Sterling Terrell

smart ideas from books (mostly)

  • Home
  • About
    • My CV
    • Books
    • Series
  • Newsletter
  • Advertising
  • Tools

Naturalism Undoes Itself?

Naturalism Undoes Itself?

Naturalism undoes itself in the sense here that asks: Why should we trust human reason anyway?

And why should that reason be the ultimate arbitor or reality?

The long and short if it is that morals do not follow from naturalism.

The argument is structurally identical to the one he would make a couple of years later in his book Miracles, in a chapter called “The Cardinal Difficulty of Naturalism.” There he argues that if human reason is a product of the blind, undirected forces of natural selection, and unrelated in any necessary or intrinsic way to the way things actually are, then we cannot trust the claims made by the use of human reason, including the claim that human reason is a product of the blind undirected forces of natural selection. Naturalism, then, says Lewis, undoes itself.

-Alan Jacobs, The Year Of Our Lord 1943 (Amazon)

This reminds me of a lecture I heard in gradschool about the nature of reality.

It was, of course, obsurd – but the point of the talk was that life would not look much different if we were simply brains in an electrical vat living a simulation.

In a world of 100% naturalism, why trust human perception?

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: PotpourriTagged With: #Philosophy, #Reason

For The Utility Of The State

For The Utility Of The State

Heck, I don’t know.

I mean, if we are not here for anything eternal (i.e., we serve no greater purpose).

Why shouldn’t powerful people use us all as a means to an end?

Why should we care?

And why should anyone care if we protested or not?

Understand: Your philosophical word is built on more than you first assume.

That a putatively, but not actually, scientific model of the human being would transform us into animals trained “for the utility of the state” is a constant theme of writers in this period: obviously it generates the governing allegory of Orwell’s Animal Farm. But less than the animal is the numerical: thus Auden’s “The Unknown Citizen,” written in March 1939, just after his arrival in the States, presents an inscription dedicated thus: (To JS/ 07 M 378 This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State)

-Alan Jacobs, The Year Of Our Lord 1943 (Amazon)

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

Filed Under: PotpourriTagged With: #Government, #Philosophy

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 23
  • Next Page »

Connect

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Free Weekly Newsletter:

Search

Top Posts

  • The Tricky Lily Pad Riddle (You Probably Can't Solve)
    The Tricky Lily Pad Riddle (You Probably Can't Solve)
  • The Tragedy Of Gina "Bronco" Bouza (1932-1957)
    The Tragedy Of Gina "Bronco" Bouza (1932-1957)
  • This Is How To Draw A Simple Singing Face
    This Is How To Draw A Simple Singing Face
  • Waffle House, Lubbock Texas
    Waffle House, Lubbock Texas
  • And The Angels Were Silent, By: Max Lucado
    And The Angels Were Silent, By: Max Lucado
  • Economics 101: Economic Elasticity
    Economics 101: Economic Elasticity
  • God Gives Job Double Everything, Except This?
    God Gives Job Double Everything, Except This?
  • 8 Great Passages From: The Hiding Place, By: Corrie Ten Boom
    8 Great Passages From: The Hiding Place, By: Corrie Ten Boom
  • Instabooks 317
    Instabooks 317
  • Devotion (Why I Write), By: Patti Smith
    Devotion (Why I Write), By: Patti Smith

Supporting = Loving

Recent Posts

  • Control The Outcome
  • Random Thoughts – 350
  • Competition Cheer
  • Farming Gophers
  • About Reality Has
  • When It’s Just Your Own Feelings
  • Random Thoughts – 349
  • The Abolition Of Man, By: C.S. Lewis
  • I Did It Because Of You
  • Feel Safe And Wanted Or They
  • The Only Thing That Money Is Good For
  • Random Thoughts – 348
  • The Barking Dogs Are Not The Weirdest Part
  • But You Limp
  • Lose The Liabilities
  • Peter Kreeft Commencement Address
  • Random Thoughts – 347
  • Not Famous Enough
  • Shoes, Jeans, Truck
  • 6 Steps To Giving A Great Presentation
  • Random Thoughts – 346
  • If I Had Understood
  • Instabooks 364
  • Either Lost Or Sad Or On
  • Parental Shame Or Parental Praise

Copyright © 2022 · Generate Pro On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in