More on "Where Good Ideas Come From"

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Sep 11, 2018 at 02:25

Hi, Martin

"Because what your answer shows is how the spirit works through reason from experience!"

Martin, you have my head spinning. I'll try to work my way through this -- being, as you know, a confessed "non-philosopher".

You went on, "In one word: you're much more of a Voegelinian (or Platonist, or transcendentalist - of the kind Poe did not dislike) than you care to acknowledge."

Martin, I am not a partisan of any cause or philosophy, other than the "philosophy" of God, as revealed in the Bible. To the extent that Voegelin or anyone else agrees with the Bible, I suppose I agree with him. I know nothing or next to nothing about Voegelin or Plato; but I know a great deal about King David and the other Bible characters.

In the link you cited, Voegelin said,

"Man's existence in the In-Between of imperfection and perfection, time and timelessness, mortality and immortality is indeed not an object of sense perception; and the propositions or a consciousness reflecting on its own structure of participation are indeed self-reflective."

Am I expected to "reflect" on this? A person could go nuts, trying to do so. Concerning "mastering" the past OR the present, King Solomon tried it all, and confessed,

"All is vanity, and vexation of spirit!"

Job came to a similar conclusion,

Job.42
[1] Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
[2] I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
[3] Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.
[4] Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
[5] I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
[6] Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

Job's experience is what Solomon called "the fear of Yahweh", which he called "the BEGINNING of wisdom."

Is that Platonist philosophy? Voegelinian philosophy? No. It's plain to see, that it's the philosophy of David, Solomon and Job; in other word's, it's the philosophy of the Bible. If Voegelin or Plato think along the lines of the Bible on any matter, therefore, should they be credited as originating the ideas? Plato was born in 427 BCE, long after Ezra, Samuel, Job and Moses. By the time he appeared on the scene, the air was filled with the thoughts of those who came before him. That is why it is foolish to list him as one of the "fathers" of Western culture.

L'shana tovah (a good Jewish New Year to you) :-)

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