On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, Gomi no Sensei wrote: > On Thu, 4 Dec 2003, Philip Hart wrote: > > > Well, from my perspective as a physicist, an atheist, and a reductionist > > (all one thing in my opinion), all belief is the same stuff - hooey. > > But that's not a productive argument. Rather I should say that it seems > > to me people have a set of mostly emotional viewpoints on what's right, > > and that they effectively practice their religion and politics > > accordingly. > > Politics ultimately derives as a system that attempts to solve large-scale > problems of human society, This seems insufficiently cynical or perhaps Darwinist to me. > and as these problems have largely proven intractable to science and > reduction, I disagree about the science part - when a cadre of hard scientists are promoted to high office we can talk. Of course reductionism isn't practically applicable to messy poorly-measured systems. > some amount of belief inevitably creeps in. In my view it's mostly belief. In my experience people have world-views first, politics and religion second - or rather, those world-views are effectively their politics and religion. Maybe not a very useful (or clear) distinction. I don't think this has anything to do with liberalism or conservatism, though in my view liberals are the less belief-driven lately. - Philip > The Edmund Burke quote on tradition has always seemed apropos to me: > > "Tradition means giving a vote to most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. > It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and > arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All > democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition > objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells > us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our groom; tradition > asks us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our father." > > Lord Falkland was perhaps more blunt, but no less to the point: > > "When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change." > > pe > > >