I am of the opinion that education and knowledge alone do not a great thinker make. We are all hampered by our prejudices and preconceptions based on our particular upbringing, and our emotions. In addition, the human intellect in handicapped by that which it does not understand, (one example: how it’s own brain works). And to reduce the uneasiness caused by the primitive fear of the unknown, imaginative beliefs arise, and false conclusions are often drawn. Sometimes the imaginative beliefs can lead down the path to new discovery and greater knowledge; but often as not they are incorrect paths leading nowhere.
The great thinkers are the ones who are aware of their own biases and limitations, and take them into account when forming an opinion. The average person seemingly cannot do this, as he/she is not conscious of the contents of his own mind and how it arrives where it does; and thus we have, and have always had, few truly great thinkers. This mind-blindness is probably the biggest source of the “unreason” that is, and has always been exhibited among otherwise intelligent people. I don’t see the problem going away any time soon, as long as we humans possess incomplete comprehension; therefore I think we are wise to question most of the so-called intellectuals, and to especially be wary of the self-proclaimed intellectuals of any ideological leaning.
