Reading Response 1

After reading the two articles, Agonism in the Academy and The Dangers of Certainty, I have realized that thinking is a complex matter that involves many different aspects in the ways people think about it. Agonism which is a “ritualized opposition” is evident in most academic settings. Sometimes it is promoted and encouraged by teachers who think the way to get better is by tearing one another down. In Agonism in the Academy, Deborah Tannen dwells on how people are more focused on each other’s faults than on what one another’s strengths are. This causes vulnerableness and defensiveness which leads to people unwilling to speak their mind and bring new ideas to the table. People avoid taking part in “adversarial discourse” because they are scared to show their work and fear being torn down. Agonism causes divisiveness which causes people to not want to work to a new level of succession. I find that the agnostic culture is more prevalent than we might think. Students tend to tear down their peers work in order for them to gain more confidence and the feeling of being better than. For example, when grades come out for a big test or a dreaded exam, people jump to the question, “What did you make?” I find this simple question extremely irritating and defeating because a grade does not define intelligence whatsoever. People in society are always trying to one up each other and most of the time, they achieve this by tearing other people down. 

In The Dangers of Certainty, Simon Critchley gives the reader an exact description of a BBC documentary series called The Ascent of Mari. As described by Critchley, each episode was an “essay” and not flashy or extravagant in any fashion. The part that was so great and admired by all people was that the host, Dr. Jacob Bronowski, held a genuine and humble disposition that made him very well liked. He “presented everything with great gusto, but with a depth that never sacrificed clarity and which was never condescending” (387). He claimed that the people who believe they know everything are corrupted. Knowledge is something gained through accepting uncertainty and being open to reasoning and interpretation. This idea is something we, as humans, can easily opt to avoid due to not wanting to accept the grey areas of knowledge. It is so easy to get in the mindset that there is either a right or wrong solution or everything is black and white. In reality, there is so much depth and meaning to everything, but especially knowledge because knowledge is such a diverse topic with a wide array of rights and wrongs to it. Overall, thinking and egos are two things that make us who we are, but sometimes they can cause corruption.