[MD] Faith/Skepticism

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Ron]
Ayn Rand made some observations about the most common assumptions 
being to place faith in the words of an authority figure over 
individual thought...

[Arlo]
Charles Peirce's essay "The Fixation of Belief" is also a great read 
in this avenue of thought. His central premise is that the mind 
dislikes uncertainty, and there are a series of options available to 
us to "fix belief" and cure uncertainty. He calls these tenacity 
(stubborn clinging to an idea in the face of contrary evidence), 
authority, a priori reasoning, and lastly scientific methodology. 
(His essay predates Pirsig by quite a while, so go easy on him).

http://www.peirce.org/writings/p107.html

I can't really make a circular diagram here, but the basic operation 
for Peirce would be something like "Belief -> Observation -> Doubt -> 
Inquiry -> Belief" (with feedback loops embedded throughout). 
"Inquiry" is where most of this particular essay by Peirce spends its 
time, and I think ZMM had a good deal to say about "Observation".

Just some thoughts.

Arlo