tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11714522.post5644300855484119359..comments2024-03-27T09:11:00.450-04:00Comments on Incinerating Presuppositionalism: Buried SignpostsBahnsen Burnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11030029491768748360noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11714522.post-2127775906856890892023-01-26T16:39:45.515-05:002023-01-26T16:39:45.515-05:00It must have been on this blog that I first encoun...It must have been on this blog that I first encountered this Rand quote: "Faith in the supernatural begins as faith in the superiority of others." Came to mind after posting my comment above.<br /><br />Readers here may find this interesting, an exemplary firsthand illustration of Christian epistemology in a non-apologetics context:<br /><br />"I am definitely more prone to fall--not only in lustful thoughts but everything in my life--I'm more prone to fall through my heart, rather than my brain, because I don't trust my brain. It's a lesson I've learned very, very early on. It's an essential thing for me, it's a fundamental thing for me; I simply do not trust my brain. I know the things I've believed when I was 15, and I could have sacrificed my life for the things I believed then, and I know how completely different were the things I believed when I was 25 and then 35, and now I'm in my 40s and I can see how my brain evolves or simply changes [...]"<br /><br />"I've seen my brain [...] swear that [...] it is in possession of the truth, only to immediately be completely able to discard the truth and embrace another truth. And that has taught me to be very careful with what my brain tells me, and to always always prioritize faith over my brain. And faith doesn't mean just things I read in the Gospel but also things I read in the holy fathers and things I'm being told by people towards whom I try my best to be obedient such as my spiritual father, primarily, or my monastic brother, or even my community in the monastery here. I've learned to allow the circumstances of life and the people who are around me to to have greater input over my decisions and my behavior than my own brain, because my brain has failed me so frequently."<br /><br />Source:<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj4Tw9UJQ8w<br /><br />Strikingly unvarnished, eh? No apparent packaging of the message for a western post-Enlightenment audience. "Brain" is used a stand-in for... I'd call it independent reasoned judgement. I think presuppers would call it "autonomous thought" (which could also reasonably subsume the epistemological aspect of what Fr Seraphim calls the "heart", i.e. emotion).<br /><br />Jason mcJason mchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04117753894806913150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11714522.post-44328558074004237752023-01-22T13:39:26.712-05:002023-01-22T13:39:26.712-05:00Synthetic not senthetic. Jees.Synthetic not senthetic. Jees.Robert Kiddhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00572711301026070701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11714522.post-36138656129190939742023-01-22T13:34:17.692-05:002023-01-22T13:34:17.692-05:00Dawson,
You are not just writing a blog, you are ...Dawson,<br /><br />You are not just writing a blog, you are changing lives.<br /><br />Robert KiddRobert Kiddhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00572711301026070701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11714522.post-72777926171341058242023-01-22T13:26:59.445-05:002023-01-22T13:26:59.445-05:00Dawson,
Sorry to go off topic but I have to share...Dawson,<br /><br />Sorry to go off topic but I have to share something with you. I have been in a discussion on a forum and I was discussing the analytic-senthetic dichotomy and why it's such a problem. Instead of the sneers and hatred I normall encounter I got this as a response:<br /><br />"It's been a long time since I've been seriously interested in philosophy but on the strength of this video, and what you've said so far on the subject, this has me absolutely fascinated... it's just struck a chord on many levels for me. So next job is to read the book it recommends in that video, Ayn Rand's Introduction to Objectivist Epistomology.<br /><br />From the moment you started talking about all this it's had me enthralled, as something that appeals both it its message and its method... ie the latter being that there just seems something systematic about all this that really appeals to the way my mind works. As for the message, I think it will be great to learn about but I think it will also teach me a lot about general philosophy by means of its comparison with it, so a win-win there... sometimes that's the best way to learn I think; by noticing the differences between things.<br /><br />So yeah, welcome to the forum and thanks for introducing<br /> me to these ideas."<br /><br />I was floored and told her that there was a system, a most beautiful system and that she'd only seen the tiniest fraction of it. <br /><br />The video I linked to was this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?<br />v=bqx0mingAF8&t=182s<br /><br />I have learned a great deal about that beautiful system from reading your blog. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Your blog is one of the most important resources for understanding this system.<br /><br />A while back, I came here despondent over the state of the world, and I could not get anyone to take an honest look at these ideas. you helped me. I've learned so much from your work here. You have a gift for making this stuff understandable and relatable to our own lives. <br /><br />Thank you. <br /><br />Sincerely, <br /><br />Robert Kidd <br /><br />Robert Kiddhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00572711301026070701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11714522.post-29471268419356839232023-01-22T02:45:20.899-05:002023-01-22T02:45:20.899-05:00Also, thanks for the post, glad to see you return ...Also, thanks for the post, glad to see you return to the cosmological argument (and a few others! I'll have to try the imagination-reality distinction challenge on some people.<br />JasonJason mchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04117753894806913150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11714522.post-66400046095549684232023-01-22T02:42:11.884-05:002023-01-22T02:42:11.884-05:00The believer could say imagining supernatural bein...The believer could say imagining supernatural beings is fine, and the signposts that stop the faithful from wondering into heretical flights of fancy are tradition, canonical texts, and/or the organised religion's leading authorities.Jason mchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04117753894806913150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11714522.post-76376973355694906512023-01-21T21:58:07.841-05:002023-01-21T21:58:07.841-05:00Dawson,
Right after I started reading this latest...Dawson,<br /><br />Right after I started reading this latest entry I was watching a short on youtube in which Harry Binswanger was talking about second handedness as a replacement of reality with people and their words. It struck me that these people have turned over the steering wheel of their lives to others and they are just along for the ride. They can look out the window and listen to tunes and not worry about the direction signs or the caution signs because they are trusting the driver to take care of that. For all they know the driver could be heading down a dead-end road. <br /><br />Robert KiddRobert Kiddhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00572711301026070701noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11714522.post-2633016576711197812023-01-20T19:48:02.832-05:002023-01-20T19:48:02.832-05:00Excellent! Thanks once again, Dawson!
YdemocExcellent! Thanks once again, Dawson!<br /><br />YdemocYdemochttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08333223339501648341noreply@blogger.com