In our age, many words are interpreted differently than before. If, for example, the ancient Greek concept of “dogma” in the broad sense of the word originally defined a certain teaching, now it is perceived by people as something rigid, ossified, limiting thoughts and, accordingly, the possibilities of development.
Modern man is repulsed by any restrictions (this is the fashion that prevails in today's culture). He feels bewildered if they try to deprive him of something, to limit him in something. Therefore, negative attitudes are predominantly caused by people of similar inclinations. It is one of the representatives of this category that will be discussed in this article, exploring the meaning of the word “dogmatist”.
Dogmatist as a negative character
In everyday communication, a negative perception of this concept prevails. So, if we look for synonyms for the word “dogmatist,” then they will be “obscurantist” and “doctrinaire.” As we see, they do not bring anything positive. An obscurantist is defined as a principled opponent of all development and progress, and a doctrinaire is a fanatical executor of a certain scheme, absolutely indifferent to people.
Accordingly, for most people, a dogmatist is a person whose worldview is based on adherence to dogmas (theoretical provisions accepted as absolute and not subject to refutation).
An orthodox dogmatist bases his judgments on one-sidedly stated, schematic, limited provisions that do not allow the existence of others. His judgments (doctrines) operate with concepts of a permanent nature, ignoring the emergence of new data.
Philosophy
In philosophy, dogmatism is a characteristic of philosophical teaching or a type of philosophical teaching. A philosophical teaching is dogmatic if it accepts any fundamental principles as absolutely reliable and corresponding to reality without any preliminary verification or possibility of change. The teachings incompatible with dogmatism are skepticism and criticism.
Skepticism
The origin of the philosophical term “dogmatism” itself is associated with ancient philosophy. The ancient Greek skeptics (Pyrrho and Sextus Empiricus), denying the possibility of achieving true knowledge, called “dogmatists” all philosophers who put forward and defended any statements (dogmas) about things as such (substances). Perhaps it is advisable to say “it seems so to me” about everything knowable. Perhaps it is worth doubting what really is.
The Pyrrhonists (skeptics) of the Renaissance and early modern times criticized with the help of skeptical arguments and accused various teachings of dogmatism, especially the Peripatetics (that is, the scholastics, who were considered followers of Aristotle).
Critical philosophy
In modern times, Immanuel Kant called the entire rationalistic philosophy from Descartes to Christian Wolf “dogmatic” for the creation of philosophical teachings without a preliminary study of the possibilities and prerequisites of knowledge, study of the limits of human cognitive abilities, that is, without resolving the question of how capable a person is of knowing the truth. The critical philosophy he outlined in the Critique of Pure Reason laid the foundation for philosophical criticism.
Starting with the statement that before constructing a philosophical system it is necessary to criticize our cognitive abilities, Kant comes to the conclusion that the knowing subject cannot know things in themselves, but only knows phenomena, the laws of organization of which belong to the knowing subject himself. Therefore, metaphysics as dogmatic positive knowledge about things in themselves is impossible.
Hegelianism and Marxism
G. W. F. Hegel also criticized dogmatic metaphysics; in fact, in his philosophy, the terms “dogmatism” and “metaphysics” are synonymous. In Hegel’s understanding, dogmatism is one-sided rational thinking that dogmatically accepts only one side of the dialectical contradiction and, as such, is opposed to dialectics.
This criticism of dogmatism was adopted from Hegel by dialectical materialism.
Society needs dogmatists
However, one should not perceive the word “dogma” as something absolutely not in demand in modern life. In particular, non-dialectical formal methods are widely used in jurisprudence. The generally accepted dogmas of law are legal customs, precedents, legal norms and, finally, laws.
A person working in this area is, to one degree or another, a dogmatist. The same approach can also be extended to the field of office management. Such people accepted the professional demands of the collective consciousness and subordinated the personal consciousness to it. If you look at it, today's society is full of dogmas. They are used to maintain order and integrity of social fabric.
