[snip]
When a pollster surveying scientific literacy asks one of us
whether the earth moves or not, do we not say, "It moves"? Does that mean that we *believe* that it moves? Could we
advance good reasons why someone who thinks it rests should
change his mind? Do we actually *care* whether it moves or
not? Would not the *right* answer be "I don't *know*
anything about it and I don't care"? Do we not say we
believe it moves because the priests say that it moves and
we don't want to be thought of as pitifully ignorant of what
the priests say? Is "belief" really the proper term for
talking about what we say most of the time? Or should we
change radically what we *mean* by the word "believe"??
I've written about this in past. I have proposed that people today believe the earth is round and moves in prety much the same way they believed it was flat and did not move, in past.
I wholeheartedly agree that the right answer to the question is something like: "I don't *know* anything about it and I don't care" -- But can you imagine the posible social/political consequences of "people" (i.e., the 6 billions, or even just the U.S.A. 250-300 millions of them) actually thinking this? "I don't know anything about Iraq and I don't care, so I'm not going to go there to get shot at, breathe toxic materials and maybe get kiled or maimed or disabled."
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori! And of course we are not ignorant people who think the earth is the cener of the universe and the bowl of the stars whizzes around us once each day....
But let's not forget the *shame* factor: People do a lot of things they don't at least initially believe in, but due to fear of being ostracized, they "come around"....
\brad mccormick
Does GW Bush really believe that Jesus is his personal
Saviour and favourite philosopher? Does Dr Wolfowitz believe
what he says? Does Henry Kissinger?
And so, in just the sense that Prof Latour intended it,
(We have never yet really been modern.)
best wishes,
Stephen Straker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Vancouver, B.C.
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--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------------------------------------------- Visit my website ==> http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/
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