Commonsense Beliefs

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by Hiroji, Jul 3, 2008.

  1. Hiroji

    Hiroji laugh often, love much

    I just read this which i though was interesting and made me think;

    1) Romantic love is a natural part of human experience, and is therefore found in all societies, in close connection with marriage.

    2) How long people live is dependent on their biological make-up and cannot be strongly influenced by social differences.

    3) In previous times the family was a stable unit, but today there is a great increase in the proportion of broken homes.

    4) In most societies some people will be unhappy or depressed; therefore rates of suicide will tend to be the same throughout the world.

    5) Most people everywhere value material wealth, and will try to get ahead if there are opportunities to do so.

    6) Wars have been fought throughout human history. If we face the threat of nuclear war today, this is because of the fact that human beings have aggressive instincts that will always find an outlet.

    7) The spread of computers and automation in industrial production will greatly reduce the average working day of most of the population.

    Each of these assertions can be contradicted or questioned by actual evidence.

    1) The idea that marriage ties should be based on romantic love is a recent one, not found either in the earlier history of western societies or in other cultures. Romantic love is actually unknown in most societies.

    2) How long people live is very definitely affected by social influences. This is because modes of social life act as filters for biological factors that cause illness, infirmity or death. The poor are less healthy on average than the rich, for example, because they usually have worse diets, harder physical jobs and have poor medical facilities.

    3) If we look back to the early 1800's, the proportion of children living in homes with only one natural parent was probably as high as it is today, because many people died young, particularly women at childbirth. Divorce and separation are the main causes of broken homes, but the overall level is not something new.

    4) Suicide rates are certainly not the same in all societies. Even if we only look at western countries, we find that suicide rates vary considerably. The suicide rate of the UK, for example, is four times higher than Spain, but only a third of the rate of Hungary. Suicide rates increased quite sharply during the main period of the industrialization of western societies, in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

    5) The value which many people in modern societies put on wealth and 'getting ahead' is for the most part a recent development. It is associated with the rise of industrialism in the west - the stress which we tend to put on individual achievement. In many other cultures, individuals are expected to put the good of the community above their own wishes and inclinations. Material wealth often is not highly prized compared to other values, such as religion.

    6) Far from being an aggressive instinct, human beings do not have instincts at all, if 'instinct' means a fixed and inherited pattern of behavior. Moreover, throughout most of human history, when people lived in small tribal groups, warfare did not exist in the form it came to have subsequently. Although some such groups were aggressive, many were no at all. There were no armies, and when skirmishes occurred casualties would often be deliberately avoided or limited. Warfare today is bound up with a process of industrialization of war, that is a major aspect of industrialization in general.

    7) This assumption is rather different from the others, because it refers to the future. There is no good reason to be at least cautious about the idea. The fully automated industries are still fairly few and far between, and jobs eliminated by automation might be replaced by new ones created elsewhere. We cannot yet be sure.
     
  2. CosmicFish

    CosmicFish Aleprechaunist

    In my experience computers tend to create more work. One of the benefits of not practising a MA any more is that I can avoid inflicting too much damage when I kick the stupid things.

    The seven "commonsense beliefs" do seem a little blinkered. Where did you read it? Just curious.
     
  3. CKava

    CKava Just one more thing... Supporter

    I think that is a great exercise for highlighting the value of thinking about things critically and highlighting that we often hold idealised perceptions about times other than now. However, I have some reservations about some of the 'contradictions' supplied... to elaborate.

    I think the first point is valid i.e. that marriages have most commonly been about other things than pure romance however I would dispute that romantic love is 'unknown in most societies'. I would contend that on the contrary most societies DO have concepts of romantic love even societies in which marriage is not associated with romantic love.

    I don't think this point entirely holds up. Western cultures also have community ideals and while there are cultures where community harmony is often more highly stressed, such countries are often just as stratified as the West. Taking Japan as an illustrative example community harmony is an ideal often explicitly promoted however Japan is and has been throughout history just as full as ambitious individuals and stratified classes as other societies which may on the oustide see mless 'harmonious'. Even small scale tribal societies, often evoked as the epitomy of communal living, feature power struggles and variance in wealth and status.

    Humans do in fact have agressive instincts as can be seen by the fact that most people will react angrily to similar situations. Are instincts do not control our every action but to deny we have them is to deny the effects of millions of years of evolution. As to warfare, of course it didn't exist in the same form, they didn't have the same technology or the same size of groups. Warfare has however been a major part of human history and while there are many peaceful tribal societies there are also extremely aggresive ones too. I do agree that suprisingly previously massive armies were often used more for intimidation than actual warfare but then this did vary amongst societies and it is impossible to ignore that there were incredibly brutal battles all across the globe long before modern warfare emerged.

    Anyway, that's just my quibbles but I think questioning such things is well within the spirit with which such a list is made. I really think that most people including myself could benefit greatly from questioning the various assumptions that are often touted as 'commonsense'.
     
  4. LJoll

    LJoll Valued Member

    I think the problem with increased automation is more fundamental to a capitalist society than that. If a company gets new computers that allow the work to be done in half the time, they won't give everyone half the day off, they'll fire half the people working for them. If they don't, someone else will and they'll go out of business. At best you could hope for increased productivity so that the nation and its inhabitants become more wealthy on average, which is what's happened already I guess.
     
  5. Satsui_No_Hadou

    Satsui_No_Hadou Ultra Valued Member

    I read somewhere that the third biggest killer of the elderly in Japan is suicide. Don't think that holds true across all cultures.
     
  6. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    Most people everywhere value material wealth, and will try to get ahead if there are opportunities to do so.

    Personally I think most people value safety and being free from stress. Wealth is a safety net that helps that. Wealth stops people from being so stressed IMHO.
    For most of my post-student life I was very in debt. When I finally earnt enough not be in debt it was a tremendous relief and I would say my quality of life went up.
    Now I'm in a position where I have money going spare I'm even less stressed.
    Knowing I can sort out any problems I might have (Car breaking down, roof leaking etc) is great. Knowing I can just go out for a meal or a trip to the cinema without checking my bank balance is great.

    So personally I don't value "material wealth" and don't try to get "ahead" of anyone. I do however value having enough money to serve as a buffer between me and life's little foibles.
     
  7. Fire-quan

    Fire-quan Banned Banned

    "Common sense is the practical ideology of the ruling class."

    Gramsci (Marxist economist who died after inserting a firework in his backside.) Latter part, untrue.
     
  8. sympathy07

    sympathy07 Valued Member

    Good post Hiroji, There are good useful points. Thanks for sharing.
     
  9. sheambone

    sheambone New Member

    has anyone heard of thick black theory?
     
  10. slipthejab

    slipthejab Hark, a vagrant! Supporter

    Right... because as we saw it was biological difference that made the difference in the lifespans of Jews in Europe during the time of the Third Reich. I mean social differences didn't even come into play. If they did... a minor factor at best.

    Or for example... Algeria was only ever effected by it's biological make-up right... French colonization had very little to do how long the average Algerian lived right?


    :bang:
     
  11. Knight_Errant

    Knight_Errant Banned Banned

    I feel it annoying to have my own 'common sense' beliefs categorised in that way. I believe hardly any 'common sense' beliefs if that's going to be my common sense.
     

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