What knowledge does is give one a comfort zone – one thinks problems can be solved by it, and it alone, and one feels like more knowledge can be had, so if there isn’t a solution now, there will be one later.
Notice that this is a very narrow conception of “knowledge,” one based on the fact some knowledge solves some problems, so (therefore) all problems can be solved, theoretically. Accompanying this conception is a skepticism that shoots down pronouncements that have a finality to them. Aristotle does say that what is correct is not necessarily what is useful, so I guess this narrow conception has a lot going for it, as many useful things have been created that are far from being connected to what is right.
The broader conception of knowledge can’t be so easily used to support optimism. I think our Lefty friends absolutely have bought into the narrow conception, which is why the world will be better off if we leave it alone in their minds. We are a force, they seem to think, and nothing we do can be right, because we are doing. If we left well-enough alone, we could talk to each other in leisure, and that would foster community and peace, and we wouldn’t have to exploit or kill in any way to get humanity what it needs and wants.
But while philosophy is a state of rest where such happiness is possible, the idea that all men can share in it is preposterous. The broader conception of knowledge involves reasoning about why any evil exists at all. It isn’t just merely that people make mistakes – some people could be born rotten. Further, some people can genuinely make mistakes that hurt so deeply that to forgive might be beyond our ken. If the Leftist temptation to “community” and “dialogue” is based on a combination of a degraded Christian sentiment (can’t the world be perfect? It was once, in a primal state) with an incomplete education in the Bible or philosophy, then the response to it has to be the full question, as found in the Old Testament and, ironically enough, Plato and Aristotle – can reason really start with hope alone? Shouldn’t it start by trying to recognize the full set of problems we face, and not just aim high without any means of getting there?
- The Beginning
- Football Outsiders on NFL Retirees
- Hopeful
- A Defense of the President?
- On the 11/25 Sunday Night Eagles-Patriots Game, and Why I’m Not Praising Andy Reid
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
No Comments