Our Doctrinal System
Executive Summary
- The Definition of Doctrinal
- How I Define Doctrinal
- When Doctrine Does Not Work
Introduction
Let us start this post by defining “doctrinal.”
Oxford English Dictionary
doctrinal |ˈdäktrənl|
adjective
concerned with a doctrine or doctrines : doctrinal disputes.doctrine |ˈdäktrin|
noun
a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by a church, political party, or other group : the doctrine of predestination.
• a stated principle of government policy, mainly in foreign or military affairs : the Monroe Doctrine.
More generally, a doctrine is a belief taught by a power structure, someone or something with the power to enforce beliefs. While a parent is not considered a power structure, such as the World Bank, for a child, their parent has a high degree of control over them in terms of their economics and in terms of the trust that children have for their parents, so the parent has the ability to enforce a doctrine or belief system on the child.
How I Define Doctrinal
I use the term doctrinal to describe the repetition of inflexible or even false beliefs on the part of individuals. People who repeat doctrine in an unthinking manner are considered “indoctrinated”
One very good example of doctrinal behavior is found in this video below. In it Jim Rogers describes what he thinks are the correct actions to take given a financial crisis. He is shown being interviewed by a number of network interviewers who are asking him questions which have a number false premises. The interviewees have both a limited ability to work with the concepts that Jim Rogers is discussing and thus their questions tend towards the doctrinal. However, there is a second reason for this inflexibility, which is happening behind the scenes. The interviewers appear to be being fed questions from their network editors. The like of questioning appears to support the notion that the network is in favor of a particular course of action…in this case using taxpayer money to bailout financial institutions.
Thinking for oneself is an often praised attribute. However, what is not discussed is how small a market there is for it and how people who think for themselves are often at odds with their employers and with their social support structure. The education system is doctrinal. While it well understood that education up to the high school level is doctrinal, many presume that as education level goes up, that more critical thinking takes place. This is a misunderstanding. The education system is doctrinal even to the Ph.D. level. Ph.D. dissertations must be approved by committees, and very few people will obtain a Ph.D. unless their committees agree with both the quality as well as the doctrine and conclusions of the dissertation. One can be sure that dissertations which do not serve the interest of the committee members or contradict the previous work of the committee members will be tolerated. After years of effort, people generally want to get their PhDs, so it is a small matter to make the necessary changes. However, it rarely comes to that as the Ph.D. candidate will typically figure out long before this time what conclusions are necessary to garner approval from the committee and will adjust their research accordingly. One may think that after a Ph.D. is conferred that the person is then free to express their own view. However, this is not true as that Ph.D.’s career success will depend upon publishing articles in specific periodicals. These periodicals have particular standards, and particular doctrinal tests. Furthermore, endowments and contributions from corporate interests provide incentives for the university power structure, decentralized to departments, to promote research consistent with corporate doctrines.
Why So Indoctrinated?
The main reason that people are so indoctrinated is that there is a tremendous amount of effort spent in indoctrinating them and that their perceived incentives are to continue to be indoctrinated. As most people work for other people, they do not have the luxury of “going their own way,” they must conform to the doctrine of their superiors. While they could live a dual life (stating they believe in public, while holding different views in public), in all frankness, most people have little concern with what is true and false and would prefer to be contented and successful over developing their mind. In a world of trade-offs, the desire for a nice house and comfortable life, as well as enhanced access to desirable mating partners, tends to trump the desire to investigate underlying assumptions. This is evidenced by the emphasis given to material acquisition vs. the acquisition of knowledge in most societies.
When Doctrine Does Not Work
Accepting the programming is often functional for the individual and makes them appealing to employers. however, it is not always functional. We have seen how the doctrine of finance and economics has really worked against many people. The doctrine of investing in the stock market and in expensive housing has been very economically damaging to individuals while very profitable for concentrated financial power.