Quote:
Originally Posted by gwhite
Now with respect, I find the above puzzling in the extreme in that for me at least one of the most important aspects of reading is to find views which challenge my own and hopefully change my existing prejudices. After all, someone once said that the truly educated person is one who has some idea of how much they don't know, and I agree with that definition. For me, the purpose of reading is to give me some insight into the mind and the experiences of others, experiences that I would otherwise be denied. It is such insights which will increase my ability to empathise with others in much more difficult positions than myself and I see this as a good thing.
That said, each to his/her own I suppose.
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I think that idea goes back to the ancient Greeks. i.e. "the wisest man is the one who admits he knows nothing." Quite a bit different from the mentality of the world today where every 'expert' claims to know exactly what should be done in situation x. And of course those who point out how little the experts do know are rarely appreciated. Just ask Socrates. He made a life work out of asking questions which exposed how little the wise men of his day knew about things they claimed to be experts in and he ended by being served a cup of hemlock. That said we can't really debate topics relating to religion in this forum. That's what Politics and religion is for.
