a tale of two anthropologies

8/3/2019 A Tale of Two Anthropologies

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A Tale of Two Anthropologies

A brief journey through the philosophical underpinnings ofthe Christian versus Secular views of Man and his destiny


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Reflection

Ideas are powerful (sometimes lethal) weapons, and should be

handled with care. They shape human existence in its entirety,for good or ill


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Background

The advent of universal education and the mass media has resulted in a large number ofChristians absorbing views about life and moral conduct which in many ways are at variancewith orthodox Christianity.

The present work was conceived as an attempt to address the moral confusion resulting fromthe blending of oftentimes logically incompatible worldviews.

Aim of the Journey

This presentation has three key aims:

To lay bare some toxic assumptions of Secular philosophy which are now embeddedin many Christians way of thinking about moral action & conduct

To illuminate how the orthodox Christian worldview about Man and his destiny is incritical conflict with much of modern Secular philosophy

To demonstrate how only an anthropology based on Christian moral premises canmake sense of Man as a holistic being, and of his life as having purpose and direction(Telos)

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Presentation outline

The orthodox Christian anthropology as reflected in Scripture, Christian Philosophy and theteachings of the Catholic Church

An Historical Banquet of Secular Ideas:

Amuse BoucheVoluntarism and Nominalism

Hors DOeuvresThe Renaissance and the Reformation

Main CoursesThe Enlightenment and its 3 Offspring

Desserts & CoffeePostmodernity and Relativism

Conclusion:The purpose of human existence according to Christian and Secular values

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Christian Anthropology I

Sacred Scripture

God created the Universe and all it contains ex nihilo, out of an act of love. Creation is good.Man was created in the image of God to know and love God, and to enjoy Creation

The first man and his wife (Adam & Eve) rejected Gods commandment by succumbing to prideand to the Devils temptation to eat of the forbidden fruit. Because of their Original Sin, Godbanished our Ancestors and their descendants from the Garden of Eden (the Fall)

God revealed Himself to the Israelites as a personal God, and gave Moses the TenCommandments

At a particular point in time the eternal God entered human history through the Incarnation ofHis Word (His uncreated Son), by taking human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary

The incarnated Son of God - as prophesised by the Jewish Prophets - was Jesus Christ, whocame into the world to redeem humanity from sin through His death on the Cross and HisResurrection from the dead

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Christian AnthropologyII

Sacred Scripture

Jesus Christ brought to perfection the Law & the Prophets by condensing the 10Commandments into Two Commandments: Man must love God, and love his neighbour ashimself

Jesus revealed the Trinitarian nature of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three Persons, oneGodhead) and warned that Mans salvation can be achieved only through Him

Christ established the Catholic Church as a Divine institution with the Apostle Peter as its firsthead (His vicar on earth). The Church (which is Christs Mystical Body and His Bride) guidesHumanity in all Truth relating to God, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, until the endof time. The Church is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic

At His Parousia Christ the King will come in glory to judge the living and the dead. Holypeople will go to Heaven, and wicked people to Hell

Christ gave the Church the Seven Sacraments for the spiritual health and nourishment ofMankind. The principal Sacrament is the Eucharist: Christs Body, Blood, Soul and Divinityunder the (accidental) appearance of bread & wine, bestowing Divine grace on the soul

receiving it 6


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Christian Anthropology III

Christian philosophy

Blend of Sacred Scripture and sophisticated philosophical insight of Greek thinkers such asSocrates, Aristotle and Plato, enriched by the 20th Centurys focus on the human person

Main thinkers: St. Augustine of Hippo [354-430], St. Thomas Aquinas [1227-1274] (the founderof Thomism, aka the Philosophia Perennis), Dante Alighieri [1265-1321], Neo-Thomism(J.

