The Proper Attitude …
Estudia: Okay Phi, your discussion brings up a question for me.
Philo: Shoot.
Estudia: So what if there are metaphysically given facts and in addition, man-made facts? Who cares and why? A fact is a fact after all.
Philo: Not exactly. There is an important, even crucial difference. In fact the difference is such that we have to treat the two types of facts completely different.
Estudia: Like how?
Philo: Let me finish. This (sweeping his hand around in front and partly behind himself) is reality and there are lots of metaphysically given facts out there, in here, over there and everywhere. Doesn’t matter what you or I think about them either. They just are and you should properly accept them without evaluation. No jumping up-and-down, cussing or whatever. These facts can’t be true or false, good or bad, right or wrong. They just are. They are right no matter what.
Estudia: What about man-made facts?
Philo: Well, you can probably guess what I’m going to say.
Estudia: They must be evaluated I’d think, because they are chosen by man and don’t have to exist even.
Philo: Right, you do have to evaluate them. You must pass judgment on these man-made facts. People can make mistakes, they can be irrational, or just plain wrong so anything that someone creates doesn’t have to, and shouldn’t, be accepted just because it exists. You can’t … well you can but it won’t help… you can’t call a hurricane bad in and of itself. You just should say, yep, a hurricane and time to board-up or ship-out. You can work to protect yourself and your property from the effects of one, but you don’t judge it as such. The man-made must be judged.
Estudia: What about if I think hurricanes are so bad that I figure out how to stop them in their tracks and cause them to dissipate before they can get up any wind or storm surge?
Philo: You’d be confusing the given with the man-made. What you described might be a good thing assuming you accomplished your goal, but you’d be wrong to judge hurricanes as such. You procedure for limiting or eliminating them is what needs to be judged. The beneficial rains that hurricanes carry inland might be missing if your procedure worked and then that could be a really bad thing for farmers and water users. That could and should be judged. The fact that hurricanes form should just be worked with and accepted. Nothing good or bad about it. It just is.
Estudia: Okay, but what about being realistic for a minute. We have big government and socialism is creeping in all around us. This is what most people want and they’ll vote for it. That’s realistic and it would be a mistake to fight the trend. You have got to make the most and best of a bad situation. That’s reality.
Philo: Hardly. What you are talking about is a man-made fact. There is nothing metaphysically given about socialism. It’s definitely man-made. I’d say you are being unrealistic in not judging it and fighting it. You are evading reality if you just accept it as being our destiny. Socialism contradicts the metaphysically given nature of man as I’ll explain some day, but socialism is not a given.
Estudia: I’ve got to run, but I think I understand. I want to hear more when I get back. CU later, Philo.
Philo: Shoot.
Estudia: So what if there are metaphysically given facts and in addition, man-made facts? Who cares and why? A fact is a fact after all.
Philo: Not exactly. There is an important, even crucial difference. In fact the difference is such that we have to treat the two types of facts completely different.
Estudia: Like how?
Philo: Let me finish. This (sweeping his hand around in front and partly behind himself) is reality and there are lots of metaphysically given facts out there, in here, over there and everywhere. Doesn’t matter what you or I think about them either. They just are and you should properly accept them without evaluation. No jumping up-and-down, cussing or whatever. These facts can’t be true or false, good or bad, right or wrong. They just are. They are right no matter what.
Estudia: What about man-made facts?
Philo: Well, you can probably guess what I’m going to say.
Estudia: They must be evaluated I’d think, because they are chosen by man and don’t have to exist even.
Philo: Right, you do have to evaluate them. You must pass judgment on these man-made facts. People can make mistakes, they can be irrational, or just plain wrong so anything that someone creates doesn’t have to, and shouldn’t, be accepted just because it exists. You can’t … well you can but it won’t help… you can’t call a hurricane bad in and of itself. You just should say, yep, a hurricane and time to board-up or ship-out. You can work to protect yourself and your property from the effects of one, but you don’t judge it as such. The man-made must be judged.
Estudia: What about if I think hurricanes are so bad that I figure out how to stop them in their tracks and cause them to dissipate before they can get up any wind or storm surge?
Philo: You’d be confusing the given with the man-made. What you described might be a good thing assuming you accomplished your goal, but you’d be wrong to judge hurricanes as such. You procedure for limiting or eliminating them is what needs to be judged. The beneficial rains that hurricanes carry inland might be missing if your procedure worked and then that could be a really bad thing for farmers and water users. That could and should be judged. The fact that hurricanes form should just be worked with and accepted. Nothing good or bad about it. It just is.
Estudia: Okay, but what about being realistic for a minute. We have big government and socialism is creeping in all around us. This is what most people want and they’ll vote for it. That’s realistic and it would be a mistake to fight the trend. You have got to make the most and best of a bad situation. That’s reality.
Philo: Hardly. What you are talking about is a man-made fact. There is nothing metaphysically given about socialism. It’s definitely man-made. I’d say you are being unrealistic in not judging it and fighting it. You are evading reality if you just accept it as being our destiny. Socialism contradicts the metaphysically given nature of man as I’ll explain some day, but socialism is not a given.
Estudia: I’ve got to run, but I think I understand. I want to hear more when I get back. CU later, Philo.
posted by Rp | 1:53 PM
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