Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.~Certain is the opposite of being open-minded, and we all know it’s good to keep an open mind.
~Uncertainty is the precondition of faith. So if you have certainty, you can’t have faith.
~Certainty alienates skeptics because it inclines you to not take their doubts or questions seriously.
~Certainty means being committed to something, and when you’re committed to it, you are psychologically motivated to not delve into things that may undermine your commitment.
~Certainty overstates things you can’t prove.
~It’s unscientific to be certain because it’s not open to revision.
~Fanaticism is just a less generous way to describe certainty.
~How can you reconcile humility with the arrogance of certainty? Shouldn’t a humble person, aware of his own failings and limitations, be more prone to admitting that he might be wrong about some things, even big things?
~If everyone adopts a position of certainty about things they disagree over, how can you ever reconcile?
~If different people are certain of incompatible things, well, at least some (if not all) of them have to be wrong, right?
2 comments:
I was looking back through some old yellowed newspaper clippings at work today. On the back of one of them—not relevant to the topic for which they were archived—was a brief story out of Woodbury, New Jersey, printed in ‘The Courier’ in Prescott, Arizona, September 23, 1983.
“A judge said he respected the opinions of a couple who believe their dead daughter will be resurrected, but he ruled the girl must be buried to meet county health laws. Michael and Ann Marie Aliano kept the body of 10-year-old Faith Ann in Aliano's construction office after she died of diabetes July 2 because "God said she will come back and that is what I believe," Aliano told Superior Courth Judge Samuel G. DeSimone on Thursday. DeSimone said his order was ‘not a punitive action’ but that the girl was legally dead. The county prosecutor has begun investigating whether the family provided the girl proper medical treatment.”
That is what certainty will do for you.
My only quibble here would be to rephrase your last line. It's more accurate to say, "That is one example of what one type certainty will lead you to do."
The Amish people extending forgiveness to the familiy of the man who shot up their schoolhouse a few years back and inviting them over for food and shared grieving is "one other example of what a different type of certainty will lead you to do." =)
Post a Comment