The fatal mistake of modernism The great fallacy about how man knows July 22, 2006 Fred Hutchison

[Guest guest]

 

http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/hutchison/060722

 

RenewAmerica analyst Every civilization has a theory about what man knows and how he knows it. The theory of a particular civilization will influence every area of human thought and action. Such fields as science, politics, economics, sociology, psychology, education, religion, and popular morality will be directly affected. Fields like art, music, poetry, and literature will be deeply, although indirectly, influenced, as well.Theories about how man knows are found in a branch of metaphysics that philosophers call epistemology. Epistemology is a Greek compound word meaning the study of knowledge.The intellectual leaders of the West took a sharp turn in the wrong direction in epistemology during the period 1750–1800, as a result of disillusionment with rationalism without understanding the fallacies of the rationalist philosophers. Empirical philosophy was offered as a substitute for rationalism, which had equally serious fallacies.Immanuel Kant (1724–1824) harmonized the two kinds of philosophy and temporarily curbed some of the fallacies. However, partly due Kant's critique of metaphysics, the study of epistemology fell out of favor, and men lost their ability to detect epistemological errors. The dual errors of rationalism and empiricism have been steadily increasing in intensity since 1800.After 1800, the general culture began to show the effects of this change in thought. The unraveling of Western culture in the twentieth century is in no small measure the cumulative effect of two centuries of bad epistemology.Let us consider natural epistemology, or how every man thinks if they have not been corrupted with false epistemology, so that we can better understand the errors of Modernism.Natural epistemology When men are not deceived by false philosophies, they begin their reasoning with presuppositions, or things assumed. Contrary to Modernist claims, it is impossible to think logically without presuppositions that provide a starting point for thought.Where do men get their presuppositions? Fancy thinkers use the first principles of their philosophy or theology to obtain presuppositions. Ordinary folks get first principles from their world view that imparts a general impression of the nature of man and the world, and a sense of the rightness and wrongness of various ideas.First principles are received by faith, or accepted as self-evident truths or things that are unquestionable or "given." When a man tells you that a particular idea is unthinkable, you can be sure that the idea contradicts his first principles. If he tells you that an idea is unquestionable, it is probably a first principle or closely aligned with a first principle. Contrary to the denials of the Modernists, every rational man on earth regards some ideas as unthinkable and other ideas as unquestionable — and this is true of the Modernists themselves.Man accepts first principles by faith. Secular philosophers use an intellectual faith in self-evident truths rather than a religious faith in a higher authority. Modernist skeptics reject the idea of first principles and faith, yet unconsciously or secretly have faith in their own first principles. They are compelled to do this because rational thought cannot leap out of a vacuum. All rational thinking is essentially faith-based.The Modernist rejection of the idea of faith-based first principles leads to the artificial separation of faith and knowledge. This separation can be fatal to both faith and knowledge, because the two are designed to function in tandem.Man must reason in a hierarchical top-down manner because that is how God designed the human mind to operate. At the top of the hierarchy is a higher authority for truth. One begins with faith in that authority. Those who get their first principles from their world view sometimes do not know what authority stands behind their world view. Yet, when their first principles are profaned, they say "nothing is sacred anymore." A world view always hints at a sense of the transcendent and the sacred. Modernists laugh at this concept, yet are outraged when their own world view is not given the respect to which a sacred thing is entitled.Truth is a "top-down" hierarchy that descends in six stages: 1) faith in a higher authority or in a world view, 2) first principles, 3) presuppositions, 4) ideas, 5) chains of logic, and 6) systems of thought, such as philosophies, ideologies or scientific models.You can develop systems of thought (level 6) using presuppositions (level 3). However, you cannot prove a presupposition (level 3) by using systems of thought (level 6). In short, you can reason top down, but you cannot reason bottom up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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GaiaHemp aka Hempress

 

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