[518] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: Racism and what-not
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michael E Rolish)
Thu May 3 18:22:34 2001
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To: liane@MIT.EDU
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Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 18:22:17 -0400
From: Michael E Rolish <merolish@MIT.EDU>
>I fail to see how identifying yourself as Catholic is any more
>superficial - or really any different - than identifying yourself as
>an Objectivist. Both define how you think about the world. Just
>because your parents raised you to be Catholic doesn't make it any
>less a part of you either - you had to learn about Objectivism from
>somewhere, right? What if you had learned about it from your parents?
Catholicism, like other religions, is a body of dogma to be accepted
on faith. Most Catholics I knew growing up never bothered to question
what they were being taught: the majority didn't really seem to care,
honestly; they just absorbed some half-formed concepts from their
parents, religious ed teachers, etc. Some implicitly realized how
dumb it was, but didn't want to question authority and think for
themselves.
I got the impression from Ms. Scott that she is Christian because "that's
how her parents raised her." This kind of passive acceptance is what
no person should tolerate.
Let me put it another way: What is the likelihood someone who had never
heard of Christianity (or any religion, for that matter) be able to come
up with it? Attack Objectivism all you like - it is the only philosophy
I've encountered that is not a useless mind game or a set of arbitrary
assertions - it treats the subject as a science.
>But don't the first two affect how the second two come out?? You are
>who you are because of genetics and environment - you weren't raised
>in an intellectual and cultural vacuum, and you think the way you do
>because of how other people thought and acted and how you processed
>these thoughts and actions. You can't claim that your thoughts and
>choices would be the same had your environmental circumstances been
>different.
Oooh, philosophical question. I don't think I'm qualified to really
discuss this in detail, but I will acknowledge the importance of
genetic makeup and environmental circumstances. Ultimately, though,
we have reason, intelligence, and free will; we can always think for
ourselves and analyze our experiences. In this way we're not
"determined" by our environment.
-Mike Rolish
--
Michael E. Rolish, MIT '04
Course VI-3 - Computer Science
Course VII - Biology
merolish@mit.edu
"Serenity comes from the ability to say 'Yes' to existence.
Courage comes from the ability to say 'No' to the wrong
choices made by others."
-Ayn Rand, "The Metaphysical Versus the Man-Made"
