About ability of independent thinking

Recently I was thinking about a question, what is independent thinking ability?

Aristotle once said, “The ultimate value of life is the ability to awaken and think, not just to survive.”

Does independent thinking blindly exclude popular choices? I once asked a friend.

Me: “Do you watch “Miserable World”?”
Friend: “What’s so good about the trash that the public preferences hold.”
Me: “But there are also some rubbish things in the niche preferences. Although there may be some bad impact in some popular preferences, there are also things that can withstand scrutiny and taste, right?”
Friend: “Some of the things that the niche loves are rubbish, and the things that the public loves are all garbage.”

Of course, this friend is blindly pursuing works that a few people like in books, movies, and music, and thinks this is the way to get rid of the blindness of crowd. In fact, when I thought his words carefully, he had no logic.

Learning to question is a form of independent thinking, but if you think that denial means that you will think independently, this is undesirable.

Niche preferences do not mean good, and the popular preferences do not mean garbage.

Of course, you can question the result of 1+1=2, but questioning requires an argument, rather than speaking up oneself based on your own feelings, you all think it is right, then it must be wrong. This will only make others wonder if you are a fool.

I think that independent thinking is definitely not because the public denies or depreciates the essence of excellence. Instead, try to understand before drawing your own conclusion, and this conclusion should be logical.

It seems that the popular way of thinking will always be partly entered into the “pseudo-independent thinking” enthusiasts and affixed a “conspiracy theory” general label, as if they and the masses go in the opposite direction is right.

No matter what the age, impetuous and peaceful, you need independent thinking ability, this ability can make you always question the world, always have a sense of curiosity, so that you want to analyze everything and explore the essence of the world.

Idealism tells you that human knowledge precedes sensory experience and social practice. It is innate, and it is more sensible. Materialism pays more attention to logic.

Actually, we need both of them, right? If a person only has perceptual thinking, he is easily emotional and lacks judgment. If a person is only with rational thinking, he will lack empathy and make people feel too cold.

Even if Plato said: “The masses will always live in caves of ignorance.” This does allow us to maintain independent thinking, but it is by no means letting you deny everything else and go to the other extreme, thinking that your thinking is right.

If so, what is the point of you going out of the cave?

Don’t be independent for “independence”, but because of thinking that makes you feel independent.