Posted on 05/16/2007 6:54:51 AM PDT by SirLinksalot
WoW.. again good theme/fodder for a novel or movie..
Read Gulliver's Travels in high school. That word ruined the book for me.
And to add insult to injury, I mentally pronounced the word to myself as "HOW-nee-hims". It was only much later, to my acute embarassment, that I found out about your correct pronunciation.
Cheers!
Ooops! Talk about shooting oneself in the foot while one's foot is in one's mouth!
Worser and worser.
Absolutely adorable, hosepipe! (:
Your lips, God's ears, my Brother! The fodder really is all over the place! Themes, dreams, etc., just abounding, and just waiting for someone to pick them up and weave them into an art form (:
Still working on the lighthouse shining in an Arctic landscape at night with the northern lights vaguely in the shape of an eagle.. in the sky.. Triple metaphorical threat..
Thank you betty . . . for the ping . . . and for stating the obvious. It seems from time to time that we have to be reminded of the obvious, even if it is obvious. In this instance, we need a little perspective restored; we need to be reminded that science is the handmaiden of philosophy. Specifically, Western Civilization science and Western Civilization philosophy. Science didn’t invent Western Civilization; Western Civilization invented science and, on the whole, it has turned out to be one of its happier inspirations.
We are told that the ‘education establishment’ has determined Western Culture to be unworthy of passing on to the next generation. If that be true, as we must think it is, then the education establishment condemns itself, for it is a product of Western Civilization. In the some five thousand odd years of the cultural development of Western Civilization, it has been only in the last two centuries that we have witnessed the denial of that civilization by those who should be its staunchest defenders: the intellectual community. I find this to be utterly astonishing, but undeniably true, and confirmed beyond question by the failure of the intellectuals to defend Western Civilization against the stark evil of Islamic terrorism.
As you point out, to undermine a culture is to undermine the foundation of that culture's civilization, leading ultimately to its collapse. Indeed, that seems to be their intent. Do these intellectuals not understand that its collapse will bring to an end their splendid little academic and intellectual environment? It would seem not. They apparently labor under the illusion that they can bring about the destruction of the culture and civilization which supports them, and that their cozy, protected lives will go on, unaffected by the event.
It had been our custom, until of late, that each succeeding generation learned from those who had gone before (verily, even to the times of the Greeks and Romans, upon whose backs we have constructed our marvelous little civilization), rejecting the false, building upon the true (or at least the more true). Thus, Galileo, an example often cited in this forum, may have received more than his share of grief from the political correctness of his time, but mankind was advanced nonetheless, and along the way, from his experience and that of others, we learned the value of free inquiry and free speech (A lesson, it seems, requiring endless reminders).
In an attempt to explain this truly bizarre thirst for self-annihilation, many have sought to lay the blame at the feet of Marxist/socialism, to which all the bloody little state tyrants of the socialist persuasion have lent their enthusiastic assent, proclaiming that it is, indeed, their intent to destroy Western Civilization. To whatever extent there is validity to this interplay between the protagonist and antagonist, to that degree both betray a profound lack of awareness that the theories and ideas of socialism arise directly from the mainstream of that very civilization the one seeks to preserve and the other seeks to destroy.
Since the latter has seized control of the intellectual community, that side seems to presently be getting the better of the struggle, but that is not to say that significant progress was not made in the Twentieth Century. Progress has been made, but it occurs under the ideas and philosophies of the Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. It is these centuries that the modern intellectual community most specifically seeks to deny and destroy. And in the midst of all this, the ‘Science Community’ muddles along, apparently oblivious to its peril.
It is not necessarily that I am *impressed* with it, but I am trying to make sure I both point out the potential flaws AND portray it accurately and fairly.
As far as I can tell, my efforts got a mixed reception.
Cheers!
At the risk of bringing the discussion back to the thread topic, how does abandoning empiricism contribute to science? Can anyone give and example of a useful finding in science that depends for its authority, on personal revelation?
And America has been made ignorant fairly lately that this country is a Republic because of that..
And in the midst of all this, the ‘Science Community’ muddles along, apparently oblivious to its peril.
Call it progress or evolution, motion is not necessarily improvement. Either progress or evolution can be motion around a circular track. When you find dogma and faith reappearing you will be back to start. As evidence that dogma and faith are appearing out of science, --Global Warming.
...in their satanic arrogance. No good comes to anyone from this attitude, least of all to themselves. FWIW
What a beautiful essay/post, YHAOS!
Fortunately, not all scientists disparage this tremendous cultural legacy. And not all have written off God. Here's Francis Collins, Director of the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute on the Bible:
When you have for the first time in front of you this 3.1-billion-letter instruction book that conveys all kinds of information and all kinds of mystery about humankind, you can't survey that going through page after page without a sense of awe. I can't help but look at those pages and have a vague sense that this is giving me a glimpse of God's mind.Thank you so much YHAOS for your truly beautiful post!
I think he was talking about the human genome, but I'm sure he intended to refer to the Bible, even though his number would be off by three orders of magnitude.
I’ll have to dispute that ‘ignorant’ part. You cut the Western World way too much slack. They (the WW) aren’t ignorant of their peril; they simply don’t wish to disturb their cozy little womb by confessing a knowledge requiring radical action that would be distasteful. They cannot, however, escape their fate (dragging us along with them, of course), and the reckoning approaches. The atmosphere reminds me of the late Thirties. Spooky.
Point taken. I simply wished, at this time, not to be overly harsh. Figured I had already kicked enough sleeping dogs. { 8^)
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