In Defence Of Free Thought

In an increasingly suffocating world that is founded on the limitations of human agency, defence and exercise of free thought becomes vital. The first step is not to provoke overt mass action but to create a space to think independently, this is my attempt at just that. If it were employed free of sociopolitical manipulations and trained to internalise values of equality, freedom and justice, thought can help radically transform the seemingly rigid reality. Thought is inherent to these principles hence it is never ‘mere thought’ but holds unimaginable power.

In an increasingly suffocating world founded on the limitations of human agency, defence and exercise of independent thought becomes a duty when we realise how much effort, resources and machinery are being exhausted to stop people from thinking freely. The first step is not to provoke overt mass action but to create a space to think independently, this is my attempt at just that. My claims might not be entirely novel, they were reinforced if not influenced by philosophy, politics, a variety of disciplines like psychology and art that I will admit have made me value independent thought and its extreme political significance. We must defend free thinking as long as the world goes on or until we establish absolute human freedom and equality in all spheres, all aspects, all relationships, all phases, all corners of the cosmos.

In my opinion nothing can be apolitical. Art, music, cinema, literature, poetry is all utterly political and thought is inherently at the centre of it all, this thought defines and sets the tone for the sociopolitical conditions in present and to come. Expanding on Slavoj Zizek, our thought is manufactured and shaped through these seemingly apolitical mediums and as Gramsci posits these ideologies and culture are conveniently used to exploit us and limit our thought with our consent.

Thought does exist, both beyond and underneath systems and edifices of discourse. It is something that is often hidden but always drives everyday behaviors. There is always a little thought occurring even in the most stupid institutions; there is always thought even in silent habits. Criticism consists in uncovering that thought and trying to change it: showing that things are not as obvious as people believe, making it so that what is taken for granted is no longer taken for granted. To practice criticism is to make harder those acts which are now too easy… as soon as people begin to no longer be able to think things the way they have been thinking them, transformation becomes at the same time very urgent, very difficult and entirely possible – Michel Foucault

If an imprisoned Antonio Gramci’s “mere thought” can terrify Benito Mussolini, a fascist dictator who controlled all of Italy, then thought cannot be as ‘‘mere’ as we have been so heavily indoctrinated to believe, could it? As Gramsci wrote his prison notebooks he used a cryptic and abstract language to avoid overtly political language that might be flagged by the fascists, he subtly criticised the tyrannical rule and as it turned out Mussolini was right to be afraid of his radical thought. The fascist governments can imprison the Gramscis for resisting or under the guise of “public safety” but they can never imprison free thought or as Orwell would put it ‘to die hating them, that is freedom’.

Gramsci writes “Ideas and opinions are not spontaneously “born” in each individual brain: they have had a centre of formation, or irradiation, of dissemination, of persuasion-a group of men, or a single individual even, which has developed them and presented them in the political form of current reality.” Ideas originate through these ‘centre’s of formation’ such as intellectual circles, political movements, or undemocratic governments and are then disseminated to society through media, education and political institutions, where they become widely accepted, a part of our reality and shape our thinking.

What more reason could there be to evaluate our ideologies and critically self-reflect about the sources of our beliefs? Desire and Thought are manufactured, shaped and limited solely to prevent us from realizing our true potential and freedoms. More than external forces, we are conditioned to impose these limitations on ourselves. Our thought is used against us to constrict us like George Orwell says “But if thought corrupts language, Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” This suggests that when our thinking becomes distorted or is manipulated, it affects the way we use language and how political language takes advantage of this distorted thought and twists said language to mask lies, justify violence, and make falsehoods appear credible.

And when masses of people think the exact same way because of this political and social conditioning, is that not frighteningly alarming? And when this collective thought is destructive or despotic, does that not make it harrowing? An efficient totalitarian regime according to Aldous Huxley would be one where the omnipotent political executive and their army of managers control a population who really do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude and such people will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of a revolution. But I ask, how do we define such a state or government unless we realise through use of independent thought that we need to break free of these moral or immoral, ethical or unethical, holy or sinful standards that have been set to control the population, deemed sacred so no one dares break them.

As Niel Postman comments on the Brave New World, Huxley was not telling us that the affliction of the population was that they were laughing instead of thinking but that they were not even aware of laughing and did not know why they had stopped thinking. You must be conscious of your thought and the surrounding political, social, economic forces shaping it. As Søren Kierkegaard asserts “People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.” Many people are quick to want the freedom to speak their minds, but they rarely take the time to deeply think or analyse what they truly believe or stand for.

We must remove all preconceptions, sociopolitical conditioning and biases from our thought until what remains stands up to rational examination. What we understand from Kant when he calls for us to emerge from our “self-imposed immaturity” is that true freedom of thought comes not from thinking conventionally but from having the courage for honest self criticism guided by reason, to accept the sometimes uncomfortable conclusions it presents and change our thought. There is but one formidable, herculean obstacle to exercising free thought, that is, one needs to raze their entire belief system to the ground and build it again brick by brick. By this I do not mean Cartesian Foundationalism since our thought or minds are not isolated from language, culture, politics or history.

Descartes’ foundationalism would be counterproductive since it would lead to infinite regress. Instead we seek impetus from the Frankfurt school thinkers like Jürgen Habermas and Walter Benjamin. Human freedom requires understanding distorted language since modern culture and technology shape our consciousness. We can use art, language and knowledge to emancipate our thought. Modern society creates false needs and suppresses critical thinking. As Kant writes in his Critique of Pure Reason, “strict criticisms are proof of a well-grounded way of thinking and nothing can be exempted from it, reason will grant unfeigned respect to only that which will submit to its free and public examination.“

Free thinking is not just to think without external constraints, but to subject our thought to the rigorous scrutiny of reason itself. Though George Orwell used the lines “Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing” in an entirely different context, the implication I hope to derive from it is that if we can apply this process over our own minds and internalise principles of equality, justice and freedom in our reformed thought, we will wield unthinkable power. Power to transform the world and it begins with us, with our thought.

When Friedrich Nietzche says that all deep thinkers are more afraid of being understood than being misunderstood, I think he was referring to the exclusionary or even deadly consequences that come with challenging normativity even if only in our thought because it’s never ‘mere’ thought, thought has unimaginable power, free thought has the power to radically transform our seemingly rigid reality.

The guest author, Maskat Ayoub Thakur is a student of Political Science at Jamia Millia Islamia

Edited By: Gunjit Verma

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of The Jamia Review or its members.