Emir Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza’iri (d. 1883) on Critical Reasoning vs. Blind Emulation

Wikipedia

Those who are leaders from among the people can be divided into broad categories.  The first are those who are knowledgeable and beneficial to themselves and others. These come to know the truth through demonstrative proof and evidence, not by blind emulation, and encourage the people to also seek the truth by demonstrative proof and evidence and to by simply following others.  The second group are both destructive to both themselves and to others.  These are those that blindly emulate their forefathers in what they believe and what they and what they consider to be correct, abandoning rational investigation and calling the people to emulate them instead of thinking for themselves.

Emir-Abd Al Qadir Al- Jza'iri, Dhirka Al-'Aqil WaTanbih A-Ghafil (beirut 1966). p.34

ThyAlwaysseek

To be a leader of men and woman, one must lay aside all of ones own wants and desires and desire only to serve and serve honorably.  This type of service is the highest service to mankind and it must be treated as such.

Canberra

We are ruled by psychopathic leaders all across the earth.   These are selfish people who are vested in greed and avarice and because we have allowed this to happen, our planet is very ill.

Philosophy employs what Plato calls ‘the eye of the mind’ to go beyond the immediacy revealed by sense experience so as to access the true reality revealed  by the intellect.  

In this view of philosophy, there are levels of cognition which ascend from instincts and desires at the level of immediacy up to reason and intellect at the highest level. 

The path to truth, knowledge and freedom leads at the summit, the opening at the top of the bottle. This is the way of philosophy. The intellect shows the true reality. This is reality as seen through the eye of the mind. Philosophizing through the Eye of the Mind

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