Saturday, November 19, 2011

Definitions and generalizations and thinking

Not everyone appreciated my recent attempts to distinguish Mormons from Christians. I recently read a series on whether Anglicans are Protestants*. Undaunted, here's another question: is Chaz Bono a man?

Plus, as my FB friend Nathan helpfully reminded me, generalizations, not universalizations, are the usual forms of English sentences like "men are stronger than women" and "Chinese are smarter than Africans." It does not mean "every single man is stronger than every single woman", but that "most men by far are stronger than most women."

Without generalization, there's no thinking. When I make a generalization and someone attacks me for making a universalization, I lose interest in talking because I realize I am with someone not very bright. (That's a generalization.)

An implied but necessary part of a definition of anything includes what it is not. Otherwise, we wind up with Hegel's dark night in which all cows are black.


Categories have both strong and weak meanings, too, often depending on usage or detail. Mormons are non-Christians compared to the vast majority of other Christians, both in numbers and in history, but compared to Muslims, for example, they are Christians, in the weak sense.

Is America a Christian nation? Yes and no. Has it defined itself by legal code as a Christian nation? No. Is it a nation historically dominated, both numerically and culturally, by Christians? Of course it is. If it weren't, why would there be an ACLU?


*Yes. Read the Act of Succession. And the 39 Articles. Once you embrace sola scriptura, (whether you're a prescriptive Roundhead --unless it's in Scripture, we can't do it --or a permissive Cavalier--if Scripture doesn't forbid it, it's ok) you're a Protestant. Luther and Calvin disagree but both are Protestants.

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