Saturday, August 07, 2010

To question all things

To question all things;– never to turn away from any difficulty; to accept no doctrine either from ourselves or from other people without a rigid scrutiny by negative criticism; letting no fallacy, or incoherence, or confusion of thought step by unperceived; above all to insist upon having the meaning of a word clearly understood before using it, and the meaning of a proposition before assenting to it;– these are the lessons we learn from the ancient dialecticians.

- John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address as Rector, University of St, Andrews, 1867.
(Quoted by Margaret Barker.)

2 comments:

Angel said...

I'm currently debating with an atheist on YouTube on the differences between literal Christianity and Gnosticism. This quote fits, perfectly, to explain WHY gnostics question(and DARE to question) the four cannon scriptures. Answer: It's our duty to question. If we don't ask why and how then we're merely going to remain infants.

Francine said...

Well that very question has caused me to leave two religions. I came across your website in the search for the definition between gnostic and agnostic. I've started my own blog in the search for whatever I'm searching for ;)
I hope I have your permission to place a link on my site??