Dictionaries define the word “dogma” as a statement taken on faith; it is a truth that does not require proof. According to Dahl, the dogmatic presentation of any scientific work suggests its completeness and the opposite of the historical, developing. A scientist or writer who operates on such truths may well be called a dogmatist.
Dogmatic method
In the history of philosophy, the dogmatic line of thought has been known since Hellenism. Dogmatics - in the philosophy of that time, the use of positive statements in describing the world. As opposed 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 being and its reflection in the human mind; the phenomenon of the outside world and its meaning; as well as in the self-sufficiency of thinking.
Hegel himself considered his system dogmatic, since he used the thinking apparatus as the highest method of obtaining evidence of truth.
A dogmatic is a protector of dogma
In everyday life, dogmas began to be called concepts divorced from reality, which, taking on the ultimate truth, are used by their apologists to refute everything that contradicts them.
Such an approach can be found in any sphere of life: in the family, in an educational institution, in politics, etc. And it is far from always harmless. Dogmatism has well-known consequences: delusions, prejudices, prejudices. They interfere with an adequate perception of reality and effective activity.
In any authoritarian society, being dogmatic is considered good form. However, when social changes begin, such people have a hard time, since they have to learn to think differently, to get used to independence.
Dogma is stability
Nevertheless, the absence of a system of dogmas that determine the functioning of a particular social system may threaten its stability. From this perspective, the existence of the state is determined by legal dogma. This is the totality of all established legal norms in force in the territory of a given country, and in addition, the activities of lawyers in its interpretation and maintenance.
Only based on legal dogma, should legal evidence be built as such and legal science be able to develop.
The nature of dogmatism
The roots of dogmatism should be sought in human nature itself, considering them from the standpoint of sociology, neurophysiology and psychology.
First of all, it is social inertia, capturing large masses of people, keeping their consciousness in the maze of obsolete dogmas. It manifests itself when in society there are no traditions of critical interpretation of reality, when people are not taught from childhood to think and evaluate events in the world, but they are massively instilled behavioral cliches and stereotypes.
From the point of view of neurophysiology, the fact that the body is able to effectively use the experience gained ensures its survival in the future. Activities in the present depend on both accumulated experience and the goal-setting ability, that is, it is determined simultaneously from the past and the desired future. At the level of the brain, this process is provided by a specific neural structure - an engram. She is also responsible for the inertia of thinking and behavior.
It should also be noted that all these processes, as a rule, are not recognized. It is for this reason that it is so difficult to get rid of the guiding system of dogmatic beliefs.
Therefore, we can say that a dogmatist is a person who is stuck in the past.
Where is the truth?
How does a dogmatist prove his case? This, according to ancient lovers of wisdom, occurs in the form of an affirmative monologue. Dialecticians built evidence in a different way, preferring to ask questions in a free discussion.
A dogmatist, even if he asks, is rather rhetorically not expecting a constructive answer. His question may sound something like this: "Have you seen what this idiot did?"
An unshakable dogma is a person who has an established belief system that allows him to prove his case, even if the facts indicate otherwise. Truth, by definition, cannot be born in a dispute with a real dogmatist - he either affirms it or rejects it.
