Gonzalo asked:

When is an idea dangerous? It seems to me that Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism all seem to
be oriented to the improvement of human kind. Something happens though when these ideas are
turned into doctrines or dogmas. How can we as human beings protect ourselves from doctrines?
What is the ground we should stand on, in order to get the best out of an religious or spiritual idea?
Why and how do "healthy" ideas become destructive to human beings (not only religious ones, but
also philosophical ones as well). When does doubt become an obstacle in the search for truth? I
guess there is no limit in what and how one can question things, but are we not falling into a trap the
same way Zeno did with his mathematical paradoxes? One can question until the end of time, and
not find or discover anything. I hope you find this question more provocative, worthy or interesting
than the previous ones. Good luck.

============

"Nothing is more dangerous than an idea. When it is the only one you have."

— Emile Chartier

The question is an interesting one, and I can see that you already appreciate its complexity from the
length of your question.

Essentially you have already answered the question, by your concern about both the problem of
holding one idea too strongly (dogmas and doctrines), and about holding no ideas (doubt and
questioning). Exactly — there are problems with both these extremes, and my inclination is to try to
find a balance between them, some kind of middle ground. We need a balance between universal
doubt and blind faith.

The quote above suggests that 'having only one idea' is dangerous. Anyone who thinks they have got
"The Truth" is going to be extremely resistant to revising or questioning their ideas. And they may
become very dangerous indeed if they are prepared to use force (and not just physical violence;
brainwashing might be considered a form of 'intellectual force') to get other people to accept their
ideas, or to punish anyone who doesn't accept their ideas.

But questioning and doubt can equally become self-destructive when only proof that an idea is
necessarily true— that is, true in the way that "4+3=7" or "a banana is a banana" are true — will
persuade you to accept it. In philosophy, the most extreme forms of doubt are solipsism (the view that
everything you see is just the product of your own mind), and radical scepticism (which goes further
and claims that the only thing you can know for sure is the present contents of your own mind). There
are various philosophical arguments against these views, but none of them are entirely satisfactory,
and the fact is that if you reallybelieved in either of them you would be considered insane.
Philosophers can also fall into a different kind of doubt; they spend so much time learning about other
people's different points of view, and their respective merits and demerits, that they can become
unable to decide which point of view they agree with! I found this a problem when I was in my first
year of studying philosophy at University, when I was reading so many commentators's criticisms of
classic texts, that I began to feel I had no ideas of my own! What I did was to concentrate on reading
the texts themselves, and avoid the works of academic commentators as far as possible — this
helped.

You already know how to protect yourself from doctrines! By doing philosophy, of course — you are
already doing it by asking your question in the first place! If you are prepared to apply questioning,
discussion and reflection — which I take to be basic methods of philosophizing — to any idea, then
you are unlikely to be in danger of accepting any one idea as "The Truth". Of course, you may
conclude that some ideas are more or less right or true than others, but without ever believing that
any one of them on its own holds the complete truth — or even that humans will ever grasp the
complete truth. The truth about the world may be too complex to be captured in any one idea — or
too wide-ranging to be fully grasped by human understanding, perception or theories.

There's one more important way you can protect yourself from doctrines. In the midst of all this
serious discussion — don't forget your sense of humour!

Katharine Hunt