Physics 206. Week Three: Sept. 18 and 20.
Chapter 3 points: Doubt

1. Doctrinal Religions
a. These view doubt as an absolute evil, causing people to stray from the one true path of righteousness.
b. The (often inerrant) texts that form the creedal basis of doctrinal religions typically contain statements about the world that we now know are incorrect. In fact, many texts contain such statements that were known to be incorrect when the text was written. This makes the texts period pieces, and means that religions knowledge based on texts, like scientific models, has a mortality.
c. Doctrinal religions are inherently uncomfortable with doubt and uncertainty. They typically prefer to be definite, and wrong, than to say they do not know.

2. Science
a. Groups of scientists are viewed as tribes, not the yeshiva analogy. Examples are given to illustrate how the tribalism works, including the microorganism theory of disease, plate tectonics, and dinosaur extinction. Qualities needed for a new idea to become accepted include, more often than not, new data, scientific community accredited membership, and a critical mass of scientists at the best schools who push the idea.
b. Paradigm shifts occur slowly, unless the senior people in a field become discredited, in which instance the change can be quite rapid. Quantum mechanics is discussed as an example of the latter.

3. Art
a. The idea of negative capacity- of being in uncertainties, mysteries and doubt without reaching for the comfort of an ideology.
b. Art is based on images and stories. Doubt is essential to art because art does not claim the certitude and single absolute truth of ideology.
c. The power of images in art lies in their suggestibility.

4. Mystical religions
a. Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism are briefly introduced.
b. Doubt often leads to anxiety (fear). One goal of the mystical religions is to overcome this fear and help the initiate gain insight beyond the bounds of their individual egos.