We explain what dogmatism is in philosophy, its representatives and its relationship with skepticism. Also, dogmas in other areas.
The philosophical dogmatism of Zeno of Citius implied accepting the world without questioning it.What is dogmatism?
A dogma It is something that must be accepted without question, as is the case with religious dogmas, of which we cannot ask for any evidence, but rather believe or not believe. Therefore, dogmatism can be defined as the propensity to dogmas, that is, to demand that a truth be accepted without question.
However, in philosophy, dogmatism is a current opposite to skepticism and to idealism. Philosophical dogmatism defended the need to accept the world for its own sake, without subjecting it to question, and to trust in the ability of human reason to arrive at the truth, even through opinions and beliefs. beliefs.
This school originated in the Ancient Greece from classical times, when "dogma" was understood as a philosophical opinion or reasoned opinion. This term continued to be used throughout the history of the West, especially linked to Christian religious thought.
It began to speak of dogma with the contemporary technical meaning from the Council of Trent (1545-1563), in which the ecclesiastical authorities decided that those truths revealed by God and recognized by the Church are dogmas.
Types of dogma
There are dogmas in different aspects of life, especially those referring to religion and religion. metaphysical, that is, to very fundamental philosophical considerations that do not have a way of being verified effectively and practically. Such as:
- Religious dogma. Those concepts that a Church defends as true and immovable with respect to God, his desires or the way to honor him, are dogmas: they must be accepted or not accepted, but it is not possible to demand evidence of his true character. For example, the Catholic Church holds that God is a trinity, made up of father, son, and holy spirit.
- Legal dogma. Management systems Justice, that is, the Right, part of a set of unquestionable fundamental considerations, which make up legal dogmatics. These dogmas are nothing more than abstractions of the legal norms, which allow the operation of the system. For example, in the Constitutions there is usually a “dogmatic part” in which the basic rights that must be accepted at the outset are established, without possible questioning.
- Scientific dogma. Although it seems a contradiction in its terms, since the science as such it could not act dogmatically, but empirically and skeptically, it is possible to speak of scientific dogmas to refer to those fundamental theories that describe observable, quantifiable, but inexplicable phenomena still in no other way. For example, the ability to be objective observers of the nature it is something that can well be considered a scientific dogma, since without it everything else collapses.
Dogmatism and skepticism
Dogmatism and skepticism are conflicting positions, and were contrary philosophical movements in antiquity. On the one hand, the skeptics argued that it is impossible for him to human being reach the truth about the world. Consequently, they embraced the need for an indifferent life, removed from all judgment.
On the other hand, the dogmatists believed in reason as a means of access to truth. They accepted the world as it came, without questioning it, taking even opinions and beliefs as true.
The fundamental points of dogmatism can be summarized as:
- The world must take itself and accept itself, without question.
- Nothing can be doubted, even opinions and beliefs are true.
- One must have full confidence in reason as a means of access to the truth.
Representatives of dogmatism
One of the most common representatives of the school of dogmatism in the Antiquity It was Zeno of Citius (333-264 BC), considered the founding father of the Stoics, whose thought took important features from the work of Heraclitus, Plato and Aristotle.
But other important philosophers associated with dogmatism were Thales of Miletus (c. 624 - c. 546 BC), Anaximander (c. 610-545 BC), Anaximenes (c. 590-525 BC) and Pythagoras (c. 569-c.475).