It is useful to know that Thomas Jefferson bought the territory, because it conflicted with his professed beliefs about a weak executive, and therefore showed that one should take some of his pronunciamentoes with a grain of salt.
That's an interesting point, something I hadn't thought of. When I hear interesting points, I always perk up, curious soul that I am. Beyond the momentary rush of endorphins at this new discovery, though, how will I or the world be better off for my knowing that. Why does it matter, really?
It is useful to know that we bought it from France because it can help explain the prevalence of French place names in the Middle West, and the reason that there are Cajuns in Louisiana.
Conversely, one could reasonably conclude that we bought it from France because of all the French place names. Or one could simply find the French place names quaint and charming independent of their origin and go on one's merry way.
But I have heard people make the most preposterous mistakes, and be vulnerable to the most absurd claims, because they had no internal "plausibility meter", which depends on having a reasonable amount of facts stored away........
That is so.
OTOH, one could simply recognize that one doesn't know much about a particular subject and refrain, on that basis, from making any claims. Knowing when you don't know is a part of critical thinking, too, and much easier on the grey matter than storing a bunch of facts.
BTW, for those of us who think analogies and English are important, that should be "reasonable NUMBER of facts." <g> It's Jewel's fault. Just couldn't help myself. |
