While researching for my persuasive essay this past weekend, I came across this term several times – “hero worship.” I am attempting to persuade education reformers and teachers alike to implement philosophy into the public school (as in pre-higher education) curriculum for my paper; however, while I chose not to address it directly in my paper, I would like to address it here because it really is a fascinating, yet controversial idea.
Simply put, “hero worship” is the idea that studying certain people (philosophers, in this case) causes one to idolize them and their thoughts and become restricted from development on those ideas. For example, believers of hero worship would say that if I study Plato in-depth, I am likely to take what he writes as wise and true so that I will not attempt to disagree with him and will therefore be stunting my own philosophical prowess by worshipping the works of Plato. In general, I disagree, though there are some valid concerns here, as well.
As for the valid ideas within hero worship, it makes logical sense that if a person becomes too obsessed with one certain idea of way of thinking, it tends to constrict their perspective. This can be seen in politics. Generally (as a stereotype), Democrats watch MSNBC, while Republicans watch FOX. The obvious bias towards either end of the political spectrum concurs with the general audience of the network, which is arguably detrimental to all audience members involved. A liberal who is continuously exposed to his or her own ideas over and over again will become more solidified in those beliefs and be less likely to consider any conservative ideas. The converse is true for conservatives.
The danger certainly exists that a person who studies only one philosopher or way of thinking will be less likely to be consider other perspectives; however, I would argue that this is extremely rare. Most who study philosophy study both a breadth and depth of philosophers so as to broaden their perspective and not get too caught up in a certain idea. While the concern of hero worship makes logic sense, the phenomenon addresses a very rare danger, and therefore is limited in its applicability and by extension, its validity.
In my opinion, the idea of hero worship is extremely negative and could have negative effects on society if accepted at face-value. Studying philosophers or any specific academic concentration is extremely important. We generally learn the broad history of the field so that we can build upon past and present ideas to promote progress beyond what has been done. In order for progress to occur, we must first recognize previous ways of thinking so that we understand why a field of study exists as it currently does. Without that basis, we would merely rehash old ideas and digress back into the past. Is this really what we want? Probably not.
It seems to me that this idea of hero worship, though valid in a limited scope, is overall a hollow argument that would promote laziness and regression in today’s society.
Tell me what you think!
That’s all for now. Stay fly, and goodbye!
-Dan
I’m pretty much with you on this, Dan– while the danger of “hero worship” definitely exists, I feel like students who develop their critical thinking and learn to differentiate between a wide range of ideas and philosophies will not be drawn into such fallacious thinking. Rather, I think educating students about philosophy will lessen the danger of hero-worship rather than make it worse. Thanks for another interesting post!
Dan this is really interesting! I’ve never heard of hero worship, but its an interesting concept. I think it can even transcend outside of philosophy like you mentioned. I think that in all outlets: entertainment, sports, schools, etc. people who are exposed can learn to favor a certain individual and put all of their ideals or trust into that one person. This can be a dangerous thing but we see it all the time. While I was reading your post I was thinking about the t.v show The Following (Which is one of my favorites)and how it relates exactly to your post. Great post it was really interesting to read!
I have not heard of the idea of “hero worship” before, however it does make sense. Some of us(especially math and science oriented people like myself) like to find one way that works, or one idea that seems true and stick with that, so we are suseptible to the idea of hero worship. And while I think it exists, I do no think it is a good enough reason to avoid the study of philosophy as a whole. Rather philosophy should be taught so that we can learn how to differentiate between different ideas and draw our own ideas from their basis. Thanks for making us aware of this issue, it is extremely interesting!