Question the Ideas of Authority?
Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority?
It is very common and reasonable that people in positions of authority are likely to be venerated by the public; their ideas and decisions deserve our respect. However, this is not saying that their ideas and decisions are always right. It is important to question their ideas and decisions, especially when they contradict with the truth and common sense. The spirit of challenging the authority has contributed to the scientific discovery and the progress of human society.
First of all, daring to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority propels the development of science forward. It takes great courage to pursue the truth regardless of what is commonly recognized. For instance, it took a long time for the heliocentric cosmology, which was formulated by Nicolaus Copernicus to be accepted by the general public. The greatest power in the middle ages was vested in the church. The church was the first to assume the earth being the center of the universe, and all humans at that time believed that the geocentric theory was the truth. Copernicus, an expert in astronomy, however, has casted doubt on the church’s idea and came out with the theory of heliocentricism after series of experiments. What he did at that time was obviously challenging the authority because his theory has shaken the foundation of the European medieval theology. Just because he was brave enough to question the ideas dominated by the authority, even at the risk of losing his life for it, human beings were delivered from the ignorance of geocentric theory, and were brought into the truthful understanding of the universe.
Secondly, the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority can sometimes be unreasonable. Under this kind of situations, the first lady of the civil rights, Rosa Parks, exemplifies the importance of challenging the authority. In the United States of
It is very common and reasonable that people in positions of authority are likely to be venerated by the public; their ideas and decisions deserve our respect. However, this is not saying that their ideas and decisions are always right. It is important to question their ideas and decisions, especially when they contradict with the truth and common sense. The spirit of challenging the authority has contributed to the scientific discovery and the progress of human society.
First of all, daring to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority propels the development of science forward. It takes great courage to pursue the truth regardless of what is commonly recognized. For instance, it took a long time for the heliocentric cosmology, which was formulated by Nicolaus Copernicus to be accepted by the general public. The greatest power in the middle ages was vested in the church. The church was the first to assume the earth being the center of the universe, and all humans at that time believed that the geocentric theory was the truth. Copernicus, an expert in astronomy, however, has casted doubt on the church’s idea and came out with the theory of heliocentricism after series of experiments. What he did at that time was obviously challenging the authority because his theory has shaken the foundation of the European medieval theology. Just because he was brave enough to question the ideas dominated by the authority, even at the risk of losing his life for it, human beings were delivered from the ignorance of geocentric theory, and were brought into the truthful understanding of the universe.
Secondly, the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority can sometimes be unreasonable. Under this kind of situations, the first lady of the civil rights, Rosa Parks, exemplifies the importance of challenging the authority. In the United States of