Blog
Descartes and intuition
June 9, 2014
The method of thinking proposed by René Descartes is instructive. He proposed intuition and reason (deduction) as the way to wisdom. “Concerning the objects presented to us we should investigate, not what others have thought nor what we ourselves conjecture, but what we can intuit clearly and evidently or deduce with certainty, since knowledge is acquired by no other means.” This concept of intuition implies perfect clarity, although Descartes realized that his ideal was too… Read More
Dostoevsky and Aristotle, skepticism and intuition
June 5, 2014
Dostoevsky Aristotle Living at our best, we go forth upon the field of experience, and in various kinds of interaction we cope in a way that is grounded, poised, and intuitive. Aristotle saw that we need a kind of courage to establish intuition (or is there a kind of intuition at the root of courage?): “It is like a rout in battle stopped by first one man making a stand and then another, until the… Read More
Socrates: Goodness, the first steps
June 2, 2014
Socrates Philosophical decision-making clarifies the truth–or meaning–of the facts and specific value most relevant to the situation. Socrates’ reasoning about whether to escape or to remain in prison is presented in Plato’s dialogue, the Crito. After some preliminaries, Socrates expresses the premise for all that follows, his supreme commitment to goodness. He asks whether what matters most is staying alive or living well—in accord with goodness. Next, Socrates begins to interpret the meaning of goodness. … Read More
Socrates and Rembrandt: wisdom integrates fact, meaning, and value
May 29, 2014
In the Louvre hangs a Rembrandt painting titled Philosopher in Meditation. The painting presents an old man, richly illuminated by golden light streaming through the window, in a room dominated by a sturdy and winding staircase leading to the floor above. If we use this 18th century title for this 17th century painting, we can interpret the scene as suggesting that the philosopher gains wisdom by decades of repeatedly climbing aloft and descending. … Read More
Darwin’s virtues as a scientist applied in scientific living everyday
May 26, 2014
Charles Darwin (1809-82) and his son William in 1842 As a scientist, Darwin developed and exercised virtues that we can apply in daily life. We do not have to be a gifted, trained, and experienced scientist in order to grow in these essential qualities. In Darwin I find, above all, hunger for truth; this dominant virtue involves whole-souled identification with the real, problem-solving that is alive, questioning, exploratory, and resourceful, keen perception, careful attention to… Read More
A spiritual renaissance to break up the log jam of planetary problems
May 22, 2014
Prophets, theologians, and secular idealists have proclaimed a glorious destiny for human history; but their visions and hopes seem discredited while we struggle through our logjam of biological, social, economic, and political problems. In order to break up the logjam, we need a world-wide moral and spiritual awakening. The religious reason is that God has a purpose for humankind and will not allow us to destroy ourselves. The only question is how much more… Read More
Love your neighbor . . . realistically!
May 19, 2014
Freud provides another example of keen psychological observations mixed with needlessly anti-religious philosophy. He challenges the religious idea, found in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” While Freud approved of altruism in certain circumstances, he saw the generalized call to “love your neighbor as yourself” as foolish and dangerous. However, if we transplant his critique into the garden of a spiritually-centered philosophy, we find a group… Read More
Science, religion, and the Fatherhood of God
May 15, 2014
William Blake, The Ancient of Days Any fact that science truly discovers may be interpreted by philosophy as harmonious with any truth that religion proclaims. Philosophy can harmonize scientific truth with spiritual truth because all truth is God’s truth. When scientific discovery is mixed with an anti-religious philosophy, we can keep the discovery but abandon the associated philosophy. We can transplant the scientific discovery into our own garden. For example, Sigmund Freud found that a… Read More
A cosmic concept of evolution
May 12, 2014
Charles Darwin, 1869 In the final stage of scientific living we develop a perspective that integrates science with philosophy and religion. This perspective centers on a concept of evolution. The early concept of evolution introduced by Darwin has had difficulty entering the culture, partly because the term “evolution” has often been used to imply various combinations of the following ideas. 1. Early life forms were the ancestors of all later life forms. This idea… Read More