Diablo Valley College Good to Think Ideas Discussion Question

Our ideas of what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ may be thought of as an ensemble of preferences more or less equivalent to (and often even described as) ‘good taste’. Just as we find certain foods ‘good to eat’, we find certain congeries of ideas ‘good to think’. One example is competition. American culture in particular encourages us to think of competition as ‘good’. After all, a market economy is based upon the idea of competition: without it there would be little incentive to create or improve or succeed; or so we are expected to believe. Or consider the expression, ‘may the best man win’. The idea here is that victory will ‘naturally’ come to those who are best, that competition will separate ‘winners’ from ‘losers’. What we routinely ignore in all this is that to have a legitimate competition, it must be a ‘fair’ competition, there must be ‘a level playing field’. And in reality (i.e., the actual world we inhabit, enmeshed as we are in a multiplicity of cross cutting demands and expectations and constraints – as opposed to the cartoon fantasy world of ideals and values, concepts to which we like to think of ourselves as being loyal, when in fact we rarely if ever truly are) the ‘playing field’ is almost never ‘level’. The only conditions under which the so-called playing field is even close to ‘level’ are when we all cooperate and agree to abide by rules, regulations which are designed to keep the competition fair. In short, we like to think of competition as good and proper without ever acknowledging that in order to have legitimate competition we must first cooperate. So cooperation is the precondition for any fair contest. But somehow cooperation is not good to think. What examples of good to think ideas can you think of? What makes them good to think? Why?

Response 1:

What comes to mind when I think of good to think ideas are what can benefit me or what can benefit others. Everyone gets a job so they can be financially independent which benefits them so they can take care of themselves. Buying food, clothes, and paying bills all benefit them. Furthermore, by being financially independent they will be able to take care of their parents. Good to think ideas are ideas that can benefit you and sometimes others. For example, some high school graduates decide they want to go to college, while others choose to work. The high school graduates that want to go college are considered “good to think” ideas because college gives them an advantage over the others who did not go to college. College benefits them because they receive advanced education, more likely obtain a higher paying job that has health benefits, and travel. Another example I can think of is the invention of vaccines. Vaccines is a “good to think” idea because it can benefit so many people’s health.

Response 2:

“Good Thoughts” in every society seem to be completely subjective. Many people from certain societies hold certain beliefs that they think are “good thoughts”, but many people outside of that group may have different ideas. Many people inside the group may even have different ideas that they think are better than the other ideas. An example of this would be responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. Many politicians and people in America believe in economic rationality. As stated in the reading Obsolete Beliefs , economic rationality is thinking that the value of everything can be calculated in monetary terms. This is a flawed belief due to the reading, which many people agree with. This belief can be seen when politicians and other people call for the reopening of stores and businesses in order to save the economy. One of President Trumps White House aids even said in a live interview that “the country’s human capitol is ready to get back to work”. Clearly many people think of the workforce in America as resources and think of laborers in monetary value. Other people in the country in the country argue that it is not safe to reopen and we should keep things closed while the government provides monetary relief and support. There have been countries that have tried both approaches and both sides of the arguments think that they have the best idea.