Like you, I identified this strange behavior while in college. In fact it was my observation of this weirdness that pulled me into majoring in psychology.
I am an old guy now and have studied that one question above all else for 40 years. I thought I would never get an answer, but I think I know now.
But digressing first, Newton and Berkeley, simply lived a long ago. Indoctrination was too powerful for young minds and too little known about the universe. And logic was not well refined. Newton was also a bit nuts.
Today you can see this split evidenced in our political parties. Same phenomena. You have three causes:
Let me preface this by pointing out 6% of scientists are Republican and 6% lean Republican, 81% lean democratic.
And here, in these two populations, lies your answer.
1) Early childhood indoctrination (any dogma)seems almost like a critical period in birds, and makes it very hard for people to extricate themselves from irrational belief systems later on in life.
2) Simple lack of education. Man is not evolved for rational thought but rather for pattern recognition. "Knowledge directed perception" one cannot see what one does not understand.
3) And lastly, this was the stumper for so long. Why the highly educated person (often engineers) who are also religious and/or usually very right wing and anti science?
I think the left wing's minds work differently than the right wing's minds. What I think MRI scans will show is that the minds of people who can see through the fallacies of religion work together better than those who cannot, to form a clearer more detailed reality, a more abstract reality.
The latter (religious) are more emotional and only vaugely understand/see abstract thought like say democracy.
So it has to do with the mind not working together well enough to form a sophisticated enough reality to discern the conflicts.
Also, why people seldom change their minds about things no matter how clear the facts or logic. They cannot "see what one is trying to show them".
>>You may have read this guy at some point in time. What I have NEVER been able to understand is how genius minds can overlook the so obviously self serving nature of the biblical record (of any nation or culture)?? I mean, how can minds such as Newton and Berkeley read Joshua or crap like that and then kneel in a Christian church and worship??
en.wikipedia.org
I remember reading Newton's "optiks" as a young boy and I remember thinking: how can this mind be a devout believer in Jesus and the bible as Holy Writ?? It doesn't make any sense...
Now I meet you on the internet and you don't seem to have that schizophrenic split. Where does that schism come from?? It is so weird...<< |
