(3089/898) Authority

2209) The faith that stands on authority is not faith.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The Over-Soul"
Essays (1841) [ODQ]
posted by marlowe [UAQ] (11/29/1996)

2210) Nothing overshadows truth so completely as authority.

Leon Battista Alberti
Momo o del Principe (c.1450)
posted by marlowe [UAQ] (11/29/1996)

2211) The disappearance of a sense of responsibility is the most far-reaching consequence of submission to authority.

Stanley Milgram
Obediance to Authority; An Experimental View (1974)
posted by marlowe [UAQ] (11/29/1996)

2212) The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For him, scepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin. And it cannot be otherwise, for every great advance in natural knowledge has involved the absolute rejection of authority, the cherishing of the keenest scepticism, the annihilation of the spirit of blind faith; and the most ardent votary of science holds his firmest convictions, not because the men he most venerates hold them; not because their verity is testified by portents and wonders; but because his experience teaches him that whenever he chooses to bring these convictions into contact with their primary source, Nature, whenever he thinks fit to test them by appealing to experiment and to observation, Nature will confirm them. The man of science has learned to believe in justification, not by faith, but by verification.

T.H. Huxley
"On the Advisableness of Improving Natural Knowledge" (1/7/1866)
posted by marlowe [UAQ] (11/29/1996)

2213)
"...You know how Fair Witnesses behave."

"Well . . . no, I don't. I've never had any dealings with Fair Witnesses."

"So? Perhaps you weren't aware of it. Anne!"

Anne was seated on the springboard; she turned her head. Jubal called out, "That new house on the far hilltop - can you see what color they've painted it?"

Anne looked in the direction in which Jubal was pointing and answered, "It's white on this side." She did not inquire why Jubal had asked not make any comment.

Jubal went on to Jill in normal tones. "You see? Anne is so thoroughly indoctrinated that it doesn't even occur to her to infer that the other side is probably white too. All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't force her to commit herself as to the far side [...] unless she herself went around to the other side and looked - and even then she wouldn't assume that it stayed whatever color it might be after she left [...] because they might repaint it as soon as she turned her back.

"Anne is a Fair Witness?"

"Graduate, unlimited license, and admitted to testify before the High Court. [...]"

Robert Heinlein
Stranger in a Strange Land
(orig. pub. 1961, uncut ver. pub 1991)