Struan,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply. You are very insightful.
Here is my response. I think that except for a very small part, I am saying
exactly what you just said. However, I feel that the truth I need to
communicate to you is uncommunicable with words. So what can I do?
I. Does truth have to make logical sense?
Why is logical positivism illogical? Because it puts forth the notion
that all statements must be empirically verifiable, or else they are
nonsense. Yet, it itself is a non-empirically verifiable statement, and must
then be nonsense. But, why does something have to make logical sense for it
to be true? Isn't it true that the contradiction, "The only certainty in the
world is uncertainty," is very certainly true?
Responsibility, values, laws, and morality are all wrapped up in
language. Could there be a deeper system of right and wrong that can not be
described by language? I think so.
II. What are values?
I have values. I value my family. I value my friends. Because I value my
friends and my family I do good things for them. Doing good things for
friends and family is one of my most basic values.
The only problem is, "Doing good things for friends and family is one of
my most basic values," is really just an abstraction. It is a set of words
that I never think of while I am encouraging my son to brush his teeth. I
don't think any of those words when I am helping my friend Brian repair his
old GMC. I have never taken my wife deeply into my arms and kissed her
beautiful mouth while thinking, "It is a moral obligation for a man to kiss
his wife."
I kiss my wife because it feels like the right thing to do. I never
think about it. I just do it because it feels good.
I write this response without prior consideration as to whether it is
morally correct. At the time I feel I should write, I write.
III. This above all, to thine own self be true
The self is simply an abstraction. It is values, doubts, beliefs, likes,
notions, names, and perceptions. It is the creator of good and evil. Without
it, good and evil disappear. All that's left is the right thing to do, and
this is what will be done. What could be more moral than that?
When old age shall this generation waste,
Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe
Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,--that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
From, "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
by John Keats
-dave
David Prince
Systems Analyst
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