Further research inevitably leads us to the conclusion that in modern society, in addition to the dialectical method, the formal dogmatic method is widely used. One way or another, any economic activity is regulated by regulations (essentially by dogmas).
Dogmatic method
In the history of philosophy, the dogmatic direction of thought has been known since Hellenistic times. Dogmatics is, in the philosophy of that time, the use of positive statements when describing the world. In contrast to dogmatists, skeptics questioned everything.
The concept of dogmatism is associated, first of all, with a specific method that allows, using the means of logic developed by Aristotle, to draw obvious conclusions based on non-obvious premises. The main postulates of the method are the identity between existence and its reflection in the human mind; the phenomenon of the external world and its meaning; and also in self-sufficiency of thinking.
Hegel himself considered his system dogmatic, since he used the thinking apparatus as the highest method of obtaining proof of truth.
Dogmatism is human
From the point of view of philosophy, a dogmatist is one who considers phenomena and processes, ignoring the fact of their qualitative change due to development. (The definition is quite critical, isn’t it?) It is characteristic that such a person adheres to a non-dialectical and non-historical way of thinking.
However, dogmatism is close in spirit to many people, even in modern society. This paradox is associated with the property of the human intellect, which is initially the keeper of information and only then the mind itself.
Attitude to unconditional postulates in the world of philosophy
Brilliant thinkers recognized throughout the world did not remain aloof from studying this phenomenon. Dogmatism is one of the characteristics of a particular teaching in philosophy. If it uses principles in its system that do not require verification, it is considered dogmatic.
The following trends stand in opposition to such scholastic views:
1. Skepticism
The ancient Greek thinker Pyrrho is considered one of the founding fathers of this teaching. He denied the possibility of man comprehending truth. Together with the skeptic Zeno, Pyrrho called all philosophers who put forward statements claiming to know about certain things dogmatists.
Skepticism prescribed using the formula: “It seems to me so” and questioning absolutely everything that exists. During the Renaissance, followers of this movement subjected the ideologists of ancient dogmatism to devastating criticism.
2. Criticism
In the 18th century, the German thinker Immanuel Kant took over the baton of condemning dogmatism. The philosopher argued that human cognitive potential is subject to preliminary analysis and then criticism. Kant said that things cannot be understood by the individual; he can only understand individual phenomena of reality.
A special feature of critical philosophy is that it sets criteria by which one can distinguish true information from false information. Thus, unnecessary illusions are eliminated. Criticism also sets the limits of human knowledge.
3. Hegelianism
Dogmatism was also attacked by one of the founders of German classical philosophy, Georg Hegel. In his opinion, adherents of this doctrine profess a one-sided view of the nature of things, excluding alternatives and incompatible with dialectics.
Dogmatism rejects the possibility of a variable consideration of phenomena and objects. Dialectics provides the ability to “grasp” the connection of various moments, to comprehend the world in all its versatility.
About religious dogmas
Christianity is based on dogmas and restrictions. And that’s why it’s valuable. After all, this is the only formal system of views in society, according to which human life is really the highest value. (Secular legislation in this regard is extremely contradictory and is more declarative than sincere.)
Restrictions in the field of Christian morality are the commandments, in the field of discipline - canons. Moreover, Orthodox Christianity is the most dogmatic faith. After all, if in other faiths a dogmatist is someone who adheres to the dogmas of orthopraxy (correctness of actions), then in Orthodoxy for such a person the principle of orthodoxy (correctness of judgments), i.e., mandatory judgments about God, is additionally relevant. This state of affairs is caused by the fact that Orthodoxy is a religion of love and revelation, and these categories require protection from human passions.
Church dogmas have a high purpose. Figuratively speaking, these are soul-preserving walls - not prison walls, but fortress walls.
Dogmas in religion
Initially, dogmas in religion were understood as interpretations of the Church. During the period of the Reformation (XVI century - early XVII century), the words of the Church were no longer taken on faith. The Reformers argued that dogma was to be found in Scripture.
