Doug... It wouldn't be the first time faith got someone killed.... Russ, As I mentioned, "blind faith" is a relatively recent concept, even in religious contexts. Surely we often talk about "having faith" in things other than a divine being (or if we don't often talk about such things, we wouldn't find such talk very odd). A special case of particular interest should not be mistaken for the general phenomenon.
Eric On Sun, Sep 23, 2012 08:23 PM, Douglas Roberts <d...@parrot-farm.net> wrote: > > >Yeah, well: that philosophy will get you dead if you are a motorcycle rider. Maybe not the first year, but the longer you maintain "faith" that the other diver will stay in his lane, the more likely it becomes that you won't make it home one night. >> > > > >>I've been riding for 48 years, still alive... >> > >>--Doug > >>On Sun, Sep 23, 2012 at 6:13 PM, ERIC P. CHARLES <<#>> wrote: > >>> >>Since >this thread is still going... Curt said: > > > >>"Faith: that the other drivers will stay on their side of the >road. I don't have to track every one exactly." > >---- >Exactly! > >It >is faith when you stop monitoring the other cars when driving, stop looking at >the ground you are about to step on when walking, etc. It is faith when you get >out of bed without checking to see that the ground is still there. The actions >themselves entail the faith; they do not result from faith, they are the faith. >An interesting additional issue is when we do and do not explicitly talk about >the things we have faith in. It might also be an additional issue on what basis >some people have faith in a "super-natural" "higher-power". (Both scare-quotes >seem necessary, because pretty everyone has faith in higher powers, and most >people have faith in things they don't have natural explanations for, but we >seem to be focusing primarily on the times when those faiths overlap.) > > >Eric > >P.S. Curt, if you >are into Power's Perceptual Control Theory, do you know Richard Marken and >Warren Manell's work? They wrote a great article for a journal issue I am >putting together. > >P.P.S. The notion of "blind" faith is really very >modern. Certainly it was not long ago that faith in the Judeo-Christian God was >primarily supported by experiential evidence. "Behold the wonders," "experience >God in every blade of grass," "check out this amazing cathedral," "our army >won," etc. The fact that we sometimes meaningfully talk about "blind faith" >seems to indicate that the normal meaning of the term "faith" is not inherently >blind. > > >>> > >On Fri, Sep 21, >2012 12:21 AM, Curt McNamara <<#>> >wrote: > > > >>> > > >I had been nicely ignoring this thread in the belief >(faith?) that it would go away without affecting me. Alas, the need for a >distraction from grading has drawn me back into its basin of (strange) >attraction. > >Faith: that the other drivers will stay on their side of the >road. I don't have to track every one exactly. > >Action based on belief: ref. William Powers: Behavior, the Control of >Perception. ><http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptual_control_theory> > >Faith or belief: my mental models of the world will still be true tomorrow. These models have been built over time by hypothesis, testing, and adjustment (toddler and stairs example). > > Curt > > > > ============================================================ >FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at <http://www.friam.org> > > > >------------ > >Eric Charles >Assistant Professor of Psychology >Penn State University >Altoona, PA 16601 > > > > > >============================================================ > >FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > >Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > >lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at <http://www.friam.org> > > > > > >> >-- >Doug Roberts ><#> ><#>><http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins> >> ><http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins> > >505-455-7333 - Office >505-670-8195 - Cell > > > ============================================================ >FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > ------------ Eric Charles Assistant Professor of Psychology Penn State University Altoona, PA 16601
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
