Re: gods and men


Subject: Re: gods and men
AntiUtopia@aol.com
Date: Fri Jan 07 2000 - 19:15:00 EST


In a message dated 1/7/00 7:05:29 PM Eastern Standard Time, ed361@yahoo.com
writes:

<< I think that reason, logic, and rationality may be
 biologically based. We learn them through social
 interaction, but ultimately, since they are used by
 individuals to benefit each person and their own group
 altruistically - this use of reason, logic, and
 rationality towards self and group benefit ultimately
 means preservation. So, although they may be learned,
 since they seem to occur in all human beings, these
 capabilities may be part of an innate capacity of the
 brain.
    Logic and rationality in this sense may be used
 independently of what most reasonable people call
 'life affirming' values. For example, the ruling
 caste in China for example uses Logic and rationality
 consistenly to manage situations and protect
 themselves.
 
 Thanks folks. I haven't written anything this serious
 in a long time ('it shows' I can hear some of you
 groaning). I don't have a batchelors and I'm in this
 discussion with people who do philosophy probably more
 often than they cook dinner. I may be in way over my
 head here....
>>

Well, yeah, I agree, Ed. The ability to "reason" is innate. Part of our
discussion here is defining our terms. There's "reasoning" as a thing that
we thinking animals are born able to do. Then there's the "doing" of it --
and the "doing" of it is socially constructed. And then, beyond that, is the
discipline of formal logic. That is also socially constructed, but the
people who originally did the "constructing" (Aristotle actually invented the
discipline) felt that they were making a "discovery" more than "building
something" (creating an artifice, something artificial).

But either way we have to account for what it is and where it comes from.
And why we think it's so darn good :)

Jim



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Mon Feb 28 2000 - 08:38:07 EST