3 Layers of Thinking

We all think and process information; how we do so can significantly affect our lives in different ways. I have formulated a leveled place of thinking; they are not more or less significant than each other,  rather they go hand in hand. The 3 layers are pragmatic thinking, Socratic thinking, and a more complicated way of thinking, that for the sake of the article, we will call it “universal believing”. 

Most people tend to think pragmatically — simply; to a level that is seen as practical or more results oriented — which isn't inherently a wrong way of thinking; it's just not optimal for bigger thinkers and smarter people. William James, an American psychologist in the late 1800’s, explains that, “Pragmatism’s only test of probable truth is what works best in the way of leading us, what fits every part of life best and combines with the collectivity of experience's demands”, meaning that the value of an idea depends on whether or not it works in practice. On Wikiquote, in pragmatism, it quotes Aristotle's Complete Works: “That which is desirable on its own account and for the sake of knowing it is more of the nature of Wisdom than that which is desirable on account of its results.” which argues that thinking outside of traditional pragmatism; thinking with philosophy, is more wise than thinking purely to pragmatism, proving our point that you should need both. For example, if you discover something new, pragmatically it makes the most immediate sense to define this as true; no more need to search deeper. This can be harmful to learners because it stops them from thinking more, and in some occasions it prevents people from later with more information seeing what's wrong, because it prevents humbleness. It works in practice, until it doesn't. But this isn't to demean its importance, the point is that it cannot work alone.

In conclusion, pragmatic thinking alone, serves very little benefit, and needs other methods of thinking to keep it in check. A world of purely pragmatic thinking leads to ignorance — not clarity. This leads me to bring in the other 2 levels of thinking mentioned before.

The term Socratic is to know that you know nothing. This comes from when the philosopher Socrates said “The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing”, which means that the smartest people recognize their limits. This is important because it grounds you and humbles you. Socratic thinking is useful, but alone — like anything — it could be easily misinterpreted, and misunderstood; for example if somebody removes the idea that they could ever know if they are right, they could let go of the matter, and stop learning because they are told it is useless; they know nothing.

Socratic thinking isn't bad though, it's misunderstood, as said in, “The Socratic Method: A Foundation for Critical Thinking”, an article written by Philosophy Institute: “The Socratic Method is one of the most influential philosophical tools ever developed… Named after the Greek philosopher Socrates, this method emphasizes dialogue and critical thinking rather than simply presenting facts.”, it presents critical thinking, not avoiding it. As well as that, it needs to co-exist with pragmatic thinking, without a healthy thinking ecosystem you will falter in some areas, which could be self destructive, if you think Socratically, but you refused to think in any other layer, you lose your grounding, anything can go; you aren't to say if its right or wrong, but Socratic thinking does not exist to cause ignorance, quite the contrary, it is wise to know nothing, but that way of thinking alone isn't practically useful, especially if you take it the wrong way. This isn't the denial of importance, this isn't nihilism.

This leads to the same conclusion as pragmatic thinking. Socratic thinking is good, but alone, it causes self destruction; it prevents continuation of learning, or in some cases reduces people's motivation to show the public what they have learned.

Universal believing can be described as the belief that all things that have happened, will happen, are happening, didn't happen, won't happen, and aren't happening are inevitable; all things are both true and false — it relieves stress, and gives us peace, and brings awareness to the truth that we have no control — this thinking is to understand that no matter what you do, all things have happened, you don't have to worry because the best and the worst, and every other thing in the universe or multiverse just happened; all things are true; what matters becomes softer, less important. Many people could see this as letting go of everything and just let the world happen; watching the movie instead of playing the game.

While universal believing could be seen like that, that isn't an accurate way to look at it, it's dangerous. What you need to do is stay away from using this alone, it needs to be integrated into the thinking ecosystem; otherwise this can be harmful; for example, if somebody heard of universal believing they could find themselves feeling useless, or that their findings are insignificant. Seeing universal believing in the wrong way, and using it in a situation that practically doesn't make sense is more harmful than peaceful.

In conclusion — like the other levels — this way of thinking relies on the ecosystem to thrive; they need to be trained symbiotically. If we can't learn to put them together in a healthy way it causes much more harm than good. Universal believing is good; like all things, it is good, only when regulated, and fully understood. 

All of these three ways of thinking — if used correctly — can be powerful. Donella H. Meadows, a systems thinker had proved this when she said, “Remember always that everything you know and everything everyone knows, is only a model… invite others to challenge your assumptions and add their own”, in this context the quote proves that having one stand alone belief is no good, instead you should integrate many perspectives; she talks about the perspectives of others, but in this context it can be used to integrate multiple perspectives in general, to for a stronger belief. It’s good for rationalizing and motivating, understanding and humbling, and in having peace and letting go. These should help you maybe be a better person, and without a doubt a better scientist, learner, discoverer, and a better philosopher. If you find something new and choose to hold onto its truth, and to believe you know its true, you will be an idiot if your wrong; adding Socratic thinking is to realize that you don't know; to humble yourself, and to use universal believing and understanding that it’s okay to be wrong, because your always wrong and right, and still be able to use pragmatic reasoning to see that your point is real, and it can make change; Yet you don't know everything yet, so keep learning; having any one of these alone stops continuation, but to have it all is to learn forever, and to grow forever.