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Filed under Out & About

Cherie’s Place – Thought for the Week

No statement should be believed because it is made by an authority.

Robert A. Heinlein

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7 Comments CherryPie on Mar 27th 2011

7 Responses to “Cherie’s Place – Thought for the Week”

  1. jameshigham says:
    March 28, 2011 at 8:29 pm

    That’s a silly one of Heinlein’s because it is through those we accept as authorities that our education comes and the reason we accept them as authorities is that they have been shown to be correct before.

    • CherryPie says:
      March 28, 2011 at 8:38 pm

      That depends on who you see as being the authority…

      • CherryPie says:
        March 28, 2011 at 10:30 pm

        And maybe we should never take things at face value, but rather explore the various possibilities for ourselves before making up our mind.

        • jameshigham says:
          March 29, 2011 at 9:13 pm

          But equally, the authority might be quite venerable or might know his stuff, e.g. President Wilson who wrote on the Fed. He should know – he was the one who signed it. In that case, it is merely relativistic for relativism’s sake to not accept what is said on the matter.

          This is one of the grievous problems of the modern day – relativism which seeks to deny and revise, just for sake of denying and revising.

          • CherryPie says:
            March 29, 2011 at 9:27 pm

            I don’t recall saying anything about denying and revising…

            Now for example current world leaders are authorities. Just because they are ‘an authority’ doesn’t mean their word has to be taken at face value.

  2. Janice says:
    March 29, 2011 at 5:26 am

    Ah you already said what I was going to say – indeed one should explore and experience an event his/herself before it can become a fact although there are circumstances where one has to rely on the information given…