We explain what a dogma is and its different meanings in philosophy, religion and law. Also, its relation to a doctrine.
A dogma is an unquestionable truth.What is a dogma?
Commonly, when we speak of dogmas we refer to a set of beliefs or propositions that must be accepted without question, that is, that must be considered true and undeniable, even though they do not exist arguments no explanations for it. Therefore, dogmatists are those who aspire to this type of acceptance, or promote it.
There are dogmas on the basis of different speeches and institutions, We call doctrines. Among them are religions, the legal system or even the fundamental explanations on which the claims are based. Sciences, which must simply be accepted, at least until there are better and deeper explanations, as we will see later.
The term dogma is in common use in our lives, although it comes from ancient Greek dokein, "Opinion", so it could be translated as "belief" or "opinion."
Dogma in philosophy
In the Ancient Greece, from where the term "dogma" comes from, this word was used with a meaning different from the contemporary one: as a synonymous Relative to "opinion", but which carried a moral or legal sense. In fact, it was something of a "decree."
This term was identified with the dogmatism, philosophical current that believed in human reason as the origin of the knowledge and knowledge. Therefore he accepted the world as it comes, without question.
This last sense was the one that ended up imposing itself on the word, from the fourth century, when it acquired the meaning of "belief imposed from outside the individual" or, in the religious sense, "truth revealed by God ”.
Since then, due to its association with medieval Christian thought, the term "dogma" has been used to criticize conservative philosophical positions, which cling to traditional concepts or views.
For example, Immanuel Kant accused of "dogmatic" rationalism from Descartes to Christian Wolff, then contrasting his methods of criticism.
Dogma in religion
Religions are dogmatic, in the sense that they offer their parishioners a set of truths about the world, the existence and about God, of which no evidence can be offered, but must be accepted as true.
These truths are the support of their belief systems, and for that reason many times a modification in the view of these dogmas leads to the creation of new sects within a religion.
Some examples of religious dogmas are:
- In Catholic Christianity. Dogmas are truths transmitted by God to the apostles of Jesus Christ or through the sacred scriptures, and that must be accepted as divine word. The existence of God as a sacred trinity, composed of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is a Catholic dogma, as is the fact that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin mother. But so is the infallibility of the Pope, whose decisions concern all the faithful of world Christianity.
- In Protestant Christianity. Composed of various sects that moved away from Catholicism, many of the Catholic dogmas are rejected or replaced by their own dogmas. For example, Lutheranism moved away from Catholicism regarding its interpretation of the Bible, but also regarding the infallibility of the Pope and his authority over all Christians in the world.
- In Judaism. Religion of the Jewish peoples, the fundamental truths are those inscribed in the Biblical Old Testament, a book that for them receives the name of the Torah. For them there is only one God, their own, who cannot be represented by symbols or idols, and who has chosen the people of Israel as their favorite above all.
- At Islam. Monotheistic religion of the Arab peoples, the dogmas are contained in the Aqidah, equivalent to the Catholic Creed. These dogmas are: 1) there is no other God except Allah; 2) Muhammad is the last divine prophet, but not the only one: Adam, Moses and Jesus were also prophets; 3) there are divine angels (other than Catholics); 4) God has written destiny on him qadar; 5) the only holy text is the Qur'an.
Dogma in law
All system of right, that is, all legal discipline, is made up of a set of legal dogmas (or types), extracted from the legal norms positive results through procedures of abstraction and logic, in order to create a system of legal values.
That is why some National Constitutions have an initial section called "dogmatic", because it contains the basic fundamental laws that support the rest of the legal apparatus or legal doctrine.
Examples of these legal dogmas are the general principles of law, a general set of normative statements that serve as the basis for the laws, or that in any case they collect in the abstract the content of these.
Generally, these dogmas are formulated as an axiom, often in the Latin language (when they come from the roman law), What Nullum crime, nulla poena sine praevia lege ("There is no crime and there will be no penalty, if previously there is no law") or Confessio est regina probatio ("The confession is the maximum of the tests").
Dogma and doctrine
It is not the same to speak of dogma and doctrine, although both terms are often related. A dogma is a truth fundamental, a statement that cannot be proved or questioned, but must be accepted and now; while a doctrine is the set of ideas, teachings or basic principles upheld by an ideology, religion, or legal system.
In other words, a doctrine is made up of a set of dogmas and rules, which constitute a system in themselves.
Instead, dogmas are specific, irrefutable truths that are commonly part of a doctrine: Catholic doctrine is made up of its particular religious dogmas, different from Jewish doctrine.