Other Knowledge
On Knowledge and Wonder
Aristotle wrote that, "All men by nature desire to know." Some might argue with The Philosopher; after all, plenty of people revel in their ignorance. I nevertheless think that he got it right: People qua people; people as living out their nature as human beings; people as created in God's Image -- we desire to know. We desire to have beliefs that are both true and justified.
In another famous passage Aristotle tells us that "[i]t is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize." 'To philosophize' here doesn't refer, solely, to philosophy in the strict sense. Rather, the idea is that of thinking carefully and systematically, and from first principles. (Indeed, for the earliest Greek philosophers, "philosophy" was closer to what we would call science.) And it is in fact wonder -- curiosity, puzzlement, amazement -- that drives us to think well. (1)
I believe that "All truth is God's truth." This is my stand as a philosopher who happens to be a Christian, and as a Christian who happens to be a philosopher. This simple phrase, much more than a slogan to me, is my epistemological guiding star. Hence, I reject any hard-fast barriers between, or any privileging in terms of the inherent value of, "divine" versus "earthly" knowledge. Some things we can know through our God-given noetic powers, others through God's sharing them with us, as it were, directly. But knowledge is knowledge, and all of it derives ultimately from God. (2)
In the pages that follow I will explore various topics in science, history, and other disciplines, particularly as those intersect with Christian faith. I do so with this scripture in mind: "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therin." And also with M.D. Babcock's famous hymn "This Is My Father's World" in my ear. (3)
Aristotle wrote that, "All men by nature desire to know." Some might argue with The Philosopher; after all, plenty of people revel in their ignorance. I nevertheless think that he got it right: People qua people; people as living out their nature as human beings; people as created in God's Image -- we desire to know. We desire to have beliefs that are both true and justified.
In another famous passage Aristotle tells us that "[i]t is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize." 'To philosophize' here doesn't refer, solely, to philosophy in the strict sense. Rather, the idea is that of thinking carefully and systematically, and from first principles. (Indeed, for the earliest Greek philosophers, "philosophy" was closer to what we would call science.) And it is in fact wonder -- curiosity, puzzlement, amazement -- that drives us to think well. (1)
I believe that "All truth is God's truth." This is my stand as a philosopher who happens to be a Christian, and as a Christian who happens to be a philosopher. This simple phrase, much more than a slogan to me, is my epistemological guiding star. Hence, I reject any hard-fast barriers between, or any privileging in terms of the inherent value of, "divine" versus "earthly" knowledge. Some things we can know through our God-given noetic powers, others through God's sharing them with us, as it were, directly. But knowledge is knowledge, and all of it derives ultimately from God. (2)
In the pages that follow I will explore various topics in science, history, and other disciplines, particularly as those intersect with Christian faith. I do so with this scripture in mind: "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therin." And also with M.D. Babcock's famous hymn "This Is My Father's World" in my ear. (3)
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This is my Father’s world,
And to my listening ears All nature sings, and round me rings The music of the spheres. This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas; His hand the wonders wrought. |
This is my Father’s world,
The birds their carols raise, The morning light, the lily white, Declare their maker’s praise. This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair; In the rustling grass I hear Him pass; He speaks to me everywhere. |
This is my Father’s world.
O let me ne’er forget That though the wrong Seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet. This is my Father’s world: The battle is not done: Jesus who died shall be satisfied, And earth and Heav’n be one. |
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This is my Father’s world,
Dreaming, I see His face. I ope my eyes, and in glad surprise Cry, The Lord is in this place. This is my Father’s world, From the shining courts above, The Beloved One, His Only Son, Came—a pledge of deathless love. |
This is my Father’s world,
Should my heart be ever sad? The lord is King—let the heavens ring. God reigns—let the earth be glad. This is my Father’s world. Now closer to Heaven bound, For dear to God is the earth Christ trod. No place but is holy ground. |
This is my Father’s world.
I walk a desert lone. In a bush ablaze to my wondering gaze God makes His glory known. This is my Father’s world, a wanderer I may roam Whate’er my lot, it matters not, My heart is still at home. |
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Footnotes:
(1) a) Both quotations are from Book I of Aristotle's Metaphysics. (Italics are mine.) b) The earliest Greek philosophers are known as the pre-Socratics. Their quest to understand the nature of the physical universe was no different in spirit than that of physicists today. c) What we call "science" was, for over a millennia at least, known as "natural philosophy." In fact, 'science' is derived from the Latin 'scientia', which meant "knowledge, understanding." What we now know as science proper didn't emerge as a, as it were, self-conscious entity until after the Scientific Revolution.
(2) Working all this out -- especially the alleged gulf between God's revealing and man's simple knowing brought on by Original Sin -- will be the burden of A Christian Philosophy.
(3) a) The scripture is Psalm 24:1 (KJV). b) The hymn is retrieved from www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/t/i/s/tismyfw.htm. c) The art is by my daughters Quincy and Florence Pinkston.
Original ca. January 2017.
(1) a) Both quotations are from Book I of Aristotle's Metaphysics. (Italics are mine.) b) The earliest Greek philosophers are known as the pre-Socratics. Their quest to understand the nature of the physical universe was no different in spirit than that of physicists today. c) What we call "science" was, for over a millennia at least, known as "natural philosophy." In fact, 'science' is derived from the Latin 'scientia', which meant "knowledge, understanding." What we now know as science proper didn't emerge as a, as it were, self-conscious entity until after the Scientific Revolution.
(2) Working all this out -- especially the alleged gulf between God's revealing and man's simple knowing brought on by Original Sin -- will be the burden of A Christian Philosophy.
(3) a) The scripture is Psalm 24:1 (KJV). b) The hymn is retrieved from www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/t/i/s/tismyfw.htm. c) The art is by my daughters Quincy and Florence Pinkston.
Original ca. January 2017.