Jud once produced the following red herring:
Anselm was wrong, because he supposed all people have the idea of God, but
it is not so: not all of them have it.
Why is it a red herring?
Year 5000. Humanity is all gone materialistic, they have all their dreams
fulfilled through science and social engineering. Words as "being", "God",
"thing", "awareness", etc., no longer exist; they have been long ago erased
from all dictionaries, because they were useless rubbish.
Suddenly, one of them has a vision of God. He tells them: "I saw God, He
exists!" Could they disprove that God exists? No, because they do not know
that word. So, in order for them to disprove his vision, they all or some of
them have to learn the new word, "God", employ it and begin anew with the
questions pertaining to metaphysics. In fact, they would be not more
advanced, but more retarded. All their devices which ensured for their high
living standard were in fact turning them into metaphysical retards.
Tudor Georgescu
http://intellect-club.nl.eu.org
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---
Anselm was wrong, because he supposed all people have the idea of God, but
it is not so: not all of them have it.
Why is it a red herring?
Year 5000. Humanity is all gone materialistic, they have all their dreams
fulfilled through science and social engineering. Words as "being", "God",
"thing", "awareness", etc., no longer exist; they have been long ago erased
from all dictionaries, because they were useless rubbish.
Suddenly, one of them has a vision of God. He tells them: "I saw God, He
exists!" Could they disprove that God exists? No, because they do not know
that word. So, in order for them to disprove his vision, they all or some of
them have to learn the new word, "God", employ it and begin anew with the
questions pertaining to metaphysics. In fact, they would be not more
advanced, but more retarded. All their devices which ensured for their high
living standard were in fact turning them into metaphysical retards.
Tudor Georgescu
http://intellect-club.nl.eu.org
--- from list heidegger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---