>All along I have been thinking that what you have a problem with is not
>really faith, but dogma.
Yes, dogmatism is the *kind* of faith I have been dissing.
>Main Entry: dog·ma·tism
>Pronunciation: 'dog-m&-"ti-z&m, 'däg-
>Function: noun
>Date: 1603
>1 : positiveness in assertion of opinion especially when unwarranted or
>arrogant
>2 : a viewpoint or system of ideas based on insufficiently examined
>premises
Yes! That's the word I've been searching for. I've changed the wording
of the first Virion sin to:
Dogmatism
Through some twist of fate, western society has come to regard
dogmatic faith as a virtue. To hold an idea as true despite all
evidence to the contrary is an abdication of reason. Convictions
are the end of knowledge, not the beginning; they are the enemy
of truth more than lies.
(And the people rejoiced.)
>And David, while you have had lots of run ins with fundamentalist types,
>you have not had a lot of flak from those of us who have questioned,
>probed, and looked for what matches our own internal resonance.
On the contrary, I have received plenty of flak from those who have
questioned and no doubt I deserved most of it :-)
>I hope you do not think that I am challenging you here. Often in the
>past when I have been trying to understand your point of view I have
>felt that you erected a shield to bounce back my question instead of
>answering it.
Maybe I was just responding with "mu", unask the question.
>BTW, dogma is not just attached to religion. Politics has as much if
>not more dogma as well as economics. I think that it is the case that
>some schools of science also have dogmatic beliefs.
Yes, I alluded to as much in the my message that you quote above.
>Your stated instances of science as assumption or idea, and test, etc.
>excludes the observational sciences such as that practiced by Jane
>Goodall for example. Dogma comes from power. I would contend that the
Are you thinking of someone else's message here?
-- David McFadzean david@lucifer.com Memetic Engineer http://www.lucifer.com/~david/ Church of Virus http://www.lucifer.com/virus/