Course Description
This course offers a critical examination of four interconnected human conditions: Freedom, Foolishness, Stupidity, and Arrogance. Moving beyond traditional definitions, we treat these concepts as active forces that shape history, politics, and individual behavior.
Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)
- Map human behavior onto the Freedom/Stupidity matrix (Cipolla’s Laws).
- Identify specific cognitive biases (System 1 vs. System 2) in personal and political decision-making.
- Analyze how historical and organizational structures encourage "functional stupidity."
- Apply strategies of epistemic humility and critical thinking to navigate the digital age.
Weekly Schedule
Phase 1: The Framework (Foundations)
Focus: Defining the terms and understanding the cognitive machinery.
Week 1: The Quadrant of Human Condition
Goal: Define the four core concepts and their relationships, specifically the "FFSA" Matrix.
Topics: Distinguishing behavioral "Foolishness" from systemic "Stupidity"; The paradox of how Freedom allows Arrogance.
Outcome: Students will be able to map human behaviors onto Cipolla's quadrants (Intelligent, Bandit, Helpless, Stupid).
Video Resource: "The 5 Basic Laws of Human Stupidity" (Sprouts, 6 mins).
Week 2: The Psychology of Error: Why We Fail
Goal: Establish the cognitive machinery behind the concepts, focusing on biases and heuristics.
Topics: System 1 vs. System 2 thinking; The role of Narcissism and Hubris in decision-making.
Outcome: Students will be able to identify "Epistemic Arrogance" and moments when their "System 2" is disengaged.
Video Resource: "Daniel Kahneman: The Machinery of the Mind" (BigThink, 5 mins).
Week 3: The March of Folly: A Historical View
Goal: Analyze how these forces shape history, focusing on the dialectic of Freedom and Oppression.
Topics: Case studies of the "Arrogance of Power" in fallen empires; Collective Foolishness in catastrophic errors.
Outcome: Students can analyze historical events to identify where collective arrogance led to systemic failure.
Video Resource: "The Danger of a Single Story" (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - TED Talk).
Week 4: [Special Session 1] - Workshop: The Casino of Cognition
Format: Interactive Lab.
Activity: Students participate in betting games and logic puzzles designed to trigger the biases discussed in Week 2 (Sunk Cost Fallacy, Confirmation Bias).
Goal: To move from intellectual understanding to experiential realization of human error.
Phase 2: The Macro View (History & Society)
Focus: How these forces operate in Politics, Institutions, and Technology.
Week 5: Democracy, Politics, and the Public Sphere
Goal: Examine the concepts in modern governance, specifically freedom in democratic societies.
Topics: Political Foolishness (populism/demagoguery); The tension between Individual Liberty and Collective Security.
Outcome: Students can evaluate the "rights vs. responsibilities" balance in current political events.
Video Resource: "Timothy Snyder: On Tyranny" (Politics and Prose clips).
Week 6: Systemic Stupidity: Organizations and Institutions
Goal: Understand why smart people create stupid organizations.
Topics: Bureaucracy and "functional stupidity"; Arrogance in Leadership (The CEO bubble).
Outcome: Students can identify "institutional ossification" and barriers to learning within their own universities or workplaces.
Video Resource: "The Stupidity Paradox" (André Spicer - TEDx).
Week 7: The Digital Age: Algorithms of Arrogance
Goal: Analyze the current technological context, including Information Bubbles and Echo Chambers.
Topics: Social Media amplifying narcissism; Digital Freedom vs. Surveillance Capitalism.
Outcome: Students can critique how algorithms exploit their cognitive biases to generate "technologically induced foolishness”.
Video Resource: "The Social Dilemma" (Clip on Polarization).
Week 8: [Special Session 2] - Guest Lecture: A Case Study in Failure
Format: Invited Speaker + Q&A.
Topic: A real-world professional discusses a specific project failure caused by arrogance or systemic stupidity.
Goal: To connect abstract theory to professional practice.
Phase 3: The Antidotes (Solutions & Ethics)
Focus: Internal work and future application.
Week 9: The Wisdom in Foolishness
Goal: Reframe negative concepts as potential positives, exploring the archetype of the "Wise Fool”.
Topics: Creativity and Risk; The necessity of making mistakes for growth.
Outcome: Students will be able to distinguish between "destructive stupidity" and "constructive foolishness" (creativity).
Week 10: Epistemic Humility and Critical Thinking
Goal: The primary counter-force to Arrogance and Stupidity: Intellectual Humility.
Topics: Mindfulness/Self-Awareness; Critical thinking tools to dismantle cognitive biases.
Outcome: Students can propose strategies to overcome "Systemic Stupidity" in group settings.
Video Resource: "The Dunning-Kruger Effect" (TED-Ed).
Week 11: [Special Session 3] - The Great Debate
Format: Oxford-Style Debate.
Motion: "This House Believes That 'The Right to be Stupid' is an Essential Part of Freedom."
Goal: To force students to synthesize the ethical tensions discussed in Lectures 4 and 8.
Week 12: Collective Intelligence
Goal: Moving from individual stupidity to group wisdom; designing systems that are "smart”.
Topics: Collaborative problem solving; The ethics of responsibility in a free society.
Outcome: Students can propose strategies to overcome "Systemic Stupidity" in group settings.
Video Resource: "The Wisdom of Crowds" (BBC Ideas).
Week 13: Synthesis: The Art of Living Freely
Goal: Final integration and practical takeaway; Balancing Freedom with Wisdom.
Topics: Navigating a world of Arrogance without becoming cynical; A manifesto for responsible freedom.
Outcome: Students create a personal "Manifesto for Responsible Freedom”.
Video Resource: "This is Water" (David Foster Wallace).
Week 14: [Special Session 4] - Student Showcase & Wrap-Up
Format: Project Presentations.
Activity: "The Stupidity Audit." Students present a 5-minute analysis of a system or event using the course framework (FFSA Matrix).
Goal: Final assessment and course closure.
Consolidated Readings & Videos
For a more detailed list of all resources, please refer to the weekly schedule above. This section provides a quick reference to the core materials.
Essential Readings
- Carlo M. Cipolla, The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (Essay)
- Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (Introduction & Chapter 1)
- Martin Luther King Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail
- Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny (Prologue + Lesson 1)
- Mats Alvesson & André Spicer, Stupidity in Organizations (HBR article)
- Shoshana Zuboff, You Are Now the Product (NY Times Op-Ed)
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan (Prologue)
- James Surowiecki, The Wisdom of Crowds (Introduction)
- Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism (Excerpts)
Key Video Resources
- "The 5 Basic Laws of Human Stupidity" (Sprouts)
- "Daniel Kahneman: The Machinery of the Mind" (BigThink)
- "The Danger of a Single Story" (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - TED Talk)
- "The Stupidity Paradox" (André Spicer - TEDx)
- "The Power of Vulnerability" (Brené Brown - TED Talk)
- "The Dunning-Kruger Effect" (TED-Ed)
- "This is Water" (David Foster Wallace)