em-po-ri-um

em-po-ri-um, n –
1. a store, usually a large store that offers a wide selection of goods;
2.a marketplace or center of trade

I like the sound of the word, emporium, and the image it conjures up. A big old store with aisle after aisle of goods laid out, to be picked up, put down, looked over, considered casually and sometimes thoughtfully.

So, yes, em-po-ri-um, a marketplace or center of trade - with the trade here being in ideas.

What do I want in exchange? I want listening, considering, and an exchange. Do these ideas make sense to you? Do they add to your understanding? Can you add to mine? Can we together make even more sense of the world?

But what, more precisely, am I offering - because "ideas" is a big and vague word? Most of the ideas are about human nature - such as about our all-too-frequent capacity for violence, rage, destructiveness, cutting off from others.

The ideas / opinions / understandings / conclusions are based on years of thought, experience, reading, and research. That doesn't mean they are accurate, in line with reality - but it does mean that they are not "just opinions" ("just opinons" referring to ideas people have, with no thought, research, questioning put into the opinions).

I offer, I hope, thought-provoking questions and thought-provoking analyses based on criticial thinking, on good thinking that takes into account all that it can.

I offer viewpoints that are aimed to add to our culture's ongoing discussion on how to make this world a safer place for all people. 

I present theories about human nature, explorations of current events, perspectives that can be global, theoretical, psychoanalytic, psychological, feminist, multicultural, ecological, environmental – and more.

More: I look at some fallacies - glitches in thinking - that are currently so common and widely accepted that many people are outraged when the fallacies are challenged. Then, I explore how fallacies may have a huge impact on our ability to perceive what is happening.

I look at the interaction between emotion and thought, between emotion and the capacity for critical thinking, for reality-based perception and decision-making. I look at, for instance, the role of the denial of reality , of the screening out of aspects of reality, in everyday life as well as big political events.

Other topics and issues: narcissism, rage, change, development, successful strategies, dangerous strategies, implementing positive plans into poositive realities, ethics, religious fundamentalism worldwide and its role in limiting critical thinking and therefore also social development.

More: aggression, love, shame, caring, empathy, anger, hatred, jealousy, greed; pathological and healthy inner states of being; and ways of moving toward the less pathological / dysfunctional / destructive.

Even more topics: rights movements – anti-racist, feminist, gay and lesbian, children's rights, animal rights, the rights of the poor, disability rights – and how these rights movements are connected, not just to justice but to an increased capacity for empathy with others. On the other hand, rights movements have their pitfalls as well, and I explore some of these dangers - dangers that can come from both in the anger often released and even encouraged by some rights movements, and also in the (sometimes common) liberal silence/lack of assertiveness of those from dominant groups when dealing with those from oppressed groups. There is a psychological disturbance called "identification with the oppressor" – but at present one is at least as likely to see a similarly unhealthy "identification with the oppressed".

If this is all too much in one huge helping, that's fine. These are topics I've thought about and researched and worked on for years.

Now I will be bringint them out into the world, to join the world of ideas – which will include your comments, feedback, amplifications, disagreements.

So, The Idea Emporium. Offerings on human nature, human possibilities, human limitations. Questions that have no definite rigid answer, but where a lot of thinking and research have been done, by many people. My father, myself, and so many others.

I have taught some of these ideas for years. But the ideas aren't some fixed thing, like dead butterflies. I keep exploring, looking at world events and small incidents. I have written every now and then, including two long and deep explorations - one on the personal impact of identifying with a human rights movement (gender, race, class, sexual orientation); the other on the "manfear" factor, the role of the fear of male violence on the lives of both women and men. Then, this February, a tiny incident got me writing once more, in an area where I have done much exploring, researching and teaching. I brought the article to my classes - and then, as I am creating this site, I am making a home for the idea, a home where it can be seen and can in this way get further out into the world.

We will see what happens.

THE IDEA EMPORIUM. A place for more than window shopping. A place for browsing, stopping, thinking about what fits and what doesn't, which ideas might be great additions to our idea wardrobe, and more.

Welcome,

Elsa
July 30, 2007

copyright © Elsa Schieder 2006
publishing house - FlufferDuff Impressions 2006

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Click here for Give Peace a Chance,
another idea piece.

For a "favorite" stupid opinion, click here for Stupid Opinion #One.

The Idea Emporium - why and what

One of my lifelong concerns has been trying to make sense of reality. What is happening? Why is this happening? And with that I come to ideas - ideas about reality, ideas that need to be checked against reality, not just believed in like the tooth fairy is accepted by a child. But how does one check them? What qualifies as proof, as evidence?

