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Thoughts on Simpleism

I was hearing on the Philosophize This! podcast about Erasmus and his humanism and how he rejected everything corrupt about the Church and wanted simplicity and love for your fellow man and a move towards less ritual.

One of the things mentioned was how he believed that ignorance cannot be a sin (he also didn’t like philosophers and their ‘lazy’ dawdling about looking for the truth being the most important pursuit of life; what needs to be understood, of course, was that Erasmus was just after the black plague and the hardships of that time must have felt more important than looking for a higher truth, you know, Maslow’s…) because we’re born into ignorance and never in our life does it happen that we are suddenly NOT completely ignorant.

Stephen then goes on to link this to how ignorance is a bliss and I started thinking about how ignorance is something people nowadays strive for. The book some of my friends are reading nowadays – The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck – is all about staying within your own self, being more confident about what you are, and not constantly feeding yourself the news, or information.

Stephen ends the episode with a quote from the Bible – “The summit of happiness is reached when a person is ready to be what he is.” – and says that Erasmus thought this to be the key to happiness.

Well, it seems that humanism and simple-ism and being ignorant is making a come-back. With more books such as this one above coming out, with an increase in the noise in the signal, with every social network trying to capitalize on outrage as a means of increasing discourse, it seems that people are pushing back by finding their own corners in the world, focusing on what makes/keeps them happy, and by being more ignorant.

Colin Walker linked to a post by James Shelley recently, talking about how the word ‘simpleton’ needs to be repurposed from a derogatory term to someone who “reflects a healthy sense of skepticism about the comprehensiveness of one’s knowledge”.

I believe this is an important point in the current discourse, but instead of taking that one word, I’d rather use the word ‘simpleism’, simply because it’s something I do not already see as a pejorative.

To say, “let’s be simple”, to pursue simpleism, then, is to focus on reducing the noise, reducing the constant barrage of notifications, and news, and outrage, and even the implicit trust we have in our own knowledge and understanding.

This doesn’t mean one should simply stop looking at the news, or always be unsure. No, it means one who is willing to say, “I dunno” and being comfortable with it.

Now, if you ask my wife, I’m NOT one of those people. She asks me a question, and if I don’t know the exact answer, I regurgitate what I do know with something half coherent. The next moment she’ll ask Google and I’m completely wrong.

This surety is not something we should aspire to. It’s actually harmful. Now, that’s on a micro-scale, the personal level. The same doesn’t truly apply at the macro or the societal level. At that level, what quacks like a duck, walks like a duck…

Is simpleism compatible at a societal level? I dunno, James and Colin, you tell me.

I was once described as a philosopher programmer. I think I'd like to describe myself as a lifelong student.

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  • Based on the definition my answer would be no. Europe only barely managed to survive the simpleism (ignorance is blessed) period of history called the Dark Ages. Rome had fallen and so had European intelligence. Ignorance and authoritarianism prospered.
    Europe only came out of that awful period and entered a period of enlightenment after Muslims (Moors) had established a colony in Iberia (Spain/Portugal) and brought with them Asian mathematics and science.
    We can already see what simple thinking and ” my truth is the only truth I need “ thinking looks like at the societal level by reading the tweets of the current POTUS and the writings of climate deniers and anti-vaxxers, and the actions of many current world leaders. What kind of society would we have if everyone was ignorant or used simplistic thinking?
    But I am biased. I have degrees in physics, math and engineering, I rejected religions — it’s the same old tribal sky gods nonsense — some time ago and decided that learning and reason would be my guide to life. I think knowledge is power. Power to make decisions. Power to protect me and my family from the harm ignorance can do.

    Ignorance is defined as lack of knowledge or information. So is ignorance really bliss? Or is it just being lazy?Alex Traczyk

    But I do agree that too much bad journalism and threatening behaviour from people in a position of power is doing damage to us all (and putting into a constant state of fear).
    For that reason, I read less news and I have not regularly watched TV news in over 20 years. I use the Apple News app just once a week. I use Twitter even less than that and Facebook only to check certain groups. But I can do that because at work and in daily life I am around others who do watch and read the news. They tell me when something important happens.

