Belief System
From Hobson's Choice
The term "belief system" is the operating set of attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions by which people discern right or wrong. People seldom, if ever, have wholly consistent belief systems; moreover, it is doubtful it would be valuable to do so.
Hierarchy of Belief Systems
A philosophy is a set of propositions about the nature of truth and logical inferences about morality. An ideology is an application of moral discernments to a peculiar setting, such as an historical epoch. As the application of a philosophical conclusion, ideology is dependent on the perception of the setting; hence, for example, the main difference between people on the political left and political right is their characterization of the peculiar historical setting in which they live.
Dogma refers to the set of actions and judgment that one infers from an ideology. It carries a pejorative sense of denying the adherent any discerning power of her own over the overall wisdom of the actions. A dogmatist is presumed to have ceased all possible deliberation on the wisdom or merit of her actions, except in so far as they concur with her dogma. More favorably, dogma represents a thorough examination and application of an ideology for the purpose of applying it to real life.
At the bottom of this hierarchy is "identity politics," which is not a legitimate component of a belief system at all. Whereas dogma retains a residue of past ideology, identity politics is well and truly stripped of any ideological or ethical content. Under identity politics, rather than acknowledge a system of right and wrong, identity merely posits "good people" and "bad people." Bad people are identified as having no worthy motives; their natural pursuit of self-interest, for example, is considered inherently wicked (since they are assumed to have all the well-being to which they are entitled anyway); when they behave generously or with conscience, they are assumed to have done so under some form of external coercion. Identity politics lacks a coherent code of morality; it rather exalts the identity group, praises conformity and hawkishness, and despises sympathy for non-members.