Today there is an opinion that the Bible does not contain dogmas, it contains only religious doctrines. The word “dogma” itself is used in the Bible in the sense of a decree, a prescription.
Dogmas in Catholicism and Orthodoxy
Since before the split of the Ecumenical Christian Church into the Catholic and Orthodox Church in 1054, the church was united, many dogmas are supported by both confessions (religious teachings). It is believed that the reason for the schism was the addition (lat. filioque - filioque) by the Catholic Church of a text to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (about the procession of the Holy Spirit not only from the Father, but also “from the Son”).
The main doctrines of the Catholic Church are:
- the infallibility of the Pope;
- Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary (1854, Pope Pius IX);
- Nicene-Constantinople Creed (with filioque);
- the direct creation of souls by God;
- the doctrine of purgatory, the doctrine of the “extraordinary merits of the saints”;
- bodily ascension of the Mother of God.
The first seven dogmas of the Orthodox Church listed below were adopted at the First and Second Ecumenical Councils:
- dogma of the Holy Trinity;
- dogma of the Fall;
- the dogma of the Redemption of mankind from sin;
- dogmas about the Incarnation, Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ;
- dogma about the Second Coming of the Savior and the Last Judgment;
- the dogma of the unity, conciliarity of the Church and the continuity of teaching and priesthood in it;
- the dogma of the general resurrection of people and the future life;
- the dogma of the two natures of the Lord Jesus Christ (adopted at the IV Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon);
- the dogma of two wills and actions in the Lord Jesus Christ (adopted at the VI Ecumenical Council in Constantinople);
- dogma on icon veneration (adopted at the VII Ecumenical Council in Nicaea).
Social doctrine of the Russian Orthodox Church
In 2000, the Synod of Bishops approved the social doctrine. This doctrine is a document that contains the main dogmas of the Russian Orthodox Church and its opinions on various social issues.
For example: “The Church is a divine-human organism”, “work is an organic element of human life.”
Tenets in Buddhism
Buddha said not to accept his teachings without being convinced of their truth and without testing them from your own experience. Therefore, there are no dogmas in Buddhism. However, there are doctrines. Among the main doctrines of Buddhism are:
- four noble truths,
- eightfold path,
- samsara (rebirth) and karma,
- instantaneity of life (Sanskrit dharmas - law, duty),
- the doctrine of emptiness (Sanskrit shûnyatâ - shunyata - emptiness),
- absence of self (Skt. âtman),
- absence of god
- the interdependence of the emergence of things.
Tenets in Islam
The doctrines of Islam are prescribed in the Koran. They are divided into three sections: doctrines about God, about salvation and judgment, and others. For example:
- God is one and his name is Allah;
- Allah will judge all people on the Day of Judgment;
- The Qur'an is the word of Allah;
- alcoholic drinks and gambling are sins;
- fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.
Origin of the concept of dogma:
Initially, such a concept as dogma (a word of Greek origin) meant “opinion” or teaching in a broad sense of understanding, but over time this term acquired a more specific character and began to imply the truth in which one must unquestioningly believe.
It is worth noting that dogmatism as a phenomenon has a very long history, leading to the first beliefs of people in the supernatural and divine. Most existing dogmas are basic instincts, something very ancient and primitive. People of Islamic, Christian or other religions, by and large, do not believe in the existence of God, they simply know that he exists, and this is an indisputable fact, dogma in its purest form.
Dogmas also exist in various philosophical movements and ideologies. For example, Marxist philosophy “contains” the belief that socialism is the best model for building society; this is the dogma in this philosophical movement.
Bottom line
Dogmatism is a certain, limited world in which a person lives, while trying to survive in the real world. Many sufferings, problems and unresolved traumas are the result of conservative thinking. The result is a person’s inability to live fully, solve any problems, achieve any goals.
Dogmatism may not affect life expectancy, since there will always be groups (sects) that will agree to accept into their ranks a helpless, suggestible and uncritically thinking person who blindly believes and does everything that authorities tell him.
