14-Oct-2011, 10:57 AM
(This post was last modified: 14-Oct-2011, 11:38 AM by karatalaamalaka.)
Is adherence to an ideology compatible with free-thought and humanism?
By ideology, I mean an intransigent adherence to a set of ideas. I believe that the intransigence is contrary to humanism and free-thought.
For example, can someone be a staunch communist, and still be a humanist? Or folks who believe that the constitution and the words of the founders of a country are infallible, complete, and hence unchangeable?
People often cling to ideologies at the expense of reason and facts.
Any ideas?
(I searched other threads, but couldn't find a discussion on this issue.)
I was motivated to start this thread following these,
1. In the thread on lying, there was a discussion on Kant's views. Given the ideological nature of Kant's approach to ethics, I felt that his ban on lying is contrary to a humanistic world view.
2. There is a provocative article on the 'failure of ideology', a la CP Snow's 'The Two Cultures,' on wired.com The main premise of the Wired article is this:
Should the definition of humanism include , 'non-adherence to ideologies.' Or do the four points in the definition preclude adherence to ideologies by implication?
By ideology, I mean an intransigent adherence to a set of ideas. I believe that the intransigence is contrary to humanism and free-thought.
For example, can someone be a staunch communist, and still be a humanist? Or folks who believe that the constitution and the words of the founders of a country are infallible, complete, and hence unchangeable?
People often cling to ideologies at the expense of reason and facts.
Any ideas?
(I searched other threads, but couldn't find a discussion on this issue.)
I was motivated to start this thread following these,
1. In the thread on lying, there was a discussion on Kant's views. Given the ideological nature of Kant's approach to ethics, I felt that his ban on lying is contrary to a humanistic world view.
2. There is a provocative article on the 'failure of ideology', a la CP Snow's 'The Two Cultures,' on wired.com The main premise of the Wired article is this:
Quote:So the experiment has been run, and the results are in. Science and technology wins; ideology loses.
Should the definition of humanism include , 'non-adherence to ideologies.' Or do the four points in the definition preclude adherence to ideologies by implication?