Keeping errors at a bay

                                                       

Bertrand Russel

Literal Comprehension:

This essay is about something which we should keep away from us to avoid silly errors. People make silly errors and face problems in their daily life. Though people are conscious, they often make the silly mistake which is easily avoidable if properly cared. We should know some of the basic things and try to avoid errors. First, we should not blindly believe whatever people say. We should not guess like Aristotle guessed about woman’s teeth. Secondly, we should compare and contrast the disagreeable ideas. Thirdly, we should avoid our dogmatism by making us familiar with different social context, their belief, and opinions. For this, we should interact with people of different communities, religions, and languages. Fourthly, we should judge our opinions and minimize our cocksureness by holding our imaginary arguments with someone who holds a contrary view to us. Fifthly, we should be free from bias self-esteem. It makes us blind and intensifies the feeling of intolerance. Finally, we should keep us free from fear which forces us to refuge a reality.





Interpretation:

Bertrand Russel, in this essay, tries to say that people do not evaluate matter objectively. They think they know everything without knowing anything. We are proud of our own ideas and ignorant of truth and reality. We do not compare our ideas with the ideas of other people but only claim we are right. Here, he suggests simple rules which help us to keep our errors at a bay. They are the objective observation of things, comparisons of ideas, interaction with people of different communities and religion, imaginary arguments with opponents, free from self-esteem and fear. If we apply these things in our daily life, we can be free not from all errors but from silly errors.





Critical Thinking:

In this essay, Russel had advised us to apply some rules which will help us to lead a successful life. This is an essay which tries to share the practical lesson. Thinking critically, I like to raise some questions in the text. Is it possible to make an objective observation of everything? How can we verify the existence of the soul? Is it possible to interact with people of different communities? Can we progress if we try to be free from self-esteem? Is it possible to be free from fear? Except for these points, I like this essay.





Assimilation:
This is a very interesting and practical essay. Before reading this essay, I was not aware of errors while doing something. After reading it, I got really good ideas to avoid silly errors. Wisdom is one of the important things through which we can fight against superstitious faith and absurdities. Now I have decided to apply different ideas suggested by Russel.