>speaking of santa.. I don't know if you have kids, but if you did what
>would you tell your kids. (I'm speaking mainly to David, because I'm
>interested in how this fits with his rational thought system) is this a
>hypocrisy?
Interesting example. I remember discussing this with Sean Morgan in reference
to his young daughter a couple years ago. He thought (and I agree) that the
Santa Claus myth provides a very valuable lesson. Eventually the kid will find
out that Santa Claus doesn't exist, and indeed *could not* exist given his
purported powers. Hopefully the realization will come that adults' beliefs
(or espoused beliefs) are not necessarily true, so maybe similar myths
involving magical characters withholding gifts contingent on displaying
regulated behavior will be examined more critically.
So is hypocrisy justified in limited cases? I'm still not sure. Maybe when
you're dealing with people that should be treated like children.
-- David McFadzean david@kumo.com Memetic Engineer http://www.kumo.com/~david/ Kumo Software Corp. http://www.kumo.com