Maritain; E. Gilson); Personalism (M. Buber; J. Pieper; V. Solovyov, Blessed John Paul II)

Key principleso God created a rational Universe, containing both matter and spirit . Reality (both material

and spiritual) is knowable through human Reason and Faith (Intellect + Heart)

o No conflict between Faith and Reason (or Faith and Science)

o The Natural Law: God endowed each human being with the capacity to discern good and evilthrough his own reason and heart

o Each human being/ human life is willed by God and uniquely precious in His eyes

o Human life is a journey aimed at knowing & loving God through knowledge, the virtues andGods grace. Human life has purpose & direction (life is Teleological)

o There is such a thing as objective truth! 7


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An Historical Banquet of Secular Ideas I

Amuse Bouche

Nominalism & VoluntarismPhilosophical ideas which emerged in the 14th Century (William of Ockham [1288-1348])

Key principles:o Fracture between the will of God and Creation, including Mans will. Only Faith gives

access to God. The ways of God are not open to Reason

o Human will is privileged over human reason. The will (itself undetermined) decideswhat is good. The orthodox Christian view instead maintains that reason recognisesthe good, and the will acts upon this recognition

o Only individuals exist, not universals (such as Love, Truth, Beauty). The latter are

just products of individual minds

o Freedom of indifference is postulated against traditional Christianitys Freedom forexcellence

Later influence on thinkers such as Hume (scepticism), Kant (moral action as obligation) and

Nietzsche (irrationalism/will to power) 8


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An Historical Banquet of Secular Ideas II

Hors DOeuvres

The Renaissanceo Man turns his gaze from God to himself

o Rediscovery of pagan philosophy and art

o Great explorations beyond Europe

o Nicolaus Copernicus expounds theHeliocentric theory

The Protestant Reformation

o Individual interpretation of Holy Scripture(precursor of subjectivism)

o Salvation by Faith alone; Sola Scriptura(no need for Church or Sacraments)

o

Divine origin understanding of Church is lost

Benozzo Gozzoli (1421-1497) La Cappella dei Magi,Palazzo Medici, Firenze

Martin Luther (1483-1546)9


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An Historical Banquet of Secular Ideas III

Main Courses

The Enlightenment: The PrecursorsThe Father of Modern Philosophy: Rene Descartes [1596-1650]o Cogito, ergo sum: Reality not knowable objectively.

Only a subjective interpretation of reality is possibleo Introduction of Dualism Mind vs. Body: unity ofBody & Soul is broken:

The ghost in the machine.

The emergence of the experimental method in scienceo Francis Bacon [1561-1626], author of the Novum Organumo Galileo Galilei [1564-1642]o Isaac Newton [1643-1727]

Antinomy (conflict) emerges between Science and Faith

Descartes is the Father of Subjectivism, wrenching Western Philosophyfrom the Realist (objective reality) view prevalent up to then (Thomism).The experimental method promoted byBacon, Galileo et al. will eventually

lead to rejection of unprovable spiritual realities

Rene Descartes

Galileo Galilei

Isaac Newton

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An Historical Banquet of Secular Ideas IV

Main Courses

The Enlightenment: The French Revolution

A new Trinity Libert

galit Fraternit

Reason alone is the new God. Religion=Superstition

All of Mans spiritual ills can be cured through Education, Knowledge and Science (another

Enlightenment Trinity). The concept of Sin a legacy of religious superstition

The doctrine ofPerpetual Progress (on earth) is born. It postulates Evolutionaryview of History

Major problem for Christians in dealing with the Enlightenment is that the

movement is a Christian heresy (P. Trower). Its the Gospel without God /Jesus Christ 11

Liberty (Marianne) leading the People, by Eugne Delacroix (1860)


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An Historical Banquet of Secular Ideas V

Main Courses

The Enlightenment: The KeyPhilosophical Currents

Utilitarianism (also known as Consequentialism)Main thinkers: Adam Smith[1723-1790]; JeremyBentham [1748-1832]; John S. Mill[1806-1873] ; Peter Singer[1946- ] (neo-utilitarian/darwinian)

KeyIdeas:o Self-interest/selfishness are good: they are natural human instincts

o Freedom of initiative and free markets maximise common good

o Economic cost-benefit analysis/calculus should drive moral action

o Maximisation of pleasure (utility) and minimisation of suffering are the onlyworthwhile goals. The State should maximise Net Collective Utility

o Materialist concept of happiness. Useful outcomes is what matters, not good intention

In Christian moral theology context, Utilitarianism gives rise to Situation Ethics. Utilitarianismreduces Man to Homo economicus

JeremyBentham John Stuart Mill

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An Historical Banquet of Secular Ideas VI

Main Courses

The Enlightenment: The KeyP

hilosophical Currents

Social Contract and the Liberal StateMain thinkers: John Locke [1632-1704]; Jean-Jacques Rousseau [1712-1778]

