Philosophy Today
“…always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” 2 Timothy 3:7
Last week, I saw the horrific execution of a man in a public square who was trying to reason with those with differing opinions and beliefs.
This was a great tragedy, not just because a wife was widowed, but because there is no end in sight to the amount of rejoicing over this crime.
The Sunday after the murder, I went to visit a new church in my city. The pastor’s son was visiting from Tokyo, and while I was speaking with him, I gathered that he was going to school and majoring in philosophy.
I must admit, inwardly, I was pessimistic. I had so many questions about why, but didn’t know enough Japanese. Perhaps he is planning to get further education (hopefully in theology).
I love philosophy and having philosophical discussions, so why did I feel a sense of disapproval when another person told me they were dedicating years of their life to studying philosophy at a university?
Well, philosophy, today in the US, seems to be the name of a tool with which to dismantle truth, rather than empower it. Higher education in secular schools of thought discourages anyone from formulating a cohesive worldview. It’s full of postmodern deconstructionists trying to explain that there’s no such thing as a boy or a girl to the tune of a $100,000 education. It’s more anti-philosophy than philosophy.
True philosophers try to find truth, or get as close to it as they can, so that societies can live by the highest moral standard. Philosophers are supposed to unveil the absolutes, but instead are teaching kids that there can’t be truth because everything is merely relative.
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We are living in a time when people treat truth like a buffet, picking and choosing what they want to be true for the sake of their own ideological appetites. Today, if the truth isn’t something that you want or is something that doesn’t make you a happier person, then it can’t be “your truth.”
In the place of God’s wisdom, the ushering in of “enlightenment” has done anything but lead us to what is real, true, and beautiful about life. Modern philosophy, poetry, art, media, music, news, etc. have tried to satisfy the hearts of men on their own and have spiraled societies deeper into depraved moral chaos. It advertises the darkness that fills our hearts as light and the evil we could embrace as goodness.
2+2 cannot equal 4 because addition is just a construct someone else made up in your mind for you, and therefore, it possesses no qualities of reality that you must abide by. How can we know this? Well, because Bobby’s truth is that 2+2= -14℉. Tell Bobby he’s wrong and you’re a racist because he’s 1/16th Native Hawaiian.
We are being told what to believe every day. You are either in agreement or shamed, cut out, attacked, silenced, or labeled as dangerous. This cancel culture is authoritarianism disguised as “progress.”
So where do we go from here? How do we make philosophy great again?
“The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.” Thucydides
“The greatest threat to freedom is when people are too afraid to speak their minds.” Charlie Kirk
But reason alone cannot be man’s sole star by which he is guided through the dark of night. We have souls. We are spiritual beings. We have a creator and were created in His likeness. We must vote, speak, argue, report, film, and sing HIS truth to the best of our ability.
I propose we declare war on ignorance, slothfulness, and instant gratification.
The consequences:
“Indeed, all who show a desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, desiring and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly eleven, knowing from whom you learned it and how, from childhood, you have been acquainted with sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 3:12–15
