Cynic or skeptic?

‘In a democratic society scepticism is a virtue in history as well as in philosophy.’

- Napoleon Bonaparte 

In order to get back on track, we need to think about our attitude to the status quo, to be prepared to change or remove those aspects of school activities which do not add value to pupils’ learning. Then, to have reasonable conversations about what might be worth thinking about and doing differently. We have some choices about the stance we adopt. We can either subscribe to a cynical position, which is essentially one of intellectual defeatism or we can take the more nuanced approach of the skeptic.

Both the words cynic and skeptic have interesting roots. The etymology of cynic is the Greek ‘kyon’ which means dog. The philosophical movement of cynicism began in the 5th century BCE and Diogenes[1] was one of its founders. Cynicism as a school of thought in the ancient philosophical tradition argued that people can gain happiness by rigorous training and through living in a way which is natural for themselves, rejecting all conventional desires for wealth, power, and fame. Instead, they were urged to lead a simple life free from all possessions.

The modern usage of cynicism, however, generally refers to a reluctance to believe the sincerity and honesty of others. It tends to take the view that people are motivated by greed or ambition and shouldn’t be trusted. While it is possible to have a positive reading of cynicism which involves the desire to expose hypocrisy and to point out gaps between ideals and practices, generally cynicism implies a defeatist attitude to the world and its woes and as a result, it’s not worth the bother of trying to change things.

The cynical path has the potential to take us down some long and unproductive rabbit holes. The space of cynicism is occupied by blame, by defeatism, by negativity and helplessness.  It is not the temporary helplessness of someone in the deep throes of loss or pain, but rather a mindset that robustly asserts that this is the way things are and they can’t possibly get any better. The real poison of the cynical stance is that it believes it is right, that it also has the right to shout down other possibilities, other ways of doing things. And that is why we need to be alert to commentary such as: ‘Things are awful, and they will never get better’; ‘What can you expect from pupils from these backgrounds?’; ‘What can you expect from this group of leaders or this government?’ The real danger of cynicism’s negativity is that it does not allow for possibility, it depresses both those who express it and those who hear it. It is resolute in not allowing the agenda to be opened up and for alternative ways of working to be explored.

The argument here is that it is more helpful to consider scepticism as this is a more productive space from which to consider our work and what might need to be changed or removed, in order to focus on the activities which had the greatest value. The word sceptic also derives from the Greek ‘skepsis’ which means inquiry or doubt.

The sceptical viewpoint, in contract to the cynical one, recognises all of the problems and challenges shrilly proclaimed by a defeatist stance. The skeptical position does not have its head in the sand, it does not follow a Pollyanna position of denial, puppies and trite exhortations to believe in better. What it does do however, is take up a clear sighted position and ask questions about whether things are good enough, strong enough, relevant enough for current circumstances. And then turn to what might be better.

The sceptic asks questions, refines the skill of questioning, turns questioning into an art form. Following, whether intentionally or not, a Socratic line of enquiry, where the outcomes are not predetermined, where they are not set out in advance but are engaged in, in an attempt to seek, not absolute truth, but a better way of going about business. And as it goes through this process, it means that those elements of our practice that still remain, do so because they have earned their right to be there. They are not there simply because they have always been there.

A significant thread of the sceptical mindset is to ask why, repeatedly. Not in an aggressive or threatening way but in a spirit of curiosity, of openness, of helpfulness, of amusement, and of being prepared to be surprised. To do this takes self-confidence, a deep knowing that it is alright not to know the answers or solutions straightaway. The likelihood is that we will not to be prepared to go to this space if we are concerned about our image, about how we come across, about what other people think of us. We have to put those factors to one side and to say: the pursuit of clarity means that it is worth letting go of some of our preconceptions.

Matthew Syed in Rebel Ideas[2] makes the case for individuals and organisations keeping an open mind, of seeing what is possible and what might be different. He tells the history of suitcases with wheels: these were only added in the 1970s. We might ask ourselves: ‘What is sitting right in front of us, staring at us, that will seem mind bogglingly obvious once we make the connection?!’

Doing this kind of work means that we have to pay attention to culture. We need to develop collective wisdom, underpinned by psychological safety. An environment is psychologically safe when people feel they can offer suggestions and take sensible risks without provoking retaliation. Syed argues ‘These wise groups express a different dynamic. They are not clone-like. They do not parrot the same views. Instead, they are more like groups of rebels. They do not disagree for the sake of it, but bring insights from different regions of the problem space.[3] As the psychologist Charlan Nemeth puts it: ‘Minority viewpoints are important, not because they tend to prevail but because they stimulate divergent attention and thought. As a result, even when they are wrong, they contribute to the detection of novel solutions that, on balance, are qualitatively better.’

[1] https://academyofideas.com/2013/05/diogenes-the-cynic/

[2] https://www.matthewsyed.co.uk/resource/rebel-ideas-the-power-of-diverse-thinking/

[3] Syed, Matthew. Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking John Murray Press