KeyIdeas:o Freedom of indifference is the paramount value

o Man in his natural state is good (the good savage). Rejection of Thomas Hobbespessimist view of Man as homo homini lupus and related need for Absolutist State

o Rejection of the Christian awareness of Mans tendency to sin

o Education and knowledge are all one needs to redeem Man from his weaknesses

o Free individual agents agree to a social contract & institute the State for common good

These ideas are the foundational principles of modern liberal democracies. They arealso at the root of view of government as indifferent arbitrator between interest groups/lobbies

Jean Jacques RousseauJohn Locke

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An Historical Banquet of Secular Ideas VII

Main Courses


Empiricism & ScepticismMain thinkers: George Berkley [1685-1753]; David Hume [1711-1776]

KeyIdeas:o The passions drive human nature, not reason

o Knowledge comes only from sensory experience (human mind at birth is tabula rasa).Denial of idea that the Natural Law is imprinted on human heart

o Scepticism about reasons ability to grasp eternal, universal laws through inductive

observations, i.e. any amount of observations does not guarantee certainty

o Razor-sharp critique of the nature of God and the problem of Evil (theodicy), recoveringEpicurus argument. Rejection of possibility of Miracles, such as Virgin Birth or Resurrection

Hume had huge influence on Kant. Historical-critical method of interpreting Sacred Scripture,

most times leading to rejection of the supernatural, owes much to Humes scepticism

David Hume

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GeorgeBerkley


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An Historical Banquet of Secular Ideas VIII

Main Courses


IdealismMain thinkers: Immanuel Kant [1724-1804]; Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel [1770-1831]

KeyIdeas:o Kants huge philosophical edifice was prompted by Humes sceptical challenge. Kant

said that Hume woke him from his dogmatic slumber

o Kant rejects the reality of Revelation, positing a weaker, Deistic view where God isessentially an enforcer of moral obligations, which are present in human conscience

o Autonomous reason dictating moral obligations (deontology) is the new Kantian god

o Hegel introduced the notion of historical dialectics (thesis; antithesis; followed bysynthesis, which reconciles the antinomy) This idea greatly influenced Karl Marx

Kant distorts orthodox Christianity by emphasising the primacy of unaided individual conscience

and by understanding morality as mere duty & obligation. Hegelian thinking influenced theunderstanding of the Mass as community-centred rather than God-centred

Immanuel Kant

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GWF Hegel


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An Historical Banquet of Secular Ideas IX

Main Courses

The Enlightenments 3 Offspring: First-born

MarxismKey thinkers: Karl Marx[1818-1883];Friedrich Engels[1820-1895];Vladimir I Lenin[1870-1924]

KeyIdeas:o Marx built his historical-scientific materialism edifice on Utilitarianism, Hegels Dialectics

and Ludwig Feuerbachs view that the Christian God is simply a projection of Mans wish list(a gigantic benign Father Figure)

o Only Economics and Economic Power matter; Class struggle; God is the opiate of the peopleand religion a control mechanism (superstructure) for the lites to keep the masses

unconscious of their effective slavery

o Deterministic Materialist philosophy. In order to achieve Revolution, the individual must besubject to the State. Despite his branding, Marxs theories are Utopian, not scientific

Marxism is arguably the most anti-Christian philosophy: Atheistic denial of God; Deterministic

view of life (no free will); submission of individual to the State; Man reduced to HomoEconomicus; Class struggle at the origin of Radical Feminist and Gay Lobbies worldviews

Ludwig von Feuerbach Karl Marx Friedrich Engels


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An Historical Banquet of Secular Ideas X

Main Courses

The Enlightenments 3 Offspring: Enfant terrible

Evolutionary Theory/EugenicsKey thinkers: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck[1744-1829];Charles Darwin[1809-1882];FrancisGalton[1822-1911]; Margaret Sanger[1879-1966]; Marie Stopes[1880-1958]

KeyIdeas:o Life on earth evolved randomly from basic primitive cells through adaption and competitive

natural selection (strong influence of the Utilitarian school of thought here)

o Life develops through chance and necessity. There is no Creator nor Design. Man just anevolved monkey

o Some races, and within them, some people are more evolved than others. Its worthpromoting the best breeds & eliminating the unfit via contraception, sterilization, abortion

