David, that's what I BELIEVE, too. I have FAITH that trying to
know the truth will bring a "better" world. I operate under that
ASSUMPTION. I'm not interested in proving that and I don't
think it is possible. I think it is important that people have the
right to choose their own assumptions and I think it is honest
to admit that we don't know that discovering an objective
truth makes our lives, or the world, better. We believe that it
is true, and we will claim positive results as evidence and set
aside negative results as anomalous or necessary for the greater
good.
What all humans (I hope) have in common is that they want to
see the world "better". It is that desire to make more "good"
which is our bond, and both reason and faith serve the end
of making a "better world". When faith seems to contradict
that goal...as in the Inquisition...it ought to be criticized.
When reason seems to contradict that goal...as in the
Prisonner's Dillema...it also ought to be criticized.
It is by revering our own collective interests, and not the
interests of our ideologies, that we obtain our ultimate
purpose of making "a better world".
Reed
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Reed Konsler konsler@ascat.harvard.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------