Kevin's Watch

Every individual is his own authority, as far as he is concerned. If you're looking for authority for groups, I might consider that consensus can form such authority. But I certainly don't see any reason to accept something as authorative simply because some other individual claims that it is.

Just because nobody is NECESSARILY right about anything doesn't mean we can't know anything. We can know a lot of things. The thing with knowing something is that that thing must be true for everybody. We know that fire is hot. Everything thats truth is not demonstrable and verifiable is only opinion, not knowledge. (And I include everything I believe in that.)

--A

Avatar wrote:Every individual is his own authority, as far as he is concerned. If you're looking for authority for groups, I might consider that consensus can form such authority. But I certainly don't see any reason to accept something as authorative simply because some other individual claims that it is.

Just because nobody is NECESSARILY right about anything doesn't mean we can't know anything. We can know a lot of things. The thing with knowing something is that that thing must be true for everybody. We know that fire is hot. Everything thats truth is not demonstrable and verifiable is only opinion, not knowledge. (And I include everything I believe in that.)

--A

That's understandable. But on what basis, then, do you accept the authority of your own sense? What makes reason valid? Because when you indicate you WILL accept the authority of something that is demonstrable and verifiable, you imply faith in your senses (and memory, by extension).
The doctrine of sin is demonstrable and verifiable (ie, that there IS such a thing). I see it around me everyday, in myself and in others. (Of course, it is much easier to see in others, and a lot of our mental efforts go into justification of our own.)
Death is similarly demonstrable and verifiable. These are bases for religious thought in general. The desire for meaning based on said verifiable facts.