NationStates Jolt Archive

My difinition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalism

It seems to me that for every school of thought, from Athietisms to islam to PETA there seems to be funadmentalistsl. Even for a school of thought that has no beliefs (athietism/agnostism) there are fundamentlists. Now I personally don'y like them but I see their point in our culture. Without fundamentalists there would be no one that pushes their ideals. They can be very annoying however.

My Question is: Is Fundamentalism Good or Bad?

My problem with fundamentalism--along with a certain amount of conservatism in general--is that it's backwards looking, and it's dishonest in the way it looks backward. It's one thing to look backwards and learn from one's mistakes, but that's not what fundamentalists and most conservatives do. They look backwards and imagine the world as some sort of golden age that never existed. They look backwards nostalgically, not critically, and as a result, they view important issues today dishonestly.

You could leave the pushing of ideas etc. to their limits to the professionals, those who are trained in the appropriate techniques and who know how to do this without getting hurt. Besides which we do need employment as philosophy graduates.