Hello:

There's a lot of belief's out there... What I want you to concentrate on, is a belief shared by OTHERS, that you think is absolutely ridiculous. Let's say it's the Easter Bunny, or the tooth fairy, or Thor who rides his chariot across the sky... I don't care what it is, as long as it's a belief you DON'T share...

Ok, let's say that there's this person who is VERY credible on the subject of the economy, for example.. He ALSO believes that he was abducted by aliens, and probed by their tools... If you believe in aliens doing that, think of another one...

Anyway, back to this guy, who seems credible on the one hand, but is an absolute loon on the other. Do you believe him about economic matters - or ANYTHING at all? Does his looniness on ONE matter effect whether you believe him on another?

excon

I would say in most cases it doesn't really affect it, like in your case. However something like a young earther biologist is someone I would be very skeptical of, they can't possibly understand important facts like evolution because they're looking at everything from the wrong angle.

In my short career so far, I've met a few christian scientists (not people who study "christian science", but people who study science and are christian), and most of them seem to have their head screwed on and always take into account physical fact. However they also believe there's an invisible old man in the sky, but they don't let the two cross. Fact is more important.

I think in general people are very good at compartmentalizing, it's just you have to be wary of the ones where there could be some cross over between what they are telling you, and what craziness they believe.

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Originally Posted by Capuchin

I think in general people are very good at compartmentalizing, it's just you have to be wary of the ones where there could be some cross over between what they are telling you, and what craziness they believe.

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Hello again, Cappy:

People may SAY they can separate this from that. They may even think they can, and they may look like they do. But, I don't think it's possible... If a person would base SOME of his conclusions on groundless speculation (blind faith), then I can't imagine him not doing it whenever the need arose. Even if he didn't, how would you know when that is?

excon

Quote:

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Originally Posted by excon

Hello:

There's a lot of belief's out there... What I want you to concentrate on, is a belief shared by OTHERS, that you think is absolutely ridiculous. Let's say it's the Easter Bunny, or the tooth fairy, or Thor who rides his chariot across the sky... I don't care what it is, as long as it's a belief you DON'T share...

excon

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Hi ex,

Hope you had an enjoyable Christmas.

I might be able to help you with the first part of your question.

Psychologist Carl Jung attempted to explain mythologies such as chariots across the sky and snakes eating their own tails in terms of archetypes. These are symbols of thoughts that Jung believed were passed on through genetics. Much in the same way as hair colour is passed on through generations.

Jung would say that creation myths are an excellent example of archetypes. Every society regardless of time or place has a creation myth. Basically, Jung believes that individual consciousness is really a single universal consciousness which we all participate in. He sees this universal consciousness as playing a significant role in how humans have developed throughout history.

I am not sure if these ideas say something about Jung himself or say something about psychology.

Regards

Tut