Intellectual Autonomy: Being an Independent Thinker
Intellectual autonomy may be defined as internal motivation based on the idea of thinking for oneself; having rational control over what you believe. Having your own values, and control your way of thinking; not being dependent on others for the direction and control of one's thinking.
Autonomous persons are persons in charge of their lives. They are not dependant on others or controlled by emotions.
They have self-control.
They are competent.
They complete what they begin.
In forming beliefs, critical thinkers do not passively accept the beliefs of others. They think through issues for themselves.
They form their own principles of thought and actions and do not accept anything blindly that is presented to them without first thinking about it.
They are not limited by accepting a way of doing things. They evaluate traditions and practices that others may just accept willingly.
Independent thinkers strive to gain knowledge and insight into their thinking, they are not wilful, stubborn or unresponsive to the reasonable suggestions of others.
They are self-monitoring thinkers that makes their own mistakes and they have their own values that were not forced on them.
Then we have those people that do not think for themselves. Everything that they hear or read is just accepted. I call them people living in a box.
Thinking for oneself almost certainly leads to unpopular conclusions.
Consequently, the large masses of people are unknowingly just like sheep in thought and deed.
They reflect whatever is thrown to them.
They lack the intellectual skills to make them true thinkers. Even those who spend years studying may be intellectually dependent, both academically and personally.
They may uncritically accept faulty practices in the discipline as it stands.
The result often is unwarranted human harm and suffering.
One cannot be fair-minded and lack intellectual autonomy, for independent thinking is a prerequisite to thinking from various viewpoints. When we intellectually conform, we are only able to think within "accepted" viewpoints.
But to be fair-minded
is to refuse to uncritically accept beliefs without thinking through the merits (and demerits) of those beliefs for oneself.
Feel free to test this idea. Do you just accept everything as being correct or do you use the 10 % of your brain effectively?