Russell

[BT]

[Xavier_Onassis]

It may not be the WHOLE problem, but it is certainly at the root of many of them.

 Santorum and Gingrich certainly never seem to have any doubts about anything serious.

I observe that Obama tends to give rather nuanced answers.

[BSB]

A lot of truth in that quote. One reason is that those who are so sure of themselves often have a "world view" that they just apply to different problems. However I've found that the older I get less convinced I am of the concept of a world view. In fact I think a world view can be a very dangerous thing.

BSB

[Xavier_Onassis]

I am not sure what a "world view" might be, but this quote is not what I would call a world view. It is an accurate description of a situation that causes conflicts and problems in the world.

[BSB]

XO, your understanding of what I said is 180 degrees off.

BSB

[Xavier_Onassis]

Explain, please.

[BSB]

Reread what I posted. It's very clear I wasn't saying the quote represented a world view, quite the opposite in fact. Further, if you don't grasp the concept of a "world view" is, here: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&ie=ISO-8859-1&gbv=1&q=World+View , take your pick.

BSB

[Plane]

   Human nature , is it a part of wisdom to entertain doubts?

  How does one make the nessacery decisions of leadership without being resolute?

  How does one get rid of a bad habit or wrong idea , ever?

[Xavier_Onassis]

Then I agree with you about what Russell said, don't I?\

[Xavier_Onassis]

 Human nature , is it a part of wisdom to entertain doubts?
==============================================
All of science is based on doubt. The way to prove something is true is to disprove other theories about it.  Once we have proven that bicycles are faster than walking, we do not have to prove it again, for example.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
   How does one make the nessacery decisions of leadership without being resolute?

As previously mentioned, we establish the truth or the closest thing to the truth we can, and then we base our actions on what we have determined to be functional.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
  How does one get rid of a bad habit or wrong idea , ever?
 
WWI sort of proved that cavalry charges were no longer useful against an enemy in trenches armed with machine guns. The valiant cavalry officers that tried a cavalry charge became extinct rather rapidly and the smarter cavalry officers and cavalry that witnessed the extinction refrained from repeating the mistake.

The Charge of the Light Brigade SHOULD have convinced the Brits of the unwisdom of cavalry charges as only useful for poetic inspiration, but there were those who tried it anyway.

Surgeons who failed to wash their hands after doing autopsies eventually noticed that patients operated upon after this tended to die like flies. That took awhile longer.

Some people never get rid of bad habits. Fatal bad habits are self-correcting. Cancer cures smoking, though rather slowly. There are some people who suck their thumbs at age sixty, because thumb-sucking is not fatal.

[Plane]

  I would like to have a pholosophy that allowed for learning, especially if it allowed me to learn stuff that helped me survive longer.

    I like to think that I choose wise leadership, but part of leadership is being resolute.

    What a waste it is that Adolph Hitler was pointed in a wrong direction, if he had devoted so much carisma to the betterment of the human condition as he did to taking over the world he might be remembered now as a saint just as strongly as he is remembered now as a demon.

But...

    It is not just Hitlers fault, there were probly dozens of Germans qualified to lead that the people of Germany did not choose, there was a real political process , including an election , that Hitler won fair and square. Why didn't a better German come to the fore and win that election?

  Going back to Russells quote, I see that the resolute leader appeals to the people more easily than the leader that seems indecisive .

    This works better sometimes than it did for the Germans in this case, we arn't talking about German nature , we are talking about human nature. Every country chooses leadership to match the national desire, unless really prevented from making the choice, but even where the people at large cannot choose the leadership it will be human beings that do make the choice , so the same preference for decisiveness will prevail often.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Hitler was not that bad an artist. He entered a painting in a competition in Vienna, and someone else won. Too bad.

What does one use charisma for, other than politics? Sales? Fundraising?  Acting? Perhaps Hitler could have been a great artist,  surely he had enough talent to have become the next Andy Warhol. The problem is that the Teutonic world was just not ready for an Andy Warhol.

It would not require a majority of people. I do not think that I was ready for Andy Warhol, or ever will be.

I am capable of regarding Campbell's Soup cans as art, but I would tend to buy a can of soup and appreciate it more than a Warholian rendering of a Campbell's Soup can.