There's a part of Franklin's autobiography that I think should be especially noted. It's where he's talking about this religious group in PA that was being looked upon suspiciously because of its lack of written doctrine (the group may have been the Moravians, but I don't remember). Franklin was asked to intercede in their favor, and he advised them to state their principles, so that they wouldn't be mischaracterized. They responded that they didn't have fixed principles, because they had noticed that as soon as they would settle on fixed beliefs, the light of reason showed some aspects of their doctrine to be erroroneous and presented the possibility of improvement in their thought. They also had no reason to think that this process would end (or, at least, each new plateau looked like the previous one had looked when it was new, in terms of its rightness). Taking note of this observation, they moved forward with a humility rare for anyone or any group, especially a religious group--they would act in accordance with their best principles, confidently, but always remain open to change, discussion, and the admission of error. In this way their philosophy was dynamic, and in my opinion, worth emulating. We see many striking examples throughout history of thinkers that shatter all preconceived notions and paradigms about various ideas. The most poignant example for me was studying Einstein, Planck (sp?), and Bohr. Newton's physics and the classical views on electro-magentism (by which I mean from Maxwell and his contemporaries) make so much intuitive sense to me. Relativity and quantum physics seem strange and impossible at times, yet they are verfied by reason and experiment. This example, as well as the phenomenon that Franklin observed in the Christian sect, forces me to accept that any of my ideas, intuitions, judgments, impressions, notions, even memories, etc. are all possibly false. This fact doesn't have to be paralyzing though. It's envigorating in a way, it allows for the possibility of continuous improvement, or continuous work. It makes honest dialogue vital. I will always strive to examine and reexamine myself, ready, if I have the courage, to trade an inferior thought of my own for the better thought of someone else; or the better thought of a higher voice in my conscience than that of a lower.
These off-the-cuff comments were not really in response to anything--they were just in my head. Rating wise, I don't know how things have been. Good in some ways, bad in others.