And why, so often, is evidence of no interest to people? We have masses of evidence of how good many people are at denying evidence when it goes against what they believe. Millions have denied, and continue to deny the equality of women and men, of Jews and nonJews, of atheists and Muslims, gays and heterosexuals. People are incredible experts at denying reality - what is seen, experienced. Of course we need to interpret reality - we do not know it "pure" but through our limited senses, our limited memory, our limited ability to perceive and make sense of the amazing array of information that does gets perceived.

Still, it boggles the even slightly rational mind - how can so many people be so utterly blind to, let's say, findings about nutrition? It amazed me to find out, when I was growing up, that there was evidence for the health benefits of whole grains over refined products - because masses of people stuck with white flour, white rice, white sugar. How could they be so closed to evidence? Somehow they had a wall against the evidence.

The ideas I want to explore are those that go with, not against, the evidence, that try to make sense of evidence.

So, the Idea Emporium - a place for ideas.
The Idea Emporium - a place where ideas are explored.
The Idea Emporium - a place where ideas are entertained , played with,
looked at from many angles.
The Idea Emporium, a place where ideas are evaluated.

What is an idea, by the way. I hadn't thought of that when I chose the name of The Idea Emporium. It just seemed the obviously right name. It was months before I realized I had a hard time putting into words what I meant by idea. I began to think about the word. Sentences with the word, idea, floated into my mind. Like, "I have an idea. Why don't we order pizza?" That was an eye-opener for me.

My guess is that most of us use the word without knowing exactly what it means. "I have an idea of what we might do. Maybe we could go out for Chinese food. But It's just an idea" - meaning this need not come to pass, but we think it might be fun. That is obviously not what I meant by idea.

"I have an idea. Maybe you left your hat in the car." Again, no

""My idea is that we go in together and talk to her." No.

These are all legitimate uses of the term, idea, but it's not what I meant when I came to name The Idea Emporium. And I'm sure it's not what people might expect if they click on The Idea Emporium - because it's not what most people mean by the word "idea."

Word has a built-in dictionary. This is what it says:

Idea -
a personal opinion or belief;
a thought to be presented as a suggestion;
an impression or knowledge of something;
a realization of a possible way of doing something or of something to be done;
the aim or purpose of a plan or project;
the gist or précis of something such as a book, report, project or plan;
a thought about or mental picture of something such as a future or possible event;
a concept that exists in the mind only;
a mental image that reflects reality.

The last is what I'm most interested in - ideas that reflect reality as well as possible. But I've decided that I like it that idea is such a wide term.

Here I am taking idea to mean (and I think this is what most of us think of when we think of the meaning of the word, idea) some thought one has about something. "I have an idea" - meaning, I am not sure this concept fits reality, but it is a hypothesis I have formed.

I also think that, when I named The Idea Emporium, I was blurring words together in my mind - idea, concept, conception, understanding, hypothesis.

The Idea Emporium - a place for all these things.

This is not the same as people having "an idee fixe" - meaning, a fixed idea, a rigid belief that something is one way or another.
The sooner people get rid of such ideas, the better. The Idea Emporium is not a place to set out rock-hard beliefs and stone people with them, hurling them like missiles at all and any that come within striking range.

That is not The Idea Emporium.

The Idea Emporium - a place to present and explore ideas - for now my ideas.

That does not mean the idea need to be timidly set forth, all hemming and hawing, tentative even when the evidence is strong.

The Idea Emporium – the goal is smart opinions, critical thought, perception, good analysis.

The Idea Emporium. Smart opinions - meaning, drawing on every resource possible, rather than "it's my opinion, that's why I believe it, and it's as good as yours any day. Who are you to say blacks can do math, women can learn to read, Jews deserve to live. I have every right to my opinion." Personally, I'd rather do my best to think well, but many others are clearly proud of their avowed right to be thoughtless.

That's not The Idea Emporium.

The Idea Emporium. Critical thought - that means we do our best to think well, to apply logic, information, all our capacities.

The Idea Emporium. Good analysis. Again, that means we try to ensure that we use valid arguments - not, "because it's my opinion," "because I say so" "because I know that's right" "because my god says so" "because everyone knows that's right" . We both draw conclusions from evidence (so there may be evidence showing patterns and tendencies in certain groups (for instance, I've done lots of research on the impact of rights movements on those who get involved, and have found lots of evidence for patterns of response) - and at the same time we are careful not to generalize, to draw conclusions beyond what we have evidence for, and even contradicting the evidence ("Women are ..." "Muslims believe ..." "everyone this happens to ..." "Jews are..." "Gays are ..."

