On the contrary—I see a much more accurate parallel to religious dogma in the unquestioned faith that the modern respectable academic opinion just has to be more accurate and informed than people from the past on all subjects. I agree that this is normally so when it comes to hard sciences and non-ideological subjects in general. However, when it comes to ideologically charged issues, there is no good reason to believe that the modern respectable opinion can’t be spectacularly delusional by all historical standards.
My above assertion about the Founders is not based on some special reverence for them—in fact, they don’t even rank very high on my own list of historical greats of political thought. It’s based on my opinion that the contemporary state of political thought really is delusional to a level barely precedented in human history, so that being much more sane in comparison is not a particularly high bar to clear. (I could discuss the reasons why I think so, but I’m afraid that would probably be too much of an off-topic diversion.)
On the contrary—I see a much more accurate parallel to religious dogma in the unquestioned faith that the modern respectable academic opinion just has to be more accurate and informed than people from the past on all subjects. I agree that this is normally so when it comes to hard sciences and non-ideological subjects in general. However, when it comes to ideologically charged issues, there is no good reason to believe that the modern respectable opinion can’t be spectacularly delusional by all historical standards.
My above assertion about the Founders is not based on some special reverence for them—in fact, they don’t even rank very high on my own list of historical greats of political thought. It’s based on my opinion that the contemporary state of political thought really is delusional to a level barely precedented in human history, so that being much more sane in comparison is not a particularly high bar to clear. (I could discuss the reasons why I think so, but I’m afraid that would probably be too much of an off-topic diversion.)