Cari Info

a.. Intellectual Humility:

Having a consciousness of the limits of one's
knowledge, including a sensitivity to circumstances in which one's native
egocentrism is likely to function self-deceptively; sensitivity to bias,
prejudice and limitations of one's viewpoint. Intellectual humility depends on
recognizing that one should not claim more than one actually knows. It does not
imply spinelessness or submissiveness. It implies the lack of intellectual
pretentiousness, boastfulness, or conceit, combined with insight into the
logical foundations, or lack of such foundations, of one's beliefs.

b.. Intellectual Courage:

Having a consciousness of the need to face and
fairly address ideas, beliefs or viewpoints toward which we have strong negative
emotions and to which we have not given a serious hearing. This courage is
connected with the recognition that ideas considered dangerous or absurd are
sometimes rationally justified (in whole or in part) and that conclusions and
beliefs inculcated in us are sometimes false or misleading. To determine for
ourselves which is which, we must not passively and uncritically "accept" what
we have "learned." Intellectual courage comes into play here, because inevitably
we will come to see some truth in some ideas considered dangerous and absurd,
and distortion or falsity in some ideas strongly held in our social group. We
need courage to be true to our own thinking in such circumstances. The penalties
for non-conformity can be severe.

c.. Intellectual Empathy:

Having a consciousness of the need to
imaginatively put oneself in the place of others in order to genuinely
understand them, this requires the consciousness of our egocentric tendency to
identify truth with our immediate perceptions of long-standing thought or
belief. This trait correlates with the ability to reconstruct accurately the
viewpoints and reasoning of others and to reason from premises, assumptions, and
ideas other than our own. This trait also correlates with the willingness to
remember occasions when we were wrong in the past despite an intense conviction
that we were right, and with the ability to imagine our being similarly deceived
in a case-at-hand.

d.. Intellectual Integrity:

Recognition of the need to be true to one's
own thinking; to be consistent in the intellectual standards one applies; to
hold one's self to the same rigorous standards of evidence and proof to which
one holds one's antagonists; to practice what one advocates for others; and to
honestly admit discrepancies and inconsistencies in one's own thought and
action.

e.. Intellectual Perseverance:

Having a consciousness of the need to use
intellectual insights and truths in spite of difficulties, obstacles, and
frustrations; firm adherence to rational principles despite the irrational
opposition of others; a sense of the need to struggle with confusion and
unsettled questions over an extended period of time to achieve deeper
understanding or insight.

f.. Faith In Reason:

Confidence that, in the long run, one's own higher
interests and those of humankind at large will be best served by giving the
freest play to reason, by encouraging people to come to their own conclusions by
developing their own rational faculties; faith that, with proper encouragement
and cultivation, people can learn to think for themselves, to form rational
viewpoints, draw reasonable conclusions, think coherently and logically,
persuade each other by reason and become reasonable persons, despite the
deep-seated obstacles in the native character of the human mind and in society
as we know it.

g.. Fair-mindedness:

Having a consciousness of the need to treat all
viewpoints alike, without reference to one's own feelings or vested interests,
or the feelings or vested interests of one's friends, community or nation;
implies adherence to intellectual standards without reference to one's own
advantage or the advantage of one's group.