Greetings,
HORSE WROTE:
"Just as a matter of interest Struan, have you (or anyone else) come
across a term which describes the position between when faith is
first questioned and when it becomes either supportable or dogmatic."
I'm not sure I like 'unquestioned belief' any more than 'unquestioning belief' Horse.
In the Hebrew Bible (the earliest reference I can find - earlier references would be
most welcome)
the term faith (emuna) is used either:
1) To express belief in God (Jon. 3: 5)
2) Towards a human being (Exod. 4: 1-9)
3) To express adherence to an idea or set of principles (Psalm 119)
In all cases it is used to represent only a trust in something or someone, not a blind
following. (I
realise that this is a contentious point and that many academics would disagree, but
this is my take
on the issue and there is empirical evidence to support both sides).The content of
faith can of
course vary, but the act of faith does not seem to preclude questioning. Faith, to me,
is the belief
in any proposition which is true on 'a posteriori' grounds rather than a relation of
ideas, as
anything derived from the natural senses is ultimately open to question. I would
suspect that faith
can be both supportable and/or dogmatic. Many people (including myself) would maintain
that true
faith MUST be questioned. Call me a sceptic if you will but unquestioned faith is
easily seen as
synonymous with stupidity.
There seems to be a continuous line between faith and dogma with a blurred boundary
between and no
need of a intermediate term. Your excellent 'A and not A' provides the key to this.
This is a semantic point, but a very interesting one nonetheless and I suspect that it
is one to
which there is no 'right' answer.
Struan
P.S (Roger) Damn it, I was just trying to come to terms with Mystic Roger when
Rational Roger elbows
his way back in. Looking forward to it either way. :-)
------------------------------------------
Struan Hellier
< mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
" Dumb, infantile, stupid, ignorant, facetious, sarcastic, uneducated asshole."
('Valuable,''constuctive' and 'loving' criticism of my good self, from 'peace loving'
Rich, David B
and Kev - enough said!!)
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