Medieval theology
I picked up this book in the New Arrivals section at the library, which is a great way to find things that you weren’t looking for. The book is billed as a refutation of the New Atheism (Dawkins, etc.), but it is nothing of the sort. It is in fact an exposition of Scholasticism, the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, drawing on Augustine, drawing on Aristotle. Scholasticism is full of arguments like:
X, and therefore Y, and therefore Z, which is another name for God.
The problem is that Z is never quite equal to the God of the Bible. The Scholastics took Aristotle as their starting point, Catholicism as their end point, and tried to fill in the details. Not surprisingly, the result is a godawful mess.
The author thinks that human philosophy reached its apex in 1300 AD and has been going downhill ever since. He thinks that Science was a big mistake because it valued experiments over reason. At the same time, he thinks that the Reformation was a big mistake because it valued faith and revelation over reason. Now this is an interesting philosophical position to be in, where you find Intelligent Design and Evolution to be equally deluded.
A more interesting book would put Aristotle in the 21st century and see what happens. I like to think that Aristotle would recast his philosophy in terms of information theory and produce something that appeals to computer nerds and science fiction fans.
February 24th, 2009 at 5:14 am
Reason needs a reality check which is what Science accomplishes. Most insanity is reasonable if the original assumption/perception is allowed. For example if it could be ascertained that aliens with mind control abilities WERE in the neighborhood, and that their thoughts were unable to penetrate the sea of electrons that comprise metals, then choosing aluminum foil over lead helmets seems reasonable.
March 8th, 2009 at 12:44 am
No offence, but you haven’t actually spent much time around schizophrenics, have you?
Hallucinations or delusions are definitely not the only symptoms of insanity. Their thoughts can get so disorganized & chaotic, that they literally can’t talk, can’t begin to put a sentence together.
On-topic, I think the basic attempt to reconce Reason and Religion, is delusional. Like pouring oil in your car’s gas tank, or gasoline in the oil compartment.
March 12th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Well see, from what I can tell, the key to any christian argument is just to have (or appear to have) Augustine on your side. If Augustine is on your side, you must be right.