>
> Nateman wrote:
>
> Ultimately it is ones philosophy of life , explicit or implicit ,which guides
> one's choices. Which is why philosophy is the most important subject a person
> can learn!The Nateman
>
>
>
I have to agree with the Nateman on this. Philosophy is very
important. Mortimer Adler tries to make this point in his writings.
Only recently, when I have fully realized the extent to which beliefs
play in all walks of life--science included--have I begun to see the
importance of this. Education doesn't make a man. Some of those
Nazis in Hitler's Germany were some of the best educated folks
around--enjoyed classical music and pushed Jews in the ovens. They
were pretty good scientists, too--who do you think we got the bomb
from--even if Von Braun in his heart of hearts really just wanted to
send up rockets...and then there were those docs who didn't mind
cutting on Jewish children, without anesthesia, just to see how much
pain a human being can stand. Education....there was nothing wrong
with their "observation" skills--or their scientific skills. But I think we can agree that
something was wrong...very wrong. [I hope we can all agree that there
was something very wrong...given moral relativity it would not
surprise me to hear back to the contrary]
Give me a person who will say," God doesn't want me to behave like this to my fellow man," any day.
[Nateman stop gasping, I can hear you all the way over here]. But
even if we don't invoke the theological aspects, Philosophy can be
used to help us ask the right questions. As Mortimer Adler says, empirical
evidence is collected from scientific experimentation, this is one
type of knowledge. But then, there is that other knowledge, that
knowledge that, as reflective human beings, we all possess. We need
no special instrumentation or means of gathering information. He
compares philosophy to mathematics (armchair science) in this regard--i.e., all the
information there, it just takes further reflection.