2007-02-15 20:37:09 · 12 answers · asked by babe 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Quotations
It means if you believe without question whatever those in power tell you, you will never know the truth.
2007-02-15 20:40:59 · answer #1 · answered by trai 7 · 5⤊ 1⤋
Here are your premises: "UNthinking respect for authority is the greatest ENEMY of truth. THEREFORE, THINKING respect for authority would be the greatest FRIEND of truth." Your two premises are true and Einstein would agree. However, you state your conclusion as: "Having respect for authority leads to finding the truth." My question to you is, Why in your conclusion did you leave off the key word, "thinking" respect?" You state it in your premise, why drop it from your conclusion? Did you do that purposely? Did you make an innocent mistake in logic? Einstein was clear: blind respect does not lead to truth. Period.
2016-03-28 22:21:39 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's an extension--a corollary, perhaps--of his famous quote:
“Imagination is more important than knowledge. The important thing is to never stop questioning.”
Einstein knew that without the ability to imagine--to ask "What if?" and "Why?" and "Why not? (etc)--humans would give up one of their greatest gifts: The ability to know the unknown.
Some take his as a cosmic definition; a means of unlocking the secrets and mysteries of The Universe.
But Einstein was not one to sit in an ivory tower and toss out niblets to True Believers. He was a scientist of the purest order, one who begins with the premise that there is a point of view other than that which he is able to visualize with his best efforts.
He also applied these concepts to the more mundane situations of everyday life, seeing through the status quo and envisioning what might be instead of only what was (is).
For one to respect authority without using the capacity of the mind to evaluate, rationalize...and imagine...is to certainly cut off any hope of observing truth.
From the viewpoint of a scientist, when a scientist allows someone else to dictate your point of view--how, when, where, why and what to observe--then one is predestined to come to only one conclusion, that of the authority and not any other possibility.
The same can be said--of course--in the case of Governments, Political Movements, Human Relations, Religion...the list is limited only by our imagination!
2007-02-15 21:04:57 · answer #3 · answered by gordios_thomas_icxc 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
When you automatically respect authority without stopping to think about what is being asked of you, you are denying yourself the realization of truth. You're just going about like a robot and forgetting to consider what you really want and what you really should do.
2007-02-16 01:43:43 · answer #4 · answered by hiccup_snickup 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Meaning if you respect and trust the authority just becasue they are in charge, you are blind like sheep. You will believe whatever you are told and ignore the truth.
2007-02-16 03:19:43 · answer #5 · answered by country_girl 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Blind faith, without the exercise of free will and free choice, leads to unquestioning acceptance of whatever one is told. How can that help the cause of truth? We have minds and, unless we question and consider what we are being told, it is highly likely that we could be being misled. I firmly believe that unless an idea can be challenged and still survive that idea is not worth who said it...including my ideas.
2007-02-15 23:00:00 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
kinda self explanatory isn't it. if you respect listen too and obey authority like a government with out looking at what it stands for it can blind your eyes to the truth exp Germany in the late 30's.
2007-02-15 20:42:46 · answer #7 · answered by Evil D 4 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Here's my guess: You blindly believe someone because they're an authority and don't challenge their ideas, so you blindly take on their opinion and it may be the wrong one (or not a truthful one to yourself).
2007-02-15 20:43:45 · answer #8 · answered by Gist 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It means when people blinding follow their leaders without asking questions, they suffer the danger of supporting and propagating untruths (just like at all the people that blindly supported the Iraqi war and we now know there were no WMDs, no ties to al Qaeda, etc)
2007-02-15 20:41:01 · answer #9 · answered by DiggyK 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Einstein had immense distaste for any kind of authoritarianism.
2007-02-15 20:48:06 · answer #10 · answered by Sam 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