Friday, October 10, 2014

Three types of believer


Do you trust your own experience or do you need outer authorities to tell you the truth?

EXPERIENTIALIST
Hearing about something or reading about it in a book interests them but until they see it or experience it for themselves it remains just an idea, not a reality.

AUTHORITARIANIST
Experiencing something for themselves is not enough.  They need authorities to agree with it before they can trust it.

SCIENTISMIST/PSEUDOSKEPTIC (A SUBSET OF AUTHORITARIANIST)
Their own experience is irrelevant.  Unless science has proven something to the satisfaction of the current scientific establishment they won't believe it.  In fact, they will tend to actively oppose it!  An example of someone who holds this view is Richard Dawkins, who has stated that his own personal experiences are completely irrelevant in his discovery of truth.  Only current scientific consensus has any meaning for him.

Sharka Todd

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