Are traditions important?

[french frank]

Ah, well. That's the Christmas cards started

[Padraig]

Ah, well. That's the Christmas cards started

A great tradition ..... or is it?..... Yeah, it's rubbish.

[Richard Barrett]

I'm not sure whether its possible to tell, infallibly, whether other people's habits are 'mindless'.

No of course it isn't. But it often seems that people carry on with traditions of various kinds when it might be a good idea to question their adherence to them. Doing things the way you've always done them is often comforting, but can at the same time be deadening. Think for example of the early history of scientific enquiry, when Galileo's then-revolutionary idea of looking at how things actually are clashed with the church's traditional idea that everything one needs to know is found in scripture. Every time a tradition is enacted an opportunity for thinking of something new and perhaps better is possibly missed.

[P. G. Tipps]

There is also a curious tradition in some quarters that science must know everything when, in the great scheme of things, it currently knows next to nothing, just like the UK Government on Brexit ...

So carry on sending Christmas cards, folks ...

[MrGongGong]

There is also a curious tradition in some quarters that science must know everything when, in the great scheme of things, it currently knows next to nothing,

There is an equal tradition amongst some devotees of the men in frocks that assumes that scientists think this when the reality is very different

[french frank]

Yes. But in Galileo's case I don't think his intention was to overthrow traditional ideas. His discoveries led him in that direction and he (quite rationally) decided that they held good, and therefore the church view didn't. I think if I found adherence to a tradition 'deadening' I would probably give up on it. But sometimes one conforms [sic] knowingly, perhaps for the sake of others. It may even have become irksome. But even a full awareness of that doesn't always mean one should stop. It may not matter a toss to oneself, it may never have done, but one may not want to hurt other people. I don't personally feel a mission to jolt other people out of their cosy traditions, however mindless!

I might broach the subject with them at an opportune moment … But on your main point: 'Every time a tradition is enacted an opportunity for thinking of something new and perhaps better is possibly missed.' Yes possibly, and I can quite see that that is enough to 'justify' a generally iconoclastic attitude if one is that way inclined; and even that some people find any sort of 'conformism' objectionable.

No of course it isn't. But it often seems that people carry on with traditions of various kinds when it might be a good idea to question their adherence to them. Doing things the way you've always done them is often comforting, but can at the same time be deadening. Think for example of the early history of scientific enquiry, when Galileo's then-revolutionary idea of looking at how things actually are clashed with the church's traditional idea that everything one needs to know is found in scripture. Every time a tradition is enacted an opportunity for thinking of something new and perhaps better is possibly missed.

[Richard Barrett]

Yes. But in Galileo's case I don't think his intention was to overthrow traditional ideas.

No, I used it as an example because those traditional ideas were deadening. As for "jolting" people out of their cosy traditions, one can also try to do that gently, with music for example...

[Beef Oven!]

How’s the traditional festival going over in Huddersfield this year? ferney goes every year and I guess he always will.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

How’s the traditional festival going over in Huddersfield this year? ferney goes every year and I guess he always will.

- and the sheer spiritual boost I feel each year when I first step foot in the town: that frisson is a pretty good demonstration of how important traditions can be to someone. (Different "Christmas Tree" and set of "decorations"each year, though, so a special type of tradition - which is its own tradition.)

[cloughie]

Then there's trad Jazz!!!!!!!

...and what about Traditions which have disappeared and suddenly someone decides to revive them and twenty years on they're thriving.

What is or are tradition(s)?

Good night all.

[Richard Barrett]

each year when I first step foot in the town

Yes but ferneyhoughgeliebte going to Huddersfield every November is not really a "tradition" in the sense of the state opening of parliament or Xmas pudding or bullfighting or Lederhosen or the Eurovision Song Contest, is it? Maybe it is.

[P. G. Tipps]

The annual 'Bah Humbug' tradition seems to have started earlier than usual this year ...

[ahinton]

Yes, I did indeed, ahinton, and clearly, unlike your very goodself, I also somehow managed, with little huge difficulty, to also notice the actual wording in my own post ...

Er - your point being...?...

[ahinton]

hmmm

I think that he means that, for him, something or other wasn't "hugely difficult"...

[ahinton]

There is also a curious tradition in some quarters that science must know everything when, in the great scheme of things, it currently knows next to nothing, just like the UK Government on Brexit

Whilst I can do no other than agree with that last bit, the rest is flawed; "science" - or rather practitioners in the world of scientific research - do/does not pretend to "know everything", which is why there remains so much to be discovered; the fact that, despite discoveries that have already been made and the ongoing advancements in scientific research, there remains so very much to be learned is hardly a legitimate excuse to pour scorn on those practitioners and their faith in learning and discovery, is it?