Atheistic, materialist and deterministic view of life. Carried to its logical conclusions, it justifiesRacial superiority; Law of the jungle; Ruling and decision-making by strongest, most intelligent,

most economically powerful. Recipe for anarchy. Reduction to homo biologicus

Charles Darwin Francis Galton Margaret SangerJ-B. Lamarck


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An Historical Banquet of Secular Ideas XI

Main Courses

The Enlightenments 3 Offspring: Rebellious

IrrationalismKey thinkers: The Romantic Movement; Arthur Schopenhauer[1788-1860];FriedrichNietzsche[1844-1900]; Sigmund Freud [1856-1939]

KeyI

deas:o Romantic Movement is a reaction to the dry Rationalism of the Enlightenment. It promotes

feelings, love of nature and the passions. Predecessor of Green Movement/ Earth huggers

o Schopenhauer sees the world as driven by a purposeless indifferent Will of Nature (no benignGod exists)

o Nietzsche rejects Christianity as the religion of the bourgeois loser, declares the death ofGod and advocates the Will to Power and the bermensch (Superior Hero types)

o Freud scientifically unleashes the unconscious, highlighting its darker passions as key to life

Atheistic worship of the individual will. Justification for release of all the passions (even thebasest). Deterministic world-view. Encourages Emotions and Fideism in Christianity.

Arthur Schopenhauer Friedrich Nietzsche Sigmund Freud


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An Historical Banquet of Secular Ideas XII

Desserts & Coffee

P

ostmodernity and Relativism

Existentialism & DeconstructionismKey thinkers: Sren Kierkegaard[1813-1855]; J-P Sartre[1905-1980]; J Derrida [1930-2004]

KeyIdeas:o

Angry reaction against 19th

Century optimisticP

ositivism, especially in wake of 1st

World War

o Existentialism: Human life is meaningless/absurd, leading either to irrational abandon toChristian faith (Kierkegaard) or to nihilism (Sartres nausea)

o Impossibility of knowing Objective Truththere are as many truths as there are people(Absolute Relativism). Analytical philosophy dismantles Natural Law (so-called NaturalisticFallacy : one cannot get an ought from an is). Theological language is meaningless

o Deconstructionism (Derrida): the meaning of human language itself must be de-constructed.Meaning is not what the common sense of a statement may implies

Suicide of the Western mind: the Final Solution! Implosion of meaning and rationality, leadingto pedantic analytical gymnastics and reduction of human life to Homo Absurdus

Sren Kierkegaard Jean Paul Sartre Jacques Derrida


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Two Anthropologies

1. Holistic view of Man/Unity ofBody & Soul2. Christ-centred individual conscience

informs moral action

3. Morality stems from God, in the individualheart guided by informed conscience

4. God-filled material and spiritual Universe5. Realist optimism/Culture of Life

6. Recognises Sin in Man; begs for GodsGrace and forgiveness

7. Utter freedom in Gods Love

8. High self-esteem from knowing Gods Love

9. Free will pursues the Virtues

10. Worships God alone

Life has purpose & direction, namely Man ismade to know & love God. Life is teleological

1. Truncated view of Man/Dichotomy Mind-Body/Fragmentation (Man as Salami)

2. Ego-centred Will informs moral decisions3. Morality is decided upon by ego, powerful

lites, majority vote, the State4. Only material Universe. No God

5. Cynical utilitarian pragmatism/Culture ofDeath

6. No Sin, only lifestyle choices7. Slavery to passions, material objects, idols8. Low self-esteem due to forms of slavery

above

9. Enslaved ego pursues the Vices10. Worships Science, Technology, Power,

Material Wealth, Human Idols (celebrities)Ultimately Life is purposeless, leading to eitherbravado/hyper-activism or despair

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Two Anthropologies

God

Community of Believers Scatter of Atomistic Egos


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FurtherReading

o Philip Trower. Turmoil and Truth - The Historical Roots of the Modern Crisis in theCatholic Church

o Philip Trower. The Catholic Church and the Counter-Faith - a Study of the Roots ofModern Secularism, Relativism and de-Christianisation

o Father Alban McCoy, OFM Conv. An IntelligentPersons guide to Christian ethics

o Father Thomas Crean, OP. A Catholic replies to Professor Dawkins

o Donald De Marco & Benjamin Wiker. Architects of the Culture of Death

a tale of two anthropologies

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