> 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]
Any Rand dedicated her legacy to a fellow named Leonard Piekoff. He wrote a whole book about how the
collaspe of philosophy led to the Nazi's : "The Ominous Parallels". In many ways I liked it better than
Rand's own works.
> 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].
You heard nothing but a smirk ;)
> 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.
Wisdom is also empirical. That's why old folks have it and young ones don't.The Nateman