A Word about Fundamentals

I used the term "fundamentals" in my last post, and have been thinking that there might be some confusion to that idea being applied outside of the current narrow usage of the media.

The term “fundamentalist”, at worst, has become a verbal sledgehammer used to beat a religious opponent into submission for fear of having that label applied to them.  At its best, it is a way of simply dismissing an opponent out of hand as simple-minded and old-fashioned, and thus not as enlightened as the user of said epithet. Unfortunately, it is used all too often in reference to those with whom we disagree.  Rath than engaging the arguments, we engage in a soft smear campaign and invite those with whom we agree to dismiss the other as well. 

I for one used to use the term to describe my own upbringing, and since I did not want to be identified with “those” type of people, it became a very useful way of disassociating with my past.  That is, however, until I discovered that all of us have a streak of fundamentalism.



Yes, it is true.  Philosophically, a fundamental is an idea/concept, which we hold, with or without evidence, and that “must be true”.  These, generally, must be considered literally true.  These fundamentals are tied to the very definition of the self, the way that definition is constructed, and form the foundation of the thesis of our worldview.  Thus, to have a fundamental challenged, or refuted, is generally maddening.  More to the point, however, challenges to our foundational fundamentals are viewed as a threat to our epistemological system and by extension our self-identity.  Some fundamentals are malleable based on evidence, others by experience, but in general, it seems that fundamentals resist change, even if refuted by evidence, unless a radical crisis occurs that causes a re-cognition of the self.   In fact, how we even discuss the authority/autonomy of the individual is a fundamental dividing line.  Are we by nature good and reasonable, or are we by nature prone to sin and by extension human reason is corrupted?

Thus, a fundamementalist is anyone who holds to a fundamental.

In short, we are all fundamentalists.  The question is, will we be honest about it?