Collier's New Encyclopedia

A complete general encyclopedia of 1921 — the world as it was understood just after the Great War, from Aachen to Zwingli, across twelve volumes and six thousand pages.

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Dogmatic

in ecclesiastical history, one belonging to one of the three orders of theologians before the Reformation .

These orders were thus classed : (1) The Dogmatics, so called because they based their systems or dogmas on the authority of Scripture, and the judgment of the fathers. (2) The Mystics, who, in disparagement of Scripture, framed their opinions according to the dictates of spiritual intuition. (3) the Scholastics, who paid an almost sacred deference to the Aristotelian philosophy.

The word was also applied to one of a sect of physicians founded by Hippocrates who based their rules of practice on general principles or conclusions deduced from theoretical influences. They were opposed to the Empirics and Methodists.

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