--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_re...@...> wrote: <snip> > I'll snip the rest but repost this excerpt from > the interview with Shanley himself, because it's > not only relevant to the film, but to Fairfield > Life: > > > > ''And still another reason I wrote this play is that I'm very > > > aware that debate has become the form of communication, like > > > on 'Crossfire.' There is no room or value placed on doubt, > > > which is one of the hallmarks of the wise man. It's getting > > > harder and harder in this society to find a place for spacious, > > > true intellectual exchange. It's all becoming about who won > > > the argument, which is just moronic.''
Thing is, debate and "spacious, true intellectual exchange" are not mutually exclusive. It's really only people who have a terrible fear of being *wrong* who resist the notion of certainty and insist that everything is open to questioning and doubt. There's nothing inherently wrong with certainty, and there's nothing inherently wrong with doubt, each in its appropriate circumstance. What's problematic is trying to make either one an absolute.
