I would like to think there is a qualitative difference between scientific
belief and religious belief: scientific belief is adjusted in the light of
contradictory evidence, while religious belief is not. At the very least,
there is a quantitative difference: religious belief is adhered to more
obstinately in the light of contradictory evidence than is scientific
belief. In addition, there is a difference in attitude: even the most
obstinate scientist will claim that his position is consistent with the
available evidence, while the religious believer holds that he has
ultimately tapped into to a truth that transcends mere human reason.
Stathis Papaioannou
Tom Caylor writes:
>Bruno wrote:
>>I think everyone has religious faith...
>
>Amen, Bruno, and Ben also! This is of course a searing statement, which
>goes back to why the word "theology" is taboo. As it's commonly said, the
>two topics to stay away from in conversation are religion and politics.
>
>But, without using the word religion, we can safely say that we all have
>some basic belief that we hold to in order to make the decisions of our
>practical living, whether they are every-day decisions like holding a
>grudge against someone (or not), or bigger decisions about our course in
>life such as getting married (or not) etc. The modern (and leading up to
>the modern) reductionist philosophy has split these particulars apart from
>our musings about universals, so that people typically no longer see any
>connection between them. (Talk about going in the opposite direction from
>"Everything"!) In a way it is rather convenient because we can live out
>"personal" lives the way we want to. But the reality is that in being set
>totally free from universals, we become enslaved. The ultimate destination
>of rationalism in a totally closed system is something like pan-critical
>rationalism, where we end up in a swirl of confusion. Even then, we really
>are having faith that somehow the "system" is set up such that things will
>work out OK. If we didn't, then what are we left with? In order to have
>freedom we need at least some constraints. For example, take the axiomatic
>system. This applies also to the "Mathematics: Is it really..." thread.
>So there needs to be a faith that something is fixed, even if we don't yet
>know, or perhaps believe that we can never truly know, what is it. This
>something is what is called truth.
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Received on Thu Feb 02 2006 - 18:57:14 PST