Subject: What they should doubt
Date: 17 July 2007
From: Flash Light
To: Dr. Sophronius
Dear Dr. Sophronius,
You wrote, "Faith in what? What should they doubt?"
Relevant aphorisms: "Believe nothing of what you hear, and only half of what you see."
"I'm from Missouri, you have to show me."
From A. J. Ayer, "A proposition is not meaningful, unless it's verifiable."
From Karl Popper, "A proposition is not meaningful, unless it can be disproved."
From George & Ira Gershwin, "It ain't necessarily so. The things that you're liable, to read in the Bible, they ain't necessarily so."
Belief in any proposition which can't be verified, nor disproved, is an act of faith. Testing any proposition which can be disproved is an act of doubt, and an act of science.
It is possible to have faith in an idea which is nonsense without realizing it, whereas if you can test a proposition, you will soon know whether it is nonsense. The safest way to avoid nonsense is therefore to have faith in nothing and doubt everything.