1/6/2012 8:56:24 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes: Grounding decision-making in quantitative data doesn't seem all that important to me in religion, or to a lesser extent in politics. Chris : Any reasons for your outlook about these areas of life ? Not that I would put it in terms of "quantitative data." I prefer not to think of these things in terms of charts or tables or pages of statistics. But there are other kinds of "solid facts." Take Freud and psychology generally. NOT because Freud was always right, since he was wrong a lot of the time, but his approach recommends itself. When I believe I always want to know why. Is it because the belief has some kind of objective pull, or is it because of long-delayed effects of a trauma I lived through many years ago ? Because my logic is faulty ? Because my knowledge of something is skewed ? That is, for me it is important to test whatever ideas are attractive. In other words, there are reasons why I'm not a Theosophist and not interested in TM and not a member of the Green Party, or whatever. Not just reasons why I have become a Radical Centrist or have critical but ecumenical religious views. For sure, this is the ideal model of how this works. There are plenty of times when any testing is after the fact. But, still, I'm always interested in being "grounded," as you and Ernie would say. I feel sure the same is true for you. But if it isn't, it would be worthwhile to learn why not. Or if it is, why did you phrase things the way you did ? What are you really saying that maybe would be valuable to know ? Curious in Oregon Billy -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think it is interesting that the eye movements of liberals and conservatives might be different, but it won't make me vote differently.
However, when I make life-changing recommendations about how children might live their lives (www.constructiveagreement.com), I try to ground my recommendations in the best-available research data. Not only do I study the results of the study, but I also examine the research methods used. Why? The decisions I make are too important for me to rely on just my gut feel. I don't want to be arrogant and think that my personal or instinctive opinion is all that is needed. Chris -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dr. Ernie Prabhakar Sent: Friday, January 06, 2012 9:00 AM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [RC] [ RC ] The Biology of Left vs Right / What attracts people to objectivity ? Sent from my iPhone On Jan 6, 2012, at 6:52, [email protected] wrote: > What attracts people to objectivity ? Not quite the right word, but I know what you mean. > > Suggestions anyone ? Speaking for myself, the simplest answer is "alienation". I didn't belong either in my home culture of India or my host culture of America. The reason I went into Physics (and Christianity) was largely to find some transcendent truth to ground my identity. And perhaps give me a "safe" place to critique and integrate my group identities. Great question, though. How about the rest of you? E -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
