> Spike Jones wrote: To the left of left would be the
> > agnostic. What is to the right of right? I propose it should
> > be the dogmatic atheist.
> Robert Owen wrote:
> I really like your sociogram, Spike. I only spot one difficulty -- as
> you suggest, extremes tend to meet because they are really the
> two opposing faces of one thing, "Agnostic::Dogmatic Atheist"
> doesn't seem to work very well. Here's what I suggest, even
> though it's a bit more complicated:
>
> Positivist-Humanist-Liberal-Orthodox-Fundamentalist-Atheist-Nihilist
I like it. Max More will likely weigh in on this, as this I think is his
area of expertise. The problem I see with your spectrum above is
it places the similar humanist and atheist too far apart, nearly opposite.
My original map needs more detail between dogmatic atheist
and agnostic, this I acknowledge. {8-] Since I attended a
religious college, I was able to collect a wealth of data, watching
as people moved along paths, around the circle. As in political
thought spaces, one normally does not go to the opposite side
of the circle: one may go from being radical to reactionary, which
are adjacent, but usually not from conservative republican to
liberal democrat for instance.
Likewise, I watched as a roommate went from hardcore fundamentalist
believer to atheist in one evening. (That was really a trip. I may
comment on it later.) I myself went the same route, but it took several
months and I went kicking and screaming every step. Once I decided
to objectively examine the evidence and follow the truth regardless
of where it leads, then the conclusions were inevitable as all hell. spike
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