I’m still mulling over the whole “rationalism as a religion”. I’ve come to the conclusion that there are indeed two axioms that are shared by the rational-sphere that we-cannot-quite-prove, and whose variations produce different cultures. I call them underlying reality and people are perfect. ”Underlying reality” (U): refers to the existence of a stratum of reality that is independent from our senses and our thoughts, whose configurations gives the notion of truth as correspondence. ”People are perfect” (P): instead refers to the truth of mental ideation that people might have, whether they are (or there’s a subset that is) always right. Here’s a rough scheme: U, P: religion. Our feelings reflect directly the inspiration of a higher source of truth. U, not P: rationalism. We are imperfect hardware in a vast and mostly unknowable world. not U, P: the most uncertain category. Perhaps magic? There’s no fixed, underlying truth but our thoughts can influnce it. not U, not P: postmodernism. Nothing is true and everything’s debatable.
I might make this a little more precise in a proper post.
I’m still mulling over the whole “rationalism as a religion”. I’ve come to the conclusion that there are indeed two axioms that are shared by the rational-sphere that we-cannot-quite-prove, and whose variations produce different cultures.
I call them underlying reality and people are perfect.
”Underlying reality” (U): refers to the existence of a stratum of reality that is independent from our senses and our thoughts, whose configurations gives the notion of truth as correspondence.
”People are perfect” (P): instead refers to the truth of mental ideation that people might have, whether they are (or there’s a subset that is) always right.
Here’s a rough scheme:
U, P: religion. Our feelings reflect directly the inspiration of a higher source of truth.
U, not P: rationalism. We are imperfect hardware in a vast and mostly unknowable world.
not U, P: the most uncertain category. Perhaps magic? There’s no fixed, underlying truth but our thoughts can influnce it.
not U, not P: postmodernism. Nothing is true and everything’s debatable.
I might make this a little more precise in a proper post.