This article was conceived through the lens of Rene Descartes\u2019 philosophy of being. In this
\nreasoning, thinking is a precondition for living, not the other way round. However, deeper
\nreflection persuaded me to take a less extreme view. Consequently, that change of point of view
\nnecessitated a change of title as well. Thus, They Live, Who Think, being the original title under
\nwhich the piece was composed, gave way.<\/p>\n
Descartes was a French Philosopher and Mathematician, whose philosophy was built on Cogito
\nergo sum (I think, therefore I am). This formed a basis for his philosophy and undergirded his
\nreflections about life. Based on this reasoning, the ability to breathe seems not to be a condition
\nfor living; thinking is. His critics and several other thinkers may hold dissenting views. Some
\nmay think that his is an extreme view. However, few of these critics would contend consistently,
\nthe centrality of thinking to being human. If this is true, and I am afraid it is, then Descartes
\ndeserves commendation.<\/p>\n
Often times, humans feel so familiar with some phenomena that they really do not get to
\nunderstand them beyond vague views which are held about them. More often than not, people
\nare quick to distinguish between human beings and animals just on the basis of the former\u2019s
\npossession of language. Thus humans are satisfied that although animals communicate, they
\nachieve that through some other means, rather than language. It should be a cause for concern to
\nus that beyond the possession of language, the quality of the content expressed through the
\nlanguage is almost as important as the language itself, if not more important. What this article
\nseeks to accomplish is the fact that thought or reason, in addition to language, distinguishes
\nbetween humans and animals. This fact should not be lost on all humans.<\/p>\n
Whenever statements such as This is a reasonable way to do it, That is not reasonable, Are you
\nreasonable at all?, etc. are uttered, what the speaker is appealing to, is the addressee\u2019s quality of
\nthought and formation of judgement about some things in that speech universe. To start from the
\nbasis, the depth of thought being manifested in the recent times, especially by the children is
\nworrisome. More disturbing is it that some adults too are found in this category. Judged by the
\nway issues are handled and situations are responded to, there is the need to call attention to how
\npoorly matters of great concern are processed mentally. It is the conclusions reached through
\nsuch thinking that inform the decisions which eventually manifest in form of the actions we see.<\/p>\n
This is the part one of the article, intended to set the tone for the topic. Thus, just one or two
\ninstances will be treated in the next three paragraphs to make the point a little clearer.
\nThinking is a culture that must be consciously developed. Like many other things, good thinking
\nshould naturally start manifesting from apparently minor things and keep building up. For
\ninstance, whether they are young or old people, their attitude to some things around us should
\ninterest us. At times, people drink water and drop the sachet on the floor, even when there is a
\ncontainer meant for the purpose of collecting such wastes. As trivial as that attitude could seem
\nto anybody, the thinking which produces it should not be encouraged because it is shallow.<\/p>\n
Sooner or later, some fellows would be responsible for cleaning the mess. Those people who
\nwould do the cleaning must be some persons\u2019 mothers, aunts, nieces, cousins, etc. or some
\npersons\u2019 fathers, uncles, nephews, etc. Had those who littered the floor thought deeply enough,
\nthey would have understood the other fellows in the above lights. Somehow, this indifference or
\nwickedness, as the case may be, graduates from simply littering the environment to more serious
\nacts.<\/p>\n
Good thinking should necessarily compel someone to make a reasonable move about actual or
\npotential forms of danger in their vicinity or others\u2019 vicinity. Even if one is not likely to get
\ninjured or electrocuted by a naked wire somewhere around people, they should not be
\ncomfortable about leaving it. What about the sight of a protruding nail somewhere waiting for a
\nhelpless foot? The foot that might unfortunately fall victim is first and foremost a human\u2019s. The
\nowner of the foot must be a knot or node in a complex web of relationships; someone\u2019s daughter,
\nson, brother, sister, niece, nephew, friend, neighbour, classmate, confidant, mentor, companion,
\namong others. Hmmm!<\/p>\n
Our journey of reclaiming humanity begins from our ability to make such seemingly unimportant
\nconnections between our actions and inactions. It would not be difficult to appraise oneself at
\nthis juncture. People need to become reasonable. They need to become responsible. They need to
\nbecome thinking beings.<\/p>\n
In the garden of words and thoughts, timelessness is courted!<\/p>\n
Mewhenu Hosu,
\nLagos State University International School, Ojo, Lagos State
\nmewhenu78@gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This article was conceived through the lens of Rene Descartes\u2019 philosophy of being. In this reasoning, thinking is a precondition for living, not the other way round. However, deeper reflection persuaded me to take a less extreme view. Consequently, that change of point of view necessitated a change of title as well. Thus, They Live, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11522"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11523,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11522\/revisions\/11523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}