Why is Intellectualism Better Than Action?

[Splendour]

in·tel·lec·tu·al·ism
Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[in-tl-ek-choo-uh-liz-uhm] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1. devotion to intellectual pursuits.
2. the exercise of the intellect.
3. excessive emphasis on abstract or intellectual matters, esp. with a lack of proper consideration for emotions.
4. Philosophy. a. the doctrine that knowledge is wholly or chiefly derived from pure reason.
b. the belief that reason is the final principle of reality.

Many people like to vaunt the comparison of ideas over their practice. They say "Have you studied Shiite Muslim, Sunni Muslim, Buddhism, Taoism, Mormonism, Shintoism, Jainism, Hinduism, ancestor worship, Judaism, Catholicism, Greek Orthodoxy, Protestantism and every other system of belief/ideas there is...?"

What if Mother Theresa hadn't stuck to her simple faith, but went off studying each of these faiths?

What if Bill Gates had said "I'm going to think more and more about this whole computer business" and didn't build his windows operating system...

What would happen in the world if people ceased to act on what they know and opted only for comparison & study?

I raised a lot of questions here so feel free to approach it from any angle you feel comfortable with...

[Phil153]

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What if Mother Theresa hadn't stuck to her simple faith, but went off studying each of these faiths?

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Who knows? The problem in those areas is overpopulation anyway, so I'm not sure how handouts help.

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What if Bill Gates had said "I'm going to think more and more about this whole computer business" and didn't build his windows operating system...

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Computing would likely be more advanced than it is today. The monopoly practices of Microsoft forced both hardware and software manufacturers to stop innovating and instead focus solely on increasing the power of standardized architecture. There are some good debates about this.

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What would happen in the world if people ceased to act on what they know and opted only for comparison & study?

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Good question.

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I raised a lot of questions here so feel free to approach it from any angle you feel comfortable with...

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I'm not sure what your point is. It's not a defense of any religion, since you could argue exactly the same thing for Scientology or Islam, which you probably agree are either evil, undesirable, or incorrect.

The point with religion is that if you wish to go espousing something, you'd better be damn sure you understand the alternatives - or you just look like a closed minded idiot and probably end up doing more harm than good. It seems bizarre to me that something as important as the correct path in life is left to fate. What kind of a retard bases their worldview on the idea that they happen to have had an education that's correct, while the 4/5ths of the world that disagree with them, didn't. If most people's beliefs are the product of cultural indoctrination and parenting (which they are - this is FACT if you look at the correlation of parent/child and culture/child belief systems), then the only hope for understanding and enlightenment in the world is individuals who are willing to objectively assess the facts and alternatives. And who can do that without knowing them?

And I don't think anyone ever claimed that intellectualism is better than action (except maybe a few closeted tards in university departments). Action is everything, but intellectual activity informs it, guides it, and refines it.

[Splendour]

Thanks for the response Phil...an honest one...which I'll have to think about...(I love your avatar btw...hilarious)..I would like to point out that Mother Theresa did a bit more than handouts...I think she established over 600 churches, plus she did an incredible amount of work with the poor and homeless in Calcutta which is suppose to be the most poverty stricken city in the world

[Duke]

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Thanks for the response Phil...an honest one...which I'll have to think about...(I love your avatar btw...hilarious)..I would like to point out that Mother Theresa did a bit more than handouts...I think she established over 600 churches, plus she did an incredible amount of work with the poor and homeless in Calcutta which is suppose to be the most poverty stricken city in the world

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I'm pretty sure that a bunch of starving kids in Calcutta wish she'd thought more than acted. Go to a place whose problem is overpopulation, and try to make them Catholic. That's absolutely brilliant.

[Splendour]

Doesn't sound like you gave much thought to your answer Duke...

Mother Theresa was a Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. For over forty years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying in Kolkata (Calcutta), India

[Phil153]

I think he means now. Catholic policies (i.e. no condoms allowed) only worsen the plight of the poor. Not to mention the spreading of disease.

[Splendour]

I had a sociology professor who visited India and traveled all over it and he said they regard having children as a form of social security...their children will take care of them in their old age...So maybe the church in India would have a minimal affect on their birth rate...

[vhawk01]

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Thanks for the response Phil...an honest one...which I'll have to think about...(I love your avatar btw...hilarious)..I would like to point out that Mother Theresa did a bit more than handouts...I think she established over 600 churches, plus she did an incredible amount of work with the poor and homeless in Calcutta which is suppose to be the most poverty stricken city in the world

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You probably don't want to get into a discussion about Mother Teresa around here. Really, anyplace that actually knows what Mother Teresa did and was all about, rather than just knowing of Mother Teresa the punchline or the euphemism for charitable.

[vhawk01]

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Doesn't sound like you gave much thought to your answer Duke...

Mother Theresa was a Roman Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work. For over forty years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying in Kolkata (Calcutta), India

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I think its pretty obvious she caused more suffering than she ever eased. Read what Hitchens has to say about her.

[Duke]

There's a line about the best of intentions. The Nobel prize thing was granted based on the short term results and the seemingly good nature of the gesture. The long term effects are largely ignored.

I think the thing is that people suck at thinking more than about 5 seconds into the future. She obviously thought she was doing a good thing, and building churches (for whatever reason) is typically lauded. Therefore she gets a prize. Looking back on it, I can't even really prove that she caused orders of magnitude more suffering than she prevented, since there's a 'what if' every step along the way. You're right, she may have had no impact on the birth rate at all. It's only with a vague probability that I can even assert that she did.

The farther you look into the future, the more chances there are for things to not go according to prediction. People wrongly assume this means that you can't predict anything at all. This is pretty much the whole basis for people sucking at poker and others being able to win money from them because of it.

If I grant a slim possibility for her acts to have been guided by God (for [censored]'s sake she's a nun), I come to one of two conclusions. Either God hates Calcuttans, or he is just as bad at linking cause and effect as the general public and the Nobel council or whomever decides to grant those prizes.