After I wrote my blog on perspective and influencers a few weeks ago, Mr. Padraig Donnelly shared some comments and also sent me a link to his blog site. He has written an excellent article dealing with somewhat the same issues as I addressed. His article is more erudite and scholarly than mine was. I posted the following comment on his blog and asked for his permission to repost. I hope you will take the time to read his analysis of how we think and believe. It is well worth the effort.
“Padraig, Wonderful article. Persuasive, compelling and extremely well reasoned and argued. You make one of the most objective cases I have ever read dealing with both sides of the climate “argument.” You provide a good logic for listening to the climate deniers without buying into their entire claim and vice versa for not entirely buying into the “doomsday” theorists. I presume you read “Limits to Growth” by the Club of Rome years ago. Have you read Kahneman and Tversky’s “Judgement Under Uncertainty”? One of the best books I ever read on logic and thinking and the biases that we are all affected by. May I repost your article on my blog site?”
“The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of. We know the truth not only by the reason, but by the heart.”
Blaise Pascal, Pensées
Doubt is one of our most powerful tools in intellectual and social life. Not doubt as a sign of weakness or ignorance, but as a testament to curiosity and growth. In a world of certainties and definitive answers, it is in doubt that we often find the most profound insights and revelations.
Believing something doesn’t make it true. True things are true independent of your belief. You can believe something for the right reasons and be wrong. You can believe something for the wrong reasons and be right. So how can we navigate the complicated landscape of scientific evidence, philosophical intuition, and political disposition? Let’s start with the obvious and go from there.
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Aging Capriciously 
Jun 19, 2023 @ 07:20:40
Hmm. I don’t disagree with keeping an open mind, but I hope all those climate deniers and doubters who are living in Texas and other parts of the southeast right now are enjoying the excessive heat and extreme storms caused by … whatever. And whenever I read an analysis that includes Jordan Peterson as an “authority” I’m afraid I immediately doubt the conclusions! 😏
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Jun 19, 2023 @ 12:57:38
HI Jane, I will refer your comment to Padraig. He said he would like to see comments. As for Jordan Peterson, I do not know who that is. Can you give me a reference to something he wrote. You have piqued my curiousity. Thanks for your comment. John
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Jun 19, 2023 @ 13:59:29
Jordan Peterson was a prof of psychology at Canadian universities who gained popular notoriety when he refused to call his students by their preferred pronouns and was effectively sidelined from his position. Since then he’s embraced his notoriety by becoming a “presence” south of the border as an expert for fairly right-wing issues. He has rebranded himself as a psychologist, author and media commentator.
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Jun 19, 2023 @ 15:40:17
Very interesting Jane. I did not know anything about Peterson. Thanks for the background. John
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Jun 19, 2023 @ 14:25:52
The mention of Jordan Peterson was in relation to a conversation between him and Sam Harris, and it was actually Sam Harris that I quoted. That said, Peterson was a prolific clinical psychologist before he became well-known in recent years, so if he is present in this post it is only because he is embedded in the large body of psychological literature on personality, of which only a narrow slice is quoted here.
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Jun 19, 2023 @ 10:15:15
Much appreciated John! I am glad you found it useful and I hope others do too. If anyone has any questions or comments feel free to get in touch or leave a comment. My blog is intended to be an open conversation!
All the best!
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Jun 19, 2023 @ 12:55:45
Will do Padraig.
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Jun 20, 2023 @ 08:58:15
As you know, John, I write a blog where “my possibly imaginary Friend” Jesus Christ shows up from time to time. I’ve been accused by some non-imaginary friends who believe in Him of “sowing seeds of doubt.” However, I’m of a mind that all honest and relentless doubting eventually leads to my possibly imaginary Friend. About climate or, even, “climate change,” I’m a firm believer in both. But why some souls got swept away in some recent violent storms? Hell, I don’t know. And I doubt that anyone does know “why” except maybe for Him, my possibly imaginary Friend. https://thehappynarcissist.wpcomstaging.com/2022/05/08/what-a-friend/
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Jun 20, 2023 @ 16:15:16
Anything is possible Majik. Too many things we do not know and probably never will.
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