I'm willing to adopt your definition of the f-word long enough
to agree.
>think it is possible. I think it is important that people have the
No one is trying to prove it. Strawman.
>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
I don't think it is impossible to try to figure out whether
or not true beliefs can make our lives better.
>is true, and we will claim positive results as evidence and set
>aside negative results as anomalous or necessary for the greater
>good.
Yes it is possible practice skepticism badly. So what?
Is that a good reason to give up on it?
>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 faith seems to contradict the goal more often than not,
maybe faith itself should be criticized.
>When reason seems to contradict that goal...as in the
>Prisonner's Dillema...it also ought to be criticized.
That's an interesting example. (Worth exploring, I mean.)
-- David McFadzean david@lucifer.com Memetic Engineer http://www.lucifer.com/~david/ Church of Virus http://www.lucifer.com/virus/