell is saying that fear is the only thing that holds us back from accomplishing our dreams. The few people who are brave enough to over come their fears and take chances even though they are fearful are able to have a much fuller life. These few people are able to experience things others could not because they are too afraid. I defiantly agree with Bertrand Russell “It is fear that holds men back — fear lest their cherished beliefs should prove delusions”. I really relate and agree with this quote because fear keeps us from succeeding and expressing our feelings. It also can keep you stagnate and make it nearly impossible for you to move forward in life and accomplish your dreams or have any type of fulfilling relationship. In critical thinking you defiantly need to move past fear. If you don’t move pass fear in critical thinking you wont be able to think clearly or be able to express your thoughts.
Hi Phu (Tony) Luong, I really like your post. I like when you say to make a precise judgment, one can't do it without a clear mind. I know it’s definitely a statement that I can relate too.
I really like what you say, “We all grew up with fear. It is part of our life.” When we were kids, we might be afraid of many things, just as darkness. As we grow up, most of us gradually overcome this fear and even get used to it. Because fear restrain our development, we really need to keep fighting it, and we need to overcome it to succeed Fear is not so terrifying that we can do nothing. Instead, we can defeat it. In other words, I tend to think that fear is kind of challenge which can become a chance to activate our ability. We get more strength and learn more after overcoming fear.
I like your example because it's really reality. I think most of the student have that fear (include you and me) and they are trying to face it. And you are right when you compare the fear with the brick. We need to break that brick to get going to a best life.
The quote means that fear is kind of bad feeling. If you don’t face it confidently. It would affect our working a lot, and It would affect you to achieve success in your life. Also, Russell tells us that when we fear something in our life, we should deeply and clearly think a bout it, then get a better solution to slove the problem. Russell believes thought is really important. All the people has fear in their own life. It is really depend on how your face it. As a teenager, I think fear is the required element. We always face fear in our life. It is a good training for us.
I really agree with Russell ‘s idea, that is really true. In my opinion, when we are doing something with fear, we cannot finish it successfully. We should face the fear confidently. We should not scare it. Also, when we have the feeling of fear, we need to deeply and clearly to think it and get the good idea to solve the problem.
It is really important to do away with fear in critical thinking because fear directly affects our creativity. We should not afraid of fear.
I like your explanation to the quote and analysis of fear. Like what you said, we have fear of many things like having a speech in the public, changing in our life, or doing other things. Besides, people have fear when they know they are losing something. In addition, it is always with us and scared us to step back. Overcoming fear is a really big lesson for us in our lives. It can make us become stronger and braver.
The quote means that fear can make people believe that they are not able of accomplishing their dreams or goals. As Russell states in the quote fear is what holds men back. If people want to live their lives to the fullest, they need to express freely their feelings and ideas. For example, there are people who are afraid of expressing their own feelings and it makes that other people get a wrong idea about them. It is important to do away in critical thinking because if you don’t express what you think or try to get an opposite point of view of your ideas; you will not be able to think critically
Yes, this it true. I agree with you that we grew up with fear. And I think when we are growing, we have to learn how to face fear. I think fear is the required element for us to grown up. Also, I really agree with your idea that fears causes us to limit our imagination and make us afraid of challenge. Sometime, when we face fear, We will give out to get the challenge.O
I also think that fear is powerful. It is so powerful that can become people in what they don’t want to be. As you say, with fear we are not the person we actually are. living with fear is like being trapped in a nightmare.
HI,Jingrong Ma, I quite like your explanation of the quote. Also, I agree with your idea about the critical thinking with fear. You said” If we fear, we stop, and we will never get more strength. Thus, it’s very important to do away with fear in critical thinking.” We are should not affected and limited our creativity.
Fear is a feeling that all people have, and it is a major factor which leads us to failure or gives up our goal since they do not have a tenable spirit or heart. Overcoming the fear is a very hard step for us because we will just focus on the things or circumstance that we fear, or refuse to face the fear without any try. However, if we can be braver to overcome the fear, we can be more mature and learn a lesson from it. I strongly agree with Bertrand Russell’s quote that “fear lest they themselves should prove less worthy of respect than they have supposed themselves to be.” Since we are always lack of confident, we always think we are not as good as others or even useless. For example, I am a Chinese and I am not good at English, I always think talking English with others is a very difficult thing to me. Therefore, when I first came to the United States for studying, I do not have the courage to accost with any people, so I really feel embarrassed without any friends or help. After that, I decided to overcome this fear, and tried to talk with someone. That feeling was very impressive for me, because I have overcome the fear successfully, and I learn that whenever I have the intent to doing something, I can be succeeded.