    To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.Socrates

    I see simpleism (or will ignorance) as a form of apathy; the willful avoidance of feeling, emotion, interest, and concern about something of great importance. Perhaps some people feel they do not possess the level of skill required to confront the challenges of the world. But retreating to headspace won’t fix the problems or make them go away.
    FYI, you may enjoy this podcast, An IQ2US Thanksgiving Tradition.
    NOTE: If my facts are wrong or I have interpreted anything incorrectly, I am ready to be schooled.

  • Based on the definition my answer would be no. Europe only barely managed to survive the simpleism (ignorance is blessed) period of history called the Dark Ages. Rome had fallen and so had European intelligence. Ignorance and authoritarianism prospered.
    Europe only came out of that awful period and entered a period of enlightenment after Muslims (Moors) had established a colony in Iberia (Spain/Portugal) and brought with them Asian mathematics and science.
    We can already see what simple thinking and ” my truth is the only truth I need “ thinking looks like at the societal level by reading the tweets of the current POTUS and the writings of climate deniers and anti-vaxxers, and the actions of many current world leaders. What kind of society would we have if everyone was ignorant or used simplistic thinking?
    But I am biased. I have degrees in physics, math and engineering, I rejected religions — it’s the same old tribal sky gods nonsense — some time ago and decided that learning and reason would be my guide to life. I think knowledge is power. Power to make decisions. Power to protect me and my family from the harm ignorance can do.

    Ignorance is defined as lack of knowledge or information. So is ignorance really bliss? Or is it just being lazy?Alex Traczyk

    But I do agree that too much bad journalism and threatening behaviour from people in a position of power is doing damage to us all (and putting into a constant state of fear).
    For that reason, I read less news and I have not regularly watched TV news in over 20 years. I use the Apple News app just once a week. I use Twitter even less than that and Facebook only to check certain groups. But I can do that because at work and in daily life I am around others who do watch and read the news. They tell me when something important happens.

    To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.Socrates

    I see simpleism (or will ignorance) as a form of apathy; the willful avoidance of feeling, emotion, interest, and concern about something of great importance. Perhaps some people feel they do not possess the level of skill required to confront the challenges of the world. But retreating to headspace won’t fix the problems or make them go away.
    FYI, you may enjoy this podcast, An IQ2US Thanksgiving Tradition.
    NOTE: If my facts are wrong or I have interpreted anything incorrectly, I am ready to be schooled.

  • Based on the definition my answer would be no. Europe only barely managed to survive the simpleism (ignorance is blessed) period of history called the Dark Ages. Rome had fallen and so had European intelligence. Ignorance and authoritarianism prospered.
    Europe only came out of that awful period and entered a period of enlightenment after Muslims (Moors) had established a colony in Iberia (Spain/Portugal) and brought with them Asian mathematics and science.
    We can already see what simple thinking and ” my truth is the only truth I need “ thinking looks like at the societal level by reading the tweets of the current POTUS and the writings of climate deniers and anti-vaxxers, and the actions of many current world leaders. What kind of society would we have if everyone was ignorant or used simplistic thinking?
    But I am biased. I have degrees in physics, math and engineering, I rejected religions — it’s the same old tribal sky gods nonsense — some time ago and decided that learning and reason would be my guide to life. I think knowledge is power. Power to make decisions. Power to protect me and my family from the harm ignorance can do.

    Ignorance is defined as lack of knowledge or information. So is ignorance really bliss? Or is it just being lazy?Alex Traczyk

    But I do agree that too much bad journalism and threatening behaviour from people in a position of power is doing damage to us all (and putting into a constant state of fear).
    For that reason, I read less news and I have not regularly watched TV news in over 20 years. I use the Apple News app just once a week. I use Twitter even less than that and Facebook only to check certain groups. But I can do that because at work and in daily life I am around others who do watch and read the news. They tell me when something important happens.

    To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.Socrates

    I see simpleism (or will ignorance) as a form of apathy; the willful avoidance of feeling, emotion, interest, and concern about something of great importance. Perhaps some people feel they do not possess the level of skill required to confront the challenges of the world. But retreating to headspace won’t fix the problems or make them go away.
    FYI, you may enjoy this podcast, An IQ2US Thanksgiving Tradition.
    NOTE: If my facts are wrong or I have interpreted anything incorrectly, I am ready to be schooled.

  • This Article was mentioned on micro.jamesshelley.com