The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
—George Bernard Shaw
I’m all for having an accurate map, and that does mean updating that map. But don’t let that stop you from trying to alter the territory—and actually fixing problems.
If the world fails to meet your expectations, sometimes the problem is with the world.
Caring about things is by definition an emotive act.
I strongly disagree (about “by definition”; it’s of course a popular sense of the word). Operationalization of caring is value, preference. It’s channeled by decision making, and deliberative thought is capable of taking over decision making. As such, it may pursue an arbitrary purpose that a person can imagine. A purpose not derived from emotion in any way might be thought to be an incorrect idealization of preference, but even a preference ultimately grounded in emotion will be expressed by decisions that emotions are occasionally incapable of keeping up with.
When the world fails to meet your expectations then the problem isn’t with the world.
This situation is an issue of emotional regulation (at the very least). I can recommend DBT as efficacious there.
Yes, that’s exactly how I was looking at it, though I guess I didn’t made a very good job at explaining that in my question.
I mean, I still think the current lack of rationality in the world is a big problem, but it’s not like I expect people to do better any time soon, I was just looking for ways to avoid feeling like I feel when I’m reminded of that.
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I’m all for having an accurate map, and that does mean updating that map. But don’t let that stop you from trying to alter the territory—and actually fixing problems.
If the world fails to meet your expectations, sometimes the problem is with the world.
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I strongly disagree (about “by definition”; it’s of course a popular sense of the word). Operationalization of caring is value, preference. It’s channeled by decision making, and deliberative thought is capable of taking over decision making. As such, it may pursue an arbitrary purpose that a person can imagine. A purpose not derived from emotion in any way might be thought to be an incorrect idealization of preference, but even a preference ultimately grounded in emotion will be expressed by decisions that emotions are occasionally incapable of keeping up with.
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Yes, that’s exactly how I was looking at it, though I guess I didn’t made a very good job at explaining that in my question.
I mean, I still think the current lack of rationality in the world is a big problem, but it’s not like I expect people to do better any time soon, I was just looking for ways to avoid feeling like I feel when I’m reminded of that.
I’ll look into DBT and try your advice, thanks.
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