--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The claim that there is no alternative…" description: "\"“The claim that there is no alternative but perdition to a worldview that shows how everything fits together and makes perfect sense is a mark of funda..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/889/susan-neiman-16864_dogma_the-claim-that-there-is-no-alternative-b_334880.jpg" --- # The claim that there is no alternative but perdition to a… ![“The claim that there is no alternative but perdition to a worldview that shows how everything fits together and makes perfect sense is a mark of fundamentalism, whether of religious or market variety. In a child, such moments are appealing, necessary and usually harmless.” quote by Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/889/susan-neiman-16864_dogma_the-claim-that-there-is-no-alternative-b_334880.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/889/susan-neiman-16864_dogma_the-claim-that-there-is-no-alternative-b_334880.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/889/susan-neiman-16864_dogma_the-claim-that-there-is-no-alternative-b_334880.jpg) > ““The claim that there is no alternative but perdition to a worldview that shows how everything fits together and makes perfect sense is a mark of fundamentalism, whether of religious or market variety. In a child, such moments are appealing, necessary and usually harmless.”” [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Seeing the world as a perfect, all‑fitting system is a fundamentalist trap; childlike wonder is harmless but must be tempered with critical thought. **In simple terms:** Avoid absolute certainty. Key Takeaway Question totalizing worldviews and seek nuance. Themes philosophy critical thinking fundamentalism childhood curiosity Mood thoughtful critical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - education - public discourse - personal reflection - media consumption Key Concepts epistemic humility skepticism Questions to Reflect On - How do you balance wonder with skepticism? - What assumptions do you accept without question? A Different Perspective Over‑reliance on simplicity can ignore complexity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Alternative Perdition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alternative-perdition-3125259/) [Dogma](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/) [Dogmatism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogmatism/) [Fundamentalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fundamentalism/) [Fundamentalism Religious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fundamentalism-religious-1195747/) [Mark Fundamentalism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mark-fundamentalism-3125257/) [Perdition Worldview](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perdition-worldview-3125258/) [Perspective](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/perspective/) [Religion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religion/) [Sense](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sense/) [Worldview Shows](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/worldview-shows-3125260/) ## Related quotes > [In a world torn by every kind of fundamentalism - religious, ethnic, nationalist and tribal - we must grant first place to economic fundamentalism,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carlos-fuentes/in-a-world-torn-by-every-kind-of-fundamentalism-religious-ethnic/) [Carlos Fuentes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carlos-fuentes/) > [An isolated person requires correspondence as a means of seeing his ideas as others see them, and thus guarding against the dogmatisms and extravagances…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-p-lovecraft/an-isolated-person-requires-correspondence-as-a-means-of-seeing-his/) [H. P. Lovecraft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-p-lovecraft/) > [it is not that religion is merely useless, it is mischievous. It is mischievous by its idle terrors; it is mischievous by its false…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frances-wright/it-is-not-that-religion-is-merely-useless-it-is-mischievous-it-is/) [Frances Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frances-wright/) > [“There is always the danger that those who think alike should gravitate together into ‘coteries’ where they will henceforth encounter opposition only in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/there-is-always-the-danger-that-those-who-think-alike-should/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [It is sometimes said that toleration should be refused to the intolerant. In practice this would destroy it... The only remedy for dogmatism and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joyce-cary/it-is-sometimes-said-that-toleration-should-be-refused-to-the/) [Joyce Cary](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joyce-cary/) > [“While missionaries do many noble things at great risk to themselves, their dogmatism still spreads ignorance and death.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-harris/while-missionaries-do-many-noble-things-at-great-risk-to-themselves/) [Sam Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-harris/) > [Nothing can be more unphilosophical than to be positive or dogmatical on any subject; and even if excessive scepticism could be maintained it would…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hume/nothing-can-be-more-unphilosophical-than-to-be-positive-or-dogmatical/) [David Hume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hume/) > [Dogmatism and skepticism are both, in a sense, absolute philosophies; one is certain of knowing, the other of not knowing. What philosophy should dissipate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/dogmatism-and-skepticism-are-both-in-a-sense-absolute-philosophies/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [“She was not only unable to make the least allowance for a divergence from this way, but utterly unable to conceive that another existed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-robert-maturin/she-was-not-only-unable-to-make-the-least-allowance-for-a-divergence/) [Charles Robert Maturin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-robert-maturin/) > [“For it is the fate of every myth to creep by degrees into the narrow limits of some alleged historical reality, and to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/for-it-is-the-fate-of-every-myth-to-creep-by-degrees-into-the-narrow/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“When ethnic cleansing feels enlightened, Sinai becomes septic, Bethlehem becomes Bedlam.