Stupidity, idiocy and stupid idiots. Why you should think for yourself – and with others

It seems that we are entering a golden age of stupidity. With such a dismal statement, the Norwegian philosopher Lars Svendsen (whom the reader is already familiar with from our publications “The Philosophy of Freedom” (2016) and “The Philosophy of Solitude” (2017)) begins his book. One of the most unpleasant discoveries is that intelligence and the size of your own library are of no help. The smarter and more well-read you are, the wilder theories you can believe. As Svendsen discovered, it is often the philosophers who are ahead here!
Gathering together the observations of Aristotle, Montaigne, Kant, Schopenhauer, Wittgenstein and many others, Svendsen offers a philosophical study of “bad thinking”, the extreme manifestations of which are stupidity and idiocy, and the worst manifestation is the case when these extremes converge. These flaws are not seen in the book as an incurable characteristic of the individual, but rather as a “failure in thinking” from which no one is immune, not excluding the most famous philosophers and the author himself.
The author calls for critical thinking and humility as a counterbalance to excessive confidence. And, yes, you should “think for yourself” so as not to become a prisoner of narrow-minded traditions, and at the same time think with others so as to avoid the worst idiocy, which consists in stubbornly clinging to your own personal truth. Being open to recognizing stupidity and idiocy in yourself is the first step on the path of self-knowledge and self-help.