a few questions about society and freedom

[Bullet_Dodger]

1) What is the realtionship between the freedom we have as individuals, and the responsiblity we have to the society thats grants us those freedoms?
2) How do we know what we know? (ie: media bias)

Just wanted to here other thoughts on these issues.

edit: didnt like the 2nd question i had on there so i took it out.

[bkholdem]

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3) How do we know what we know? (ie: media bias)

Just wanted to here other thoughts on these issues.

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For me, the ability to understand things by acually thinking issues through using logic and considering alternate perspectives is extremely important. I think way too many people in society just copy the ideas of others. The problem with this is that since they did not develop the idea themselves, they may not have any understanding why the idea is acually good. In fact, it may not even be logical.

I could not recommend strongly enought that every teenager and adult take a few entry level philosophy courses in logic and critical thinking. There is acually a 'science' behind thinking and reasoning and understanding. I regret not putting more enegry into this area myself. I was first introduced to logic in high school and minored in philosophy in college but wish I took it more seriously. As an adult in my late 30's in the working world I encounter all too many people who do not have a basic understanding of how to reason through issues or what it means to be consistent in one's beliefs, or why this would be a good thing.

[xorbie]

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1) What is the realtionship between the freedom we have as individuals, and the responsiblity we have to the society thats grants us those freedoms?

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There is a very long line of philosophers who have tried to answer this. First of all, society generally doesn't "grant" all the freedoms we have. It would be more precise to say that it aurantees not to restrict certain freedoms. Given a state of no society, I would be quite free to say or do whatever I like.

There are of course things that society enables me to do that I generally could not do otherwise, but these are not the "freedoms" that many think of (in the sense of the bill of rights).

It is my opinion, though this is certainly not shared by all, that we owe a good deal to society for this and ought to help society.

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2) How do we know what we know?

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At its root, this is an epistomological question. But if you're just asking about media bias, then I don't care. So long as there are multiple outlets and information is somewhat free, outright media bias is better than a false sense of impartiality.