Issue99 By WDI小组 xydeng

xydengUID: 2472724

Issue 99: "In any realm of life-whether academic, social, business, or political-- the only way to succeeded is to take a practical, rather than an idealistic, point of view, pragmatic behavior guarantees survival, whereas idealistic views tend to be superseded by simpler, more immediate options."

Which is the only way to succeeded, a practical or an idealistic point of view? The discussion of this issue among individuals and in society as a whole has come into vogue during the last decade. People's views are divergent on such a complex and controversial problem. The speaker argues that pragmatic behavior which guarantees survival can be considered as the only way to succeeded, however, it oversimplifies this topic. The final judgment should, in my view, depend on a case-by-case analysis.

First and foremost, at the risk of sounding too simplistic, it seems to me that the main proposition for the importance of being practical can be summarized in one Chinese old saying that "Truth is born by practice". What's more, I approve of the statement’s saying that practical behavior is the most important factor which leads us to be successful; in respect that pragmatic behavior makes every practical progress in human history. Let me illustrate my point further with a concrete example—the change of China's economic theory, which says that a low rate of unemployment is the motivating force for the economy for any society. However, China's economy had been stagnant and lagged, with extremely low efficiency during that period. And then the economy reform campaign had to change the original policy, by contrary the economy has not been injured but rapidly and vigorously grown at a steady rate. According to this case, we can estimate that the truth is born by practice and reality.

From the personal perspective, another possible reason for why I emphasize the importance of being practical relates to the realm of politics. No one can image that a government should adopt a policy without enough experiments. We can get ample evidence from history to demonstrate this point. A notable person in point is that, Robert Owen, a British idealist, who wanted to build a perfect world, in which all people are born equally, no war and no hunger exists, thus no information needs to be hided, just as the Utopia. His wonderful idea never is realized because his unpractical idealism and passions distort the reality and rationality.

Admittedly, idealistic also employs a positive effect on person's life to a certain extent. We should concede that despite the merits of practice mentioned here, being overextended practical will be indeed counterproductive, even harmful. For an individual, it may cause a person losing enthusiasm; for a country, it may arise a problem which tend to neglect the importance of strategies and plans.

To successfully reverse this disturbing trend, several efficacious steps should be taken into consideration. In the first place, education experts had better pay more attention to make education system avoid overextended rational education. In the second place, we would appeal to the government to work out proper laws and regulations to instruct person's behavior. In the third place, we should cultivate and enhance people's awareness of being reasonably practical.

From what I have discussed above, I strongly support the notion that rather than an idealistic, to be practical is a better way to succeeded in life realms.