Topics Philosophy

Question I've heard it said recently that we all analyze too much and that instead of thinking about things we should just act? An example, (in a <i>New York Times</i> Op-ed, though I can't remember the date) was given that rather than laboring in thought over what it means to be a good person, we should just do things such as help old ladies across the road (though I don't know how often that opportunity arises). What do you as a philosopher think of this advice? Is it necessary or important for us as humans to think, or can we just be? Won't we all be happier if we just existed (...and loved one another) rather than convoluting ourselves with thought?

Accepted:
November 17, 2006

Comments

The advice, "Act; don't think!" would be good advice if thoughtless action was likely to be good action. Since I see no reason to suppose that people would reliably act well when they fail to deliberate, I think the advice to act thoughtlessly is bad advice. There are several problems here, in fact. One is that good action can sometimes be somewhat difficult to discern, and may engage somewhat conflicting impulses. Take a case that happens often these days: One is approached by a sad-looking homeless person, who asks for some money. One's first impulse might be to give the person some money, because one feels sorry for the person. But then, one might (not unreasonably) suspect that the money would not actually serve any real benefit--it might simply go to feeding an alcohol or drug addiction, which is a major part of why the person is in such bad shape. Should one then refuse, but make a donation to the local homeless shelter? Or perhaps some other charity? Or...? Acting simply on impulse here does not seem to be a way to get the best result, and so it would be very reasonable to deliberate more carefully about how one will react to this kind of circumstances more generally. Another problem is that our initial impulses may actually be inappropriate--even bad ones. (For example, we find ourselves disgusted by the smell of the homeless person, and struggle with an impulse simply to push them away.)

Socrates famously said that "the unexamined life is not worth living for a human being." I am inclined to agree--a life in which we elected to forego our distinctly human capacity to think would be a life that is less than human.