The Idea Emporium. Perception. Not easy to perceive. We each do it through a filter of experience, memory, assumptions, and so on. We have all learned not to perceive many things - denial - and to magnify other things. The goal at The Idea Emporium (and this should be the goal everywhere) is to be as perceptive - taking in as much information - as possible.

The Idea Emporium. i could go on and on. But this is enough for a start. More important now to put it into action - because it's ideas came first, surging inside me, wanting to find a place to be heard.

I'm (among other things) a college teacher, so my teaching gives me one outlet for my ideas, to express them, modify them, listen to other ideas, test the evidence, the power (or lack thereof) of different arguments.

But that hasn't been enough for me. One small class at a time.

I have a sense that I have some ideas that could be valuable to many people - ideas many people don't have (many have very different ideas), ideas where my ideas may help other people struggling with some of the same concerns, and so on. I think these ideas could help make some kind of positive difference in the world, reach people who are reachable, maybe even break through some shells many people live inside, shells that stop them from perceiving things.

There will be space for the ideas of others as well. Right now I am starting with a few ideas of mine. But I envisage that The Idea Emporium is a place that will grow, enriching both others and also myself - that I and my ideas will grow from some of what comes back.

Elsa
July 30, 2006

copyright © Elsa Schieder 2006
publishing house - FlufferDuff Impressions 2006

IDEA * EVALUATION * CONCLUSION * INSIGHT * COMMENTARY * CONTROVERSY * INTELLECTUAL CONFLICTS * CONFLICTING VERSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS * DIFFICULT AREAS * OPINION * WELL-REASONED OPINION * UNFOUNDED OPINION * STUPID OPINION * THEORY * THEORIZING * FEMINIST THEORIES * PERCEPTION * PERCEPTIONS * PERSPECTIVES * PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORIES *
ENVORINMENTAL CONCERNS * ANALYSIS * DISCOVERING UNDERLYING CAUSES * AMBIVALENCES * AMBIGUITIES * FEAR OF AND RAGE AGAINST IDEAS * FEAR OF EXPRESSING IDEAS *
ANTI-THINKING TORRORISM * ANTI-INTELLECTUAL TERRORISM * FALLACIES * FLAWED REASONING *
THE RAGE AGAINST UNWANTED IDEAS * THE RAGE AGAINST UNWANTED VISONS OF REALITY *
BLINKERS AGAINST PERCEPTION * BARRIERS TO THINKING * BARRIERS TO REASONING *
INTELLECTUAL STIMULATION * STIMULATING IDEAS * FERTILE THOUGHT * VIEWPOINTS * UNDERSTANDINGS * COMPLEXITIES * UNCERTAINTIES * GUESSES * HUNCHES *
FACTS * GUT FEELINGS ABOUT THINGS * EXPLORING IDEAS * EXPLORATIONS OF IDEAS *
THE IDEA EMPORIUM + THE IDEA EMPORIUM + THE IDEA EMPORIUM * THE IDEA EMPORIUM
EXPERIMENTS TO VERIFY IDEAS * REALITIES * REASONING * IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS *
THOUGHT OF THE DAY * PERCEPTION * PERSPECTIVE * DATA * INFORMATION *
OPINION PIECES * LOGICAL THINKING * CRITICAL THOUGHT * INTELLECTUAL LAZINESS * IDEA

___________________________________________

comments, responses, further thinking, more ideas
__________________________________________

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more ...

 

 

THE IDEA EMPORIUM
A CELEBRATION OF GOOD THINKING

THE IDEA EMPORIUM
NO HOLDS BARRED THINKING

THE IDEA EMPORIUM
LOOK AT ANYTHING, ASK ANYTHING

LOOK ANYWHERE

PLUS, LOOK AT THE JOURNEY

 

 

"It is a fact readily acknowledged,
that for humans,
an idea is much more powerful
than a fact."

 

WHEN I HEARD THAT,
I HAD A EUREKA MOMENT.
YES, I HAD SEEN THAT SO OFTEN.

 

SOME OF US ALREADY LOVE GOOD THINKING.

BUT GOOD THINKING IS POSSIBLE
FOR ALMOST ALL OF US,
JUST LIKE EVEN A COUCH POTATO
CAN GET INTO SHAPE!

SO, FOR THE THINKERS
AND THE POTENTIAL THINKERS

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