I'm not sure if I've already done a second one of these, but I've got some things on my mind and should be writing a paper on Aristotle, so I hadn't much time.
With that in mind, I've returned to Pascal which I haven't read in some time (4 years, already?), but I think it's shaped my thinking greatly despite going into it intentionally skeptical. What I expected to dismiss as religious drivel I've since actually appropriated for myself. Anyway:
- A lot of people (Pascal and Aristotle, as well as Confucius included) think moderation is the way to go. Being an anarchist, I suppose I disagree with them
- Pascal, upon rereading him, seems to be a lot like Zeno of Elea in his approach, namely in his obsession with paradox and his general belief in the limits of human knowledge. I'm not sure people interpret him in the same way, however. I've seen far too many people taking Pascal's Wager seriously to think it the predominant reading of The Pensées, though academics probably do take the less literal approach
- I've been talking to people about agnosticism recently, and I still don't understand it. Perhaps it's just me, but I can't think of any subject I don't have at least a gut feeling about, regardless of evidence. I suppose, again, reading Pascal sort of made me skeptical of basing any belief on raw statistical probability, perhaps making me more susceptible to use faith instead of scientific reasoning.
- For me, the greatest challenge would be to unite faith and religion. Pascal attempts this through citing miracles (which he himself believed he had experienced first hand), but generally I find it difficult to unite my belief in God to any particular religion, having grown up an atheist with no natural predisposition. Logically speaking, I'd likely be a Muslim, because I find it more likely that God should continue to have made prophets after the last Hebrew prophets and after Jesus, but stopping at Mohammed doesn't logically make much sense either. Also, a just God, in my opinion, would not require rituals in His name, and would leave it up to each person to recognize Him as he or she pleased. This is generally incompatible with organized religion. As I see it, consistent personal behavior will always override ritual induced piety on its own
No comments:
Post a Comment