You said “Can we welcome change in our own thinking — even delight in it? To do so is to join philosophy’s oldest vow: a fearless love of truth.” the keyword in the statement is fearless. The problem with truth is that it reveals that we may have been living with a lie. And that revelation is often inconvenient because many times we’ve built a life or an identity around a false belief. Think about it in this way. Have you ever loved someone deeply and woke up one morning and found out that they really didn’t love you back? If you don’t have anything invested, it’s easy to walk away, but if you’ve given all of yourself to a person, the truth is devastating. Still it represents an opportunity for growth and change. The real question is, can you handle the truth?
Both personally and temporally its all about whether one embraces dualism (thought/counter thought) or is willing to embrace trinitarianism which is the very mindset and intellectual process of Wisdom.
Dualism is the definition of problems and a conflict of ego, and Wisdom is the third integrative and resolving way.
Yale School of Divinity Professor Joel Baden once remarked, with reference to something in the Hebrew scriptures that it was about 'how the law changes history and history changes the law'.
The one great contribution of Marxist ethics was the statement that morality is nothing but the prejudices, and serves the interests, of a particular subset of a particular society at a particular time.
Yet he wrote that socialism is morally superior, apparently acknowledging a universality and permanence.
Thank you for this piece! Sorely needed in the current social environment where obstinance overrides humility. The opposite of faith is not doubt but certainty.
Putnam, Marx and Wittgenstein are examples of thinkers who changed their views when confronted with new facts. That's not so unusual. Augustine had an epiphany. That's not so unusual. Aristotle would have changed his opinions on astronomy if he'd had a telescope. Einstein wavered between agnosticism and deism.
A refreshing meditation on those courageous minds whose relentless drive to discover reality can root out intellectual falsehood and remake human history. And thank you, Steve Hummel, for your beautiful observation.
Critical thinking is absent under naturalistic philosophy which believes absolutely that ORDER can emerge naturally form DOSORDER when the simple definition of ENTROPY says NO and every experiment we have done confirms NO.
Timely. Well written. I love the last line of your essay.
You said “Can we welcome change in our own thinking — even delight in it? To do so is to join philosophy’s oldest vow: a fearless love of truth.” the keyword in the statement is fearless. The problem with truth is that it reveals that we may have been living with a lie. And that revelation is often inconvenient because many times we’ve built a life or an identity around a false belief. Think about it in this way. Have you ever loved someone deeply and woke up one morning and found out that they really didn’t love you back? If you don’t have anything invested, it’s easy to walk away, but if you’ve given all of yourself to a person, the truth is devastating. Still it represents an opportunity for growth and change. The real question is, can you handle the truth?
Tim’s Maxim: Everyone is mostly wrong about everything, always.
Both personally and temporally its all about whether one embraces dualism (thought/counter thought) or is willing to embrace trinitarianism which is the very mindset and intellectual process of Wisdom.
Dualism is the definition of problems and a conflict of ego, and Wisdom is the third integrative and resolving way.
This essay was fantastic. Well written and echoing such an important message that we all need to hear, especially intellectuals. After reading the section on Augustine, I was inspired to write my own essay. You outlined his philosophical and theological arc so well, it was easy for me to expand upon it. Essentially, you illuminated it to me. Thank you so much. I linked this essay in my article as well, here it is if you're interested https://open.substack.com/pub/joshuacadesky506391/p/grace-and-agency-extending-augustine?r=254is2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Yale School of Divinity Professor Joel Baden once remarked, with reference to something in the Hebrew scriptures that it was about 'how the law changes history and history changes the law'.
The one great contribution of Marxist ethics was the statement that morality is nothing but the prejudices, and serves the interests, of a particular subset of a particular society at a particular time.
Yet he wrote that socialism is morally superior, apparently acknowledging a universality and permanence.
Thank you for this piece! Sorely needed in the current social environment where obstinance overrides humility. The opposite of faith is not doubt but certainty.
This was a beautiful article. Reminded me of one of the characters in Milan Kundera's Immortality. Thank you!
Putnam, Marx and Wittgenstein are examples of thinkers who changed their views when confronted with new facts. That's not so unusual. Augustine had an epiphany. That's not so unusual. Aristotle would have changed his opinions on astronomy if he'd had a telescope. Einstein wavered between agnosticism and deism.
Truer words were never spoken!
A refreshing meditation on those courageous minds whose relentless drive to discover reality can root out intellectual falsehood and remake human history. And thank you, Steve Hummel, for your beautiful observation.
Critical thinking is absent under naturalistic philosophy which believes absolutely that ORDER can emerge naturally form DOSORDER when the simple definition of ENTROPY says NO and every experiment we have done confirms NO.
Impermanence. It includes views and doctrines. Philosophies and Religions. Look east. No different. Good article.