"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind, and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded prospect."
-James Madison, in a letter to William Bradford, 1 April 1774
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
To be wise, observe; for observation is the source of wisdom.
"A wonderful, maaaagical animal!"
To be wise, observe; for observation is the source of wisdom.
Intelligent Links
Why the learned pig?
In early 19th-century America, a certain traveling show featured a remarkable pig that, on command, could spell out letters to form words. This "pig of knowledge", or "learned pig", baffled superstitious mobs, and excited frenzied accusations of witchcraft. In response, the pig's trainer published a pamphlet that sought to dispel the rumors by detailing his methods of instruction, and demonstrating that this apparent miracle could be accounted for through reason and observation alone.
Tacitus once wrote, "everything unknown passes for something splendid." Humans by nature desire to know, and when they encounter something seemingly inexplicable, they tend to fill in the holes with religion, superstition, or inane anti-intellectualism that dismisses the need for knowledge altogether. But these are cowardly subsitutes for reason and observation. The learned pig reminds us that if we wish to be wise, "observe; for observation is the source of wisdom."
Labels
- Consumerism and Advertising (17)
- Culture (11)
- Feminism (3)
- Film (1)
- Film and Television (25)
- History (2)
- Nature (4)
- News Media (1)
- Philosophy (18)
- Philosophy Quotations Explained (3)
- Politics (69)
- Quotations (38)
- Religion (54)
- Science (16)
- Vegetarianism (15)
- Words and Usage (25)
Blog Archive
-
▼
2007
(116)
-
▼
May
(12)
- Right on Redundant
- We Won!
- Wall of Separation
- English
- He should have prayed for lower cholesterol
- Milk Chocolate, Creamy Nougat, and Bovine Stomach ...
- Two H, One O, No Matter What You Pay For It
- Today's Most Popular Beatdowns
- Highway to Hell
- Religious Bondage
- Thou Shalt Not... Pluck?
- Solely Because of Their Race
-
▼
May
(12)
No comments:
Post a Comment