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/when-ethnic-cleansing-feels-enlightened-sinai-becomes-septic/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [If I have renounced the search of truth, if I have come into the port of some pretending dogmatism, some new church, some Schelling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-i-have-renounced-the-search-of-truth-if-i-have-come-into-the-port/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Textbooks, it seems to me, are enemies of education, instruments for promoting dogmatism and trivial learning. They may save the teacher some trouble, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neil-postman/textbooks-it-seems-to-me-are-enemies-of-education-instruments-for/) [Neil Postman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neil-postman/) > [The idea of freedom can never be disassociated from real Prussia. The real Prussian spirit means a synthesis between restraint and freedom, between voluntary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henning-von-tresckow/the-idea-of-freedom-can-never-be-disassociated-from-real-prussia-the/) [Henning von Tresckow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henning-von-tresckow/) > [“Dogmatism compensates for evidence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dana-wallace/dogmatism-compensates-for-evidence/) [Dana Wallace](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dana-wallace/) ## More by Susan Neiman > [“Sometimes realism seems to mean no more than the advice to plan ahead before you start a war. Sometimes realism means the recognition that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/sometimes-realism-seems-to-mean-no-more-than-the-advice-to-plan-ahead/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) > [“Ordinary goodness is fraught with veins of vanity and self-interest and above all with pleasure--because goodness makes you feel more alive.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/ordinary-goodness-is-fraught-with-veins-of-vanity-and-self-interest/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) > [One great function of the arts is to keep ideals alive in a culture that does not yet realize them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/one-great-function-of-the-arts-is-to-keep-ideals-alive-in-a-culture/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) > [“The dangers of sophistry and scholasticism are present in the possibility of philosophy itself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/the-dangers-of-sophistry-and-scholasticism-are-present-in-the/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) > [In the most general terms, the Enlightenment goes back to Plato's belief that truth and beauty and goodness are connected; that truth and beauty,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/in-the-most-general-terms-the-enlightenment-goes-back-to-plato-s/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) > [“When education is overwhelmed by hypermedia, travel facile or ruinous, and work a blurred mixture of more dependence and less meaning, it’s harder than…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/when-education-is-overwhelmed-by-hypermedia-travel-facile-or-ruinous/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) > [“Vitality is not the denial of mortality, but the grown-up way of facing it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/vitality-is-not-the-denial-of-mortality-but-the-grown-up-way-of/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) > [“Negotiating small differences is part of being a grownup; no one can tell you in advance where to put your foot down.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/negotiating-small-differences-is-part-of-being-a-grownup-no-one-can/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) > [“how can human beings behave in ways that so thoroughly violate both reasonable and rational norms?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/how-can-human-beings-behave-in-ways-that-so-thoroughly-violate-both/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) > [“It’s a matter of logical structure: what is, just is, and any claim about what ought to be is a claim about our own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/it-s-a-matter-of-logical-structure-what-is-just-is-and-any-claim/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) > [“Kitsch is much more than a question of style; it's a preference for consolation over truth. Disney's version of reality is not just cleaned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/kitsch-is-much-more-than-a-question-of-style-it-s-a-preference-for/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) > [“What drives pure reason to efforts that seem to have neither end nor result?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/what-drives-pure-reason-to-efforts-that-seem-to-have-neither-end-nor/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) > [“What we rarely see receive is a picture of adulthood that represents it as the ideal it should be. (...) What better way to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/what-we-rarely-see-receive-is-a-picture-of-adulthood-that-represents/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) > [“If life is a gift, then the more you partake in it, the more you show thanks.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/if-life-is-a-gift-then-the-more-you-partake-in-it-the-more-you-show/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) > [“Every time you accept the claim that you can't change human nature or you have to accept the way the world is, you are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/every-time-you-accept-the-claim-that-you-can-t-change-human-nature-or/) [Susan Neiman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) [Explore all 38 Susan Neiman quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/) ## More Dogma quotes > [“The characteristics of this kind of reading are perhaps summed up in the word “orthodox,” which is almost always applicable. The word comes from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mortimer-j-adler/the-characteristics-of-this-kind-of-reading-are-perhaps-summed-up-in/) [Mortimer J. Adler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mortimer-j-adler/) > [In the end theologians are jealous of science, for they are aware that it has