[lit-ideas] Re: Faith
- From: John McCreery <mccreery@xxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 19 May 2005 13:11:00 +0900
On 2005/05/18, at 23:28, Phil Enns wrote:
> I don't see how there can be 'solid content' without a headcount of =20=
> experts
> and, following John, the institutions that locate expertise.
I still have problems with that "headcount of experts." It might make =20=
sense in a world in which all experts were truly peers=81\regarded by =20=
each other as equally expert=81\but this is not the world in which I =20
live. In my world, experts are ranked by reputation and, for example, =20=
the opinions of one Thomas Aquinas outweigh those of any number of =20
parish priests. In fact, on certain crucial issues, the word of the =20
Pope, speaking ex cathedra, outweighs them both.
There is, I observe, a substantial sociological literature that deals =20=
with the topic of professionalization and may be relevant here. At =20
least it seemed so to me when I wrote a paper called "The Parting of =20
the Ways" (published in the Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, =20
Academia Sinica, way back in 1976) comparing the historical fates of =20
Taoism and Confucianism in China.
The literature to which I referred analyzed the professionalization =20
of medicine, contrasting the disorganized state of 18th and 19th =20
century medicine, in which any quack was free to hang out a shingle, =20
with the state apparatus created during the 20th century that, in the =20=
case, of the USA, at least, resulted in the whole complex of state-=20
supported institutions, medical schools, licensing boards, =20
professional associations, etc., that supports the continuing =20
creation of a growing body of relatively "solid" medical knowledge, =20
theory and practice.
In my own paper, I noted that except for brief periods of imperial =20
patronage, mainly in the Tang Dynasty, Taoism had never possessed the =20=
kind of state apparatus that Confucianism obtained=81\the imperial =20
examination system by which literati qualified for official posts. =20
There were, off and on, over the centuries efforts to create similar =20
Taoist institutions, but, lacking state sanction, these were unable =20
to enforce their claims to orthodoxy, leaving the field wide open for =20=
anyone claiming new divine inspirations or the discovery of =20
previously unknown authoritative texts.
Cheers,
John McCreery=
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