Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: March 29, 2024, 9:07 am

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
If people were 100% rational, would the world be better?
RE: If people were 100% rational, would the world be better?
(August 17, 2021 at 4:06 pm)Neo-Scholastic Wrote: Kierkegaard's often misunderstood leap of faith comes to mind. 

I actually like Kierkegaard's leap. I'm no Kierkegaard scholar or anything, but I've done some reading on it (prompted by watching "The Good Place") plus what I read --and liked-- in college. The leap "into" faith might be the best remedy for someone. I say, if the despair is taking a stranglehold, go for it. Make the leap.

As William James notes, the contingent world cannot always be adequate. (As a quasi-Spinozist and hard determinist --more on that later-- I agree with James's assessment.) Religious beliefs can MAKE the contingent world adequate. If a person is in a state of despair, I say, make the leap.

But I also think there is a wrong way to make the leap. Clutching on to religion greedily, as if it were a rabbit's foot that is there to bring one fortune, or a doctrine that affords one power over others. Those are not a leap of "faith." The worst case is a leap into fanaticism. We all know how wrongheaded that is. And oftentimes it is NOT a leap into faith in Christ that leads to fanaticism. But rather a leap into institutional delusion. Fanatics usually want to control other people with their "revelations." They externalize their religion.

I think Kierkegaard meant that after the leap of faith, the religion should be internalized, and then the "true self" becomes externalized. Kierkegaard hated institutional religion as much as any atheist. And I think that's telling. I hate institutional religion, as you well know. But if someone needs to take refuge in the Buddha or take refuge in Christ... I say do it. 

I can elaborate on my reasons why. I'm not endorsing delusion. Even though I think people who see Christ (or Allah or whatever) working in the world ARE misinterpreting the world. 

My analysis here can be quite lengthy. (Keep in mind, I'm a hard determinist. That's relevant.) The broad strokes are: 

FACT: A person can be in a state of existential anguish. I take a Spinozist (hard determinist) vantagepoint when analyzing such a situation. Spinoza would say that a despairing person has "inadequate ideas." Those ideas ought to be replaced with (surprise!) adequate ideas. "Christ" is an internal symbol that can serve as such an adequate idea. Ultimately, it has its limits as an idea. Spinoza would say there are more adequate ideas THAN it. But he would also agree... in the final analysis... that the idea of Christ is more adequate than the idea of inescapable despair. The wise person selects the most adequate idea available. Period.

But why not simply select the MOST adequate idea from the git-go? Well, it's not that simple.

According to Spinoza, we are emotional beings. We can't always just select the the most logical and accurate ideas to live by. But why not? The problem is, inadequate ideas (despair and the like) have emotional power. We are emotional beings. There is no escaping this. We need adequate ideas with some "emotion in them" in order to counteract the emotional power that the inadequate ideas have. Spinoza advises that we use them as a stepping stone of sorts to arrive finally at an outlook of pure reason. A person who is entirely reasonable, Spinoza says, is truly free.

I've gone on long enough. Like I said my analysis on this is lengthy. And I haven't even touched on how it relates to James.
Reply



Messages In This Thread
RE: If people were 100% rational, would the world be better? - by vulcanlogician - August 18, 2021 at 8:14 am

Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  If you were accused but were innocent ... GrandizerII 40 2900 December 3, 2018 at 9:44 pm
Last Post: bennyboy
  An easy proof that rational numbers are countable. Jehanne 7 1995 February 22, 2018 at 10:30 pm
Last Post: Jehanne
  Argument from "better to seek proper vision". Mystic 53 5833 October 25, 2017 at 1:13 pm
Last Post: The Grand Nudger
  Is the fear of irrational fears rational? ErGingerbreadMandude 26 6171 August 13, 2017 at 9:48 pm
Last Post: Losty
  Is there a logical, rational reason why hate is bad? WisdomOfTheTrees 27 3543 February 4, 2017 at 10:43 pm
Last Post: BrianSoddingBoru4
  What if Creationists were Athiest for a day? ScienceAf 59 5818 August 29, 2016 at 2:24 pm
Last Post: Arkilogue
  Afterlife, I'd be happy if it were true..... maestroanth 35 3698 June 12, 2016 at 3:13 am
Last Post: Little lunch
  Oxford Metaphysics Podcasts - 100+ available online, free Heat 0 710 April 5, 2016 at 9:39 pm
Last Post: Heat
  Is world better without Saddam? TrueChristian 90 11614 December 31, 2015 at 1:59 pm
Last Post: Minimalist
  In regard to the rational person's choice Mohammed1212 23 5962 April 27, 2015 at 5:44 pm
Last Post: noctalla



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)