Doubt and Certainty
Doubt is what characterizes the scientific method. Scientists don’t want to believe they are right; they want to subject what they believe to rigorous testing in an attempt to disprove the thinking of the day, hoping for a better explanation of the world around them.
Science stands in opposition to religion, whose adherents have total certainty of the tenets of their faith: God, Jesus, heaven, sin, hell, and the other “facts” presented in the Bible: the Creation, the age of the Earth, Noah, the talking snake, Jonah and the hundreds of other biblical stories.
From what we see at left, it appears that Voltaire preferred doubt. To use his language: it’s uncomfortable, but it’s not ridiculous.
Yup. As has been variously observed by minds as disparate as William Butler Yates, Bertrand Russell, and Charles Bukowski, the intelligent and aware are full of doubt, and the ignorant and deluded are cocksure.
I regard this as a key vulnerability in our species.
I agree 100%. It’s funny how that statement has been attributed to everyone but Tinker Bell.
Another one is: “All that is necessary for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing.” I’m expecting to learn that this one came from Franz Liszt.