>>Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 19:35:44 -0700
>>From: DJS <deron@pacifier.com>
>>In this light, consider four definitions:
>>1. Knowledge.... Belief in accordance with the Evidence.
>>2. Credulity....... Belief despite the Evidence.
>>3. Skepticism... Disbelief despite the Evidence
>>4. Thrift............ Disbelief in accordance with the (lack of) =
Evidence
< Original text reintroduced for clarity>
>>SKEPTICISM is an unwillingness to commit to any position. Since
>>(as all debaters know) it is far easier to oppose than propose, the =
>>safest intellectual position is often one of absolute skepticism
>Wow, I'm sold. This was great. I also like your characterization
>of the intellectual skeptic, which was something I was going to bring
>up. Way to define words!
That was the most exciting "discovery" I had in thinking about all of =
this. It gave me intellectual footing to say exactly why a constructive =
argument is more valuable, uncertainty and all, than a secure yet =
vacuous statement of absolute doubt.
I wrote in my notes: "...interestingly it stresses that the faith of the =
pious is no more irrational than the nihilism of the intellectual". =
[note: "it" refers to a graph I'd drawn]=20
>Deron Rocks!
Thank you kindly!=20
At the risk of sounding smarmy, I'll return the compliment by quoting a =
message I sent to David a few weeks ago:
"...Reed's 4/28/97 posting was nothing short of brilliant and deserving =
of the rarest of all compliments -- hardcopy."=20
[http://maxwell.lucifer.com/virus/archive/0805.html] =20
Cheers,
Deron
___________
"This book was written in 1911 but since then my views have undergone =
significant development....Whitehead convinced me that the concept of =
matter is a logical fiction." --- B. Russell, _The Problems of =
Philosophy_, Foreword to the German Translation, 1924
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