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Is disinterest like apathy?


coberst

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Is disinterest like apathy?

Says Goethe; “the little that is done seems nothing when we look forward and see how much we have yet to do”.

The challenge to criticism is disinterestedness! Why we can and should choose the path to DI (disinterestedness) is the discussion this OP will attempt to initiate.

Criticism can show DI by keeping aloof from the practical view of things; by the free play of the mind on all subjects upon which it touches. “Its business is,…simply to know the best that is known and thought in the world, and by in its turn making this known, to create a current of true and fresh ideas…and to leave alone all questions which will never fail to have due prominence given to them”.

The world is full of partisan and emotional criticism, right and left. It is filled with various sound bites and bumper stickers advocating nostrums that are promoted with bluff, bluster, and bravado. We, who are of the DI critical thinking mind, will remain disinterested to such malarkey and try to take the path less traveled. To take the path of disseminating truth as we can perceive it so as to lay a foundation for new ideas with new approaches to old problems.

The DI critique approach must recognize that its approach is long range resulting in significantly large rewards if successful. This approach creates and nourishes fresh new foundations for the structure of new ideas. This approach lays down a foundation of intellectual grounding that provides for a solid structure but, of course, it will be a painful activity because emotional rage seems to be the order of the day and that rage will express its anti-intellectualism by focusing attacks on those who seek to make a different way.

I think that such an approach must somehow foster an appreciation of the purely intellectual sphere that focuses attention on that which is excellent in human capacity.

All of us are constantly engaged in interrelated projects which carry great meaning to each of us. These relationships define our personal “form of life” relative to our cultural situation. Each of us has developed somewhat different interests and differing stakes in the success of those interests.

Each of us has two distinctly different overlapping world views: one is implicit in our day-to-ay activity and the other is implicit in how we describe our attitude to others. These two views often contradict one another; the views can be measured by the way in which we can articulate our living pattern and the way we live what we articulate.

Is disinterest like apathy? Absolutely not!

coberstakaDutchuncle

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  • coberst

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I think your overall concept is quite correct. I am not sure you have really nailed the terminology.

dis·in·ter·est

Pronunciation: \(ˌ)dis-ˈin-trəst; -ˈin-tə-ˌrest, -tə-rəst, -tərst; -ˈin-ˌtrest\

Function: transitive verb

Date: 1612

: to cause to regard something with no interest or concern

ap·a·thy

Pronunciation: \ˈa-pə-thē\

Function: noun

Etymology: Greek apatheia, from apathēs without feeling, from a- + pathos emotion — more at pathos

Date: 1594

1 : lack of feeling or emotion : impassiveness

2 : lack of interest or concern : indifference

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary

According to the dictionary these two words do mean the same thing. "Lack of interest or concern" looks a lot like "no interest or concern". I think the terminology you are looking for is dispassionate interest.

dis·pas·sion·ate

Pronunciation: \-sh(ə-)nət\

Function: adjective

Date: 1594

: not influenced by strong feeling ; especially : not affected by personal or emotional involvement <a dispassionate critic> <a dispassionate approach to an issue>

The difference is that both disinterest and apathy show a lack of concern. What you are describing is what skeptics call "suspending judgement" which means you are still interested and concerned, but dispassionately so. Other than the terms used, I am in total agreement with your post.

Edited by PerVirtuous
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I would say that apathy is an attitude that pervades ones character whereas disinterestedness is a selected focus of attention away from certain aspects of human desire for the purpose of narrowing and thus concentrating ones focus in a disciplined manner.

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Not unless your talking to a wall... but then some may enjoy that too!! so Id say no.

Blessings

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  • 2 weeks later...

They certainly can be synonyms but they could also be thought of as pertaining to different states of mind. Apathy could be considered an emotional state whereas disinterest an intellectual one.

To try to narrow the definitions is, imo, doing a disservice to language where the meaning of a word is not purely textual but often contextual.

While the OP is not incorrect in describing disinterest as unlike apathy, that is not the only way disinterest can be used when describing a person's state of mind/attitude.

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Apathy is like an all encompassing disinterest with a lack of energy and is usually linked with depressions right?

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