Not so obvious

"The most erroneous stories are those we think we know best - and therefore never scrutinize or question."

Stephen Jay Gould
US author, naturalist, paleontologist, & popularizer of science (1941 - 2002)

I like this quote very much, as it sums up much of Stephen's own popular work, looking at all kinds of misconceptions, ranging from the naturalist on the Beagle (not Darwin) to Huxley's bold claim against Samuel Wilberforce about preferring to be descended from an ape than someone who misused his powers of rhetoric (which seems to only appear in Huxley's much later write up; the minutes of the debate show nothing of this) to the flat earth (concocted late in the 17th century as an enlightment "straw man" to shoot down religion on). Most of all I like his essay on Darwin's last work (20 years in completion) which was a study on earthworms, and how they enrich and change the soil in which they move. The person who asked Darwin wanted a grand theory, but all Darwin's theories came from a study of minutae, of little things, and Stephen Jay Gould always brought to light little things, of great interest, but neglected by those evolutionists who want a large grand all encompassing picture (that often loses sight of those humble roots).

I think too of the Goddess myth, and Gimbutas seeing the statuettes as a goddess, whereas that is something read back into the artefact.

Adam Curtis' The Trap, too, also showed how "taking something for granted" is something we often do.

I am sure I have my own presuppositions, some of which are invisible to me. I think I do have a somewhat different outlook on contemporary assumptions (mind body spirit type stuff) because I come at it from a different tradition, which can be used to highlight the weaknesses of that kind of approach. That is not to say that there may not be a place for introspection, but given that modern culture (and reality tv shows especially) have gone overboard on that, I think (being a perverse person) I'd like to go in another direction!