greater authority than do their own ways of finding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerry-a-coyne/in-the-end-theologians-are-jealous-of-science-for-they-are-aware-that/) [Jerry A. Coyne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerry-a-coyne/) > [Dogma is a powerful way of closing human mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-marley/dogma-is-a-powerful-way-of-closing-human-mind/) [Peter Marley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-marley/) > [How shall freedom be defended? By arms when it is attacked by arms, by truth when it is attacked by lies, by faith when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/archibald-macleish/how-shall-freedom-be-defended-by-arms-when-it-is-attacked-by-arms-by/) [Archibald MacLeish](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/archibald-macleish/) > [fear has always been a diminisher of life. Whether bred in the bogs of superstition or clothed in the brocades of dogma and ritual,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marya-mannes/fear-has-always-been-a-diminisher-of-life-whether-bred-in-the-bogs-of/) [Marya Mannes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marya-mannes/) > [My rap comes from a sociological standpoint rather than picking a particular side or dogma or ideology. I just want people to be free…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/killer-mike/my-rap-comes-from-a-sociological-standpoint-rather-than-picking-a/) [Killer Mike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/killer-mike/) > [I reject the idea there are just two sides. I think that with the amount of ideas and thoughts there are, it's not even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-stewart/i-reject-the-idea-there-are-just-two-sides-i-think-that-with-the/) [Jon Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-stewart/) > [ “\[H\]e was damned if he was going to water down his arguments simply to satisfy the preference of the mob for dogma and ignorance.” ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-elton/h-e-was-damned-if-he-was-going-to-water-down-his-arguments-simply-to/) [Ben Elton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-elton/) > [The search for truth is a cooperative, unending endeavor. We can, and should, engage in it to the extent we can and encourage others…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/the-search-for-truth-is-a-cooperative-unending-endeavor-we-can-and/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [A building is akin to dogma; it is insolent, like dogma. Whether or no it is permanent, it claims permanence, like a dogma. People…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gilbert-k-chesterton/a-building-is-akin-to-dogma-it-is-insolent-like-dogma-whether-or-no/) [Gilbert K. Chesterton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gilbert-k-chesterton/) > [Every well-thought-out rebuttal to dogma, every scrap of intelligent logic, every absurdist reduction of some bullying stance is the antidote.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-sanders/every-well-thought-out-rebuttal-to-dogma-every-scrap-of-intelligent/) [George Sanders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-sanders/) > [“Humans are capable of having transcendent, transformative experiences in the absence of any given dogma. We are capable of sustaining elaborate systems of false…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-w-loftus/humans-are-capable-of-having-transcendent-transformative-experiences/) [John W. Loftus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-w-loftus/) > [Increasingly constructive doubt is the sign of advancing civilization. We must put question marks along many of our inherited legal dogmas, since they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jerome-frank/increasingly-constructive-doubt-is-the-sign-of-advancing-civilization/) [Jerome Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jerome-frank/) > [“The dogma of the impossibility of determining the atomic constitution of substances, which until recently was advocated with such fervor by the most able…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wilhelm-korner/the-dogma-of-the-impossibility-of-determining-the-atomic-constitution/) [Wilhelm Korner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wilhelm-korner/) > [Hinduism... gave itself no name, because it set itself no sectarian limits; it claimed no universal adhesion, asserted no sole infallible dogma, set up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-aurobindo/hinduism-gave-itself-no-name-because-it-set-itself-no-sectarian/) [Sri Aurobindo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-aurobindo/) [Browse all 748 Dogma quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/dogma/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“The claim that there is no alternative but perdition to a worldview that shows how everything fits together and makes perfect sense is a mark of fundamentalism, whether of religious or market variety. In a child, such moments are appealing, necessary and usually harmless.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Susan Neiman" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/the-claim-that-there-is-no-alternative-but-perdition-to-a-worldview/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Dogma" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/the-claim-that-there-is-no-alternative-but-perdition-to-a-worldview/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/889/susan-neiman-16864_dogma_the-claim-that-there-is-no-alternative-b_334880.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/889/susan-neiman-16864_dogma_the-claim-that-there-is-no-alternative-b_334880.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/889/susan-neiman-16864_dogma_the-claim-that-there-is-no-alternative-b_334880.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The claim that there is no alternative but perdition to a worldview that shows how everything fits together…” — Susan Neiman", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Susan Neiman", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-neiman/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“The claim that there is no...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/the-claim-that-there-is-no-alternative-but-perdition-to-a-worldview/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-neiman/the-claim-that-there-is-no-alternative-but-perdition-to-a-worldview/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```