What's the structural difference between religion and science?
Religion is a matter of belief. It's stories and ideas that encapsulate an emotional state, values, traditions, and cultural outlook of believers. When a group of people share the same beliefs about how to live life and what is sacred, their celebration of those things is what we call 'religion'.
So with religion, the expression may change and the methods of understanding will almost certainly change, but the underlying conclusions and fundamental ideas never do. Your religion can't be wrong, you can just deviate from it's rightness. With religion, your method may be wrong, but your desired outcome never is.
Science is about the process, itself. With science there is no conclusion that is above challenge or question. Science requires consistency above all else - the ability to repeat discovered results. It requires consistent application of discovered rule sets and methods between various trials and the exploration of ideas is done by eliminating desired outcome and focusing on the process from start to finish. Science is a structural methodology. It distills methods of investigation down to rules that when applied determine whether an outcome or objective or idea is true or false or somewhere in between. With science, your method is what's holy. Your outcome is a byproduct and is only as valuable or true as the path used to get there.
Why is this on a political blog?
I've lost more liberal friends in recent years on social media than conservatives. The reason why is that I insist that the same structural rules used to critique and attack misguided conservative and Republican policy or social ideas be applied to liberal agendas as well. It's not that I don't want progressive goals or outcomes, it's that I am unwilling to get there by ignoring or changing the logic used in order to ensure the outcome.
In our ever more polarized society, groups from both sides are attacking one another vehemently with logical frameworks to prove the enemy's error and stupidity. These frameworks unfortunately get conveniently set aside the moment a nearly identical event happens in the other direction; A method of attack is lauded as beautiful against the enemy but when turned on friends who mistakenly fall for the same thing in a different context they get very, very angry.
But politics is supposed to be about common ground or, barring that, having a superior position and method of getting things done than your opponent. Politics is supposed to be a science; thus 'political science'. It's supposed to be a competitive effort to come up with the best way to solve a problem regardless of how the best method fits into our ideological comfort zones.
When we start looking first at the outcome of a policy or position and then reverse justify the method, we're no long practicing political science.
We're practicing political religion.
And in contest, few holy wars have actual winners; Just a lot of violence and death that ultimately serves those smart enough to keep a cool head, manipulating the ignorant but self righteous is far easier than proving the strength of your position on fact and precedent and, God forbid, admitting when despite the outcome in favor of your ideas, it's wrong and needs to be abandoned.
I encourage you to watch your social media carefully. Watch what you re-post and watch what you like. Be careful about what you jump onto the 'hell yea' band wagon to support. If your blood heats up before you've finished reading or researching what's actually happened, you're not being shown actual politics.
You're in an alter call for a crusade.
And there's no easier way to use someone than to get them so in love with the idea of victory that they don't notice they're being used.
Religion is a matter of belief. It's stories and ideas that encapsulate an emotional state, values, traditions, and cultural outlook of believers. When a group of people share the same beliefs about how to live life and what is sacred, their celebration of those things is what we call 'religion'.
So with religion, the expression may change and the methods of understanding will almost certainly change, but the underlying conclusions and fundamental ideas never do. Your religion can't be wrong, you can just deviate from it's rightness. With religion, your method may be wrong, but your desired outcome never is.
Science is about the process, itself. With science there is no conclusion that is above challenge or question. Science requires consistency above all else - the ability to repeat discovered results. It requires consistent application of discovered rule sets and methods between various trials and the exploration of ideas is done by eliminating desired outcome and focusing on the process from start to finish. Science is a structural methodology. It distills methods of investigation down to rules that when applied determine whether an outcome or objective or idea is true or false or somewhere in between. With science, your method is what's holy. Your outcome is a byproduct and is only as valuable or true as the path used to get there.
Why is this on a political blog?
I've lost more liberal friends in recent years on social media than conservatives. The reason why is that I insist that the same structural rules used to critique and attack misguided conservative and Republican policy or social ideas be applied to liberal agendas as well. It's not that I don't want progressive goals or outcomes, it's that I am unwilling to get there by ignoring or changing the logic used in order to ensure the outcome.
In our ever more polarized society, groups from both sides are attacking one another vehemently with logical frameworks to prove the enemy's error and stupidity. These frameworks unfortunately get conveniently set aside the moment a nearly identical event happens in the other direction; A method of attack is lauded as beautiful against the enemy but when turned on friends who mistakenly fall for the same thing in a different context they get very, very angry.
But politics is supposed to be about common ground or, barring that, having a superior position and method of getting things done than your opponent. Politics is supposed to be a science; thus 'political science'. It's supposed to be a competitive effort to come up with the best way to solve a problem regardless of how the best method fits into our ideological comfort zones.
When we start looking first at the outcome of a policy or position and then reverse justify the method, we're no long practicing political science.
We're practicing political religion.
And in contest, few holy wars have actual winners; Just a lot of violence and death that ultimately serves those smart enough to keep a cool head, manipulating the ignorant but self righteous is far easier than proving the strength of your position on fact and precedent and, God forbid, admitting when despite the outcome in favor of your ideas, it's wrong and needs to be abandoned.
I encourage you to watch your social media carefully. Watch what you re-post and watch what you like. Be careful about what you jump onto the 'hell yea' band wagon to support. If your blood heats up before you've finished reading or researching what's actually happened, you're not being shown actual politics.
You're in an alter call for a crusade.
And there's no easier way to use someone than to get them so in love with the idea of victory that they don't notice they're being used.
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