The Ideology of Freethought

This is an excerpt from a paper that I wrote for an honors program class at my university, taught by the university president.

For my Ideological Turing Test, I would like to talk about the ideology of freethought. I am going to explain exactly what freethought is, and then I’m going to look at some of the benefits and the dangers of this ideology.

What exactly is freethought? According to Merriam Webster, a freethinker is “a person who thinks freely or independently: one who forms opinions on the basis of reason independently of authority” (“Freethought”). A freethinker wants to think things through on their own, without the help of tradition or ideological authorities.

How do you spot a freethinker? How can you tell if you or someone else is a freethinker? Freethinkers have several common traits. The first is that they are intellectual. Freethinkers are very rational, and they are naturally focused on intellect. They often pursue higher education, because they need to continuously expand their store of information and knowledge in order to develop their ideas. The second trait is that they are non-conformists. They don’t want to be told what to believe, so they resist conformity. Next, they tend to be very confident. Freethinkers know what they believe, and they know why they believe it. This leads to them being very confident in themselves, in their intellect, and in their abilities. The last trait of freethinkers is that they are logical. The basis of freethought is logic and rationality, so freethinkers tend to be very logical.

Now, some of the behaviors of freethinkers. Freethinkers only endorse rational thought. They don’t put any merit in thought or decisions that are based on emotion, revelation, or any sort of feeling. It must be logical and rational for them to even consider it. Next, they reject tradition. Freethinkers don’t like to be told what to think, so they have a tendency to reject tradition. They especially despise tradition that is done solely for the sake of tradition. This goes hand in hand with the next behavior, which is that they often reject authority. And by “authority”, I mean any ideological authority or push for people to conform to a certain belief. Lastly, freethinkers are often very creative. Because they reject tradition, authority, and any set ideas, freethinkers must come up with their own ideas and beliefs. And in order to avoid conforming, they need to think outside of the box and use their intellect and imagination. This leads to them being very creative in their approaches....