Classic de Bono: ..the biggest intellectual disaster…

Over the years Dr Edward de Bono has shared great insights through his messages. This series of blogs revisits some of those highlights.

The Renaissance was probably the biggest intellectual disaster in Western Civilisation. In order to escape from the dogmatic dominance of the Church the humanists and thinkers of the time went back to ancient Greek thinking – and the Gang of Three (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle). Though this might have seemed a leap forward at the time, it trapped us in ‘judgement thinking’.  This sort of thinking is as excellent as the front left wheel of a car: perfect but inadequate. That thinking has dominated society ever since and continues to do so at all levels. We simply do not know any other ‘game’. Nor have we made any effort to develop other games because we have been so convinced that this sort of thinking is perfect. It is not. It is extremely limited and unconstructive. No wonder the whole Athenian civilisation did not produce a single invention.  Had the Renaissance not occurred it might have taken much longer to escape from superstition, dogma etc. but the new thinking might have been a great deal better. This new thinking would have evolved. As it is thinkers just went back to a ready made package which suited their purposes very well but has held back civilisation ever since.

Edward de Bono

About the author: Dr Edward de Bono is a world leading authority on thinking skills. Creator of the famous Six Thinking Hats®, Lateral Thinking and many other workshops he has authored 62 books published in 32 languages. Holst is Dr Edward de Bono’s partner in Europe. Click here for more information about Dr de Bono and his tools. Would you like to change how people think? Consider adding Dr Edward de Bono’s tools to your portfolio and become an accredited de Bono trainer.    ]]>