[MD] Theism/epistemology

[Platt Holden]

> dmb says:
> What if I said Astrology was my source of joy? What if I said it works for
> me and demanded that everybody refrain from denigrating it because it my
> source of joy? Do you think my personal comfort level can legitimately
> over-ride things like empirical evidence, a coherent explanation and
> logical consistency or do I get to avoid these intellectual demands
> because of the joy provided by this belief? C'mon, be honest. 

Empirical evidence, coherent explanation and logical consistency are all
ideologies worshipped by intellectuals, but not by artists. The open-minded
intellectual will not put all his eggs in the empirical-logical basket. 
Instead
he will follow the advice of physicist J. R. Pierce: "To anyone who is
motivated by anything beyond the most narrowly practical it is worthwhile
to understand Maxwell's equations simply for the good of his soul." 

dmb says:
> Sorry, but emotional satisfaction is just no way to measure the quality of
> an idea. 

The heck it isn't. "But the Metaphysics of Quality also says that Dynamic 
Quality -- the value force that chooses an elegant mathematical solution to 
a laborious one, or a brilliant experiment over a confusing, inconclusive 
one -- is another matter altogether." (Lila, 29)