It is very important to get away with fear in critical writing since when we feel stressful or nervous; we will lose any interesting and creative ideas on our mind.
I do agree with you that everyone does get fear in their life, and we will stop thinking if we fear. People need to face the fear and overcome it in order to develop their own thoughts and their future goal. Therefore, if we open our mind and do away with fear in critical thinking, we can improve the writing skills and be a good critical writer.
Cameron
Thanks for the response. I agree with what you said too. I like the line on how "fear is one of the many aspects of our life that can cloud our judgements." Fear can come in my ways and can affect the person.
Hi Hanan, I agree with your post because if many people still have fear in their life. We are not going to be able to think clearly and make the best decisions for ourselves.
To Kimhung:
I agree with you because people with fear should learn how to solve their problem. When they find a better solution to their fear, they would feel good about themselves.
I think this quote is meaning that fear is happening all the time in our life. If we can go over fear, and stay away from it, we can be more successful. Fear sometime takes away our confidence, and makes us become weak. As Bertrand Russell said, it is fear that holds men back. I totally agree with him. He actually said how usually face fear. And, I think if we give ourselves more confidence, we can go over it. And, we can be more successful person.
I argee with you that fear is kind of bad feeling, because it makes us feel weak and sad, and let us have less condifence. And, I also believe that with fear, we are hard to be sucessful. However, if we go over it with condifence, we can be success. And those are just like what you said. I also agree that fear is in critical thinking.
I think the author is trying to say fear make us keep a distance with thing we are afraid of. This led to a bad result as we are not willing to keep in touch with as we are fear of them. As a result, we will have a biased view about that and won't be able to judge thing fairly.
I totally agree with Rusell especially with his statement "it is fear that holds me back". Everyon have something that we fear like insects, dogs, dark ot even ghost. People tends to ignore the thing they are afraid of. They want to stay away from it so that they don't admit that they have something that they fear.
Critical thinking, again, is about challeging the traditional thinking that we have. But if we have something we fear of, we don't want to think about that further. That way, we could not think fairly and we will have preconceive ideas towards it. This is not good for critical thinking.
The quote by Bertrand Russell means that in order for intelligence to become a possession of many, not only a select few, we should conquer fear. Fear holds people back from their true potential. I agree with Russell because I think the quote is easily relatable and it can apply to many different things in life. For example, if you experience something tragic you might associate your experience with being afraid of a certain type of person or an event that can negatively affect the rest of your life. Overcoming fear is only natural, as FDR said, "The only thing to fear is fear itself." It's important to not have fear when it comes to critical thinking because when there is fear you doubt yourself. It's better to be wrong, learn what your mistake was and improve than to be afraid, never know if you are right or wrong and never learn from it.
True that speaking english is something many ESL students fear of. And, my experience shows that fear is cause of failure.
I am a ESL student and I don't like to speck a lot in front of English speaker as I think my English is poor. I am so embarass when I have to speak in front of the class. But later on, I start to be more confident. Even though my English is not very good now and I am still a little bit afraid of speaking in front of a crowd, at least I try to speak more. My English did improve. Therefore, I can tell that fear hold us back. If we can overcome the fear, we ca definity make it.
To Ka Ki Yu:
I agree with you, a lot of people have a fear that holds them back to a certain extent. I can relate to that because I have a serious fear of heights because I fell down the stairs when I was very young and I let it hold me back in life to this day. Have you ever let fear hold you back as well?
I think this quote is saying that fear is only an illusion of the mind. We choose to create fear as something more than it is. We are able to achieve so many things and do so much, but with the thought of fear, we do not because we are afraid too.We make ourselves to believe that fear runs our lives and thus hold us back to greater potential. I absolutely agree with Betrand Russell because it is true. We all are able to become more and do more, but with fear in the back of our minds, we feel like we cannot. I think Russell is saying that because we have the power to think we must not let fear be more than it is.
It is important to do away with fear in Critical Thinking because fear will hold us back. If we have fear then we are unable to think above and beyond. We would be too afraid to step outside of the box or cross the line. We want to stay in our comfort zone because in our minds fear has grown large and out of control. Without fear we can open our minds to bigger and better things, we can learn more, and teach others too.
To: Carmella Montes:
I love you response to this blog. It just hit the nail on the spot! Yes, we must conquer fear because fear is a ruiner of all. FDR quote adds a nice touch and is very true to this response. We create fear to be more than it is and that hinders our ability to grow. I like the point you made about how when there is fear, we doubt ourselves. I never thought of it that way, but thanks for pointing in out.
Post a Comment