Intellectual Responsibility Matters

Intellectual responsibility is important. It's important that we're accountable for our mental errors. 

Sometimes the errors are harmless. I might make a simple mistake in forgetting my coffee downstairs when I wanted to bring it upstairs.

Other mental mistakes impact others. I might forget to meet a friend when we had scheduled a meeting. When this happens they lose time, feel stood up, and lose confidence that I'll do what I say.

The Temptation to Deny Responsibility

How do you respond when you discover a mental error or someone else brings it to your attention?

If you're human, which I'm assuming you are, your ego will make you want to sweep the mistake under the rug.

Taking ownership for intellectual oversights can be hard. Two recent examples come to mind. ​

I helped a family member optimize their investments. But I forgot to impress upon them that what we were doing would generate a taxable event. They might end up owing money at tax time instead of getting money back. I received a panicked phone call when the person met with their CPA and discovered that they would owe a good chunk of change. ​

My temptation was to minimize my oversight. Instead, I took responsibility and admitted that it was my fault. I should have better explained to them that they might owe money. 

Another example occurred in creating philosophy quotes for The Philosophical Life’s social media outlets. I used to use a website to gather the quotes. I thought the site was reliable, but I discovered it's not.

I used a quote from the site by Socrates.  This quote is often attributed to the historical Socrates, but the quote is actually from a character in a novel named Socrates. After someone asked me where exactly Socrates made this quote, and I did some digging and discovered the error, I was tempted to minimize or explain away things. Instead, I acknowledge that this was a good reminder of the importance of verifying quotes against their sources before putting them out there.  

Relating this to Philosophy

How does this relate to philosophy? I did my dissertation on moral responsibility. I argued that we can be held morally responsible for the consequences of our actions even when we’re ignorant that we’re doing something wrong. But, it’s one thing to argue this intellectually, and it’s another thing to embrace it personally when there is skin in the game. 

I was morally responsible and blameworthy for not informing the family member fully of the ramifications of the tax move. I was blameworthy for putting out a misquote of historical Socrates. I should have known better. I should have informed the person fully, and I should have done my due diligence in vetting the quote prior to sending it out into the social media universe.   

What’s nice is that admitting responsibility, admitting cognitive failures is freeing. I don’t have to act like I’m perfect. I can apologize for the way my oversight impacted people. I don’t have to let my ego run the show. 

Take Action Now

I encourage you to step into this freedom. Take responsibility for your cognitive blunders. Even if your ego puffs up and tries to play its minimizing and masking dance, you can step honestly into the light of truth. This leads to intellectual integrity. 

As a step of courage, share an instance in the comments where you admitted a cognitive oversight. And know you’re not alone. We all have intellectual blind spots and challenges.