"Again, if we are to have enough solidarity to face down such power as threatens us today and our children’s futures tomorrow, we must be more ecumenical."
Absolutely agree. I have been trying to cultivate civil debate under a general rubric of cooperation. The "narcissism of small differences" ends up being a perennial problem, but people of goodwill, with a focus on a larger objective, must do our best!
At the heart of Natural law is a simple/ complexity. In order to thrive life seeks to reverse entropy, which is the source of Positive Sum outcomes. But always there is the Yin of entropy and decay which is also necessary. We have to understand the Primacy within Nature to understand Natural Law.
Interesting. Complexity is certainly an important consideration. The question is: How--in your opinion, anyway--do we connect complexity (a set of facts) to morality (a set of values) that will give us some set of prohibitions on power and the contours of rights? Can we take care not to derive values from facts?
No, I don't "...take care not to derive values from facts." I do understand my values by understanding the facts of my biology. I am human. Humans are unique in their ability to survive differently from other life with their ability to think, to conceive. We are not equipped to survive without our mind. We can't compete with other animals, mindlessly. We can't live, by/on instinct alone. We need our superior cognitive powers all our lives, developing them constantly. We cannot evolve as a species without passing along our intellectual progress. One life is too short. We progress by building on past knowledge.
The point is you can’t derive values from facts, in the Humean sense. No one is arguing one shouldn’t use his cognitive faculties to survive. That’s a completely different claim and unrelated.
@brendangrahamdempsey here on Substack (can also introduce you on Facebook) would be a great person to ask this question. He’s devoted his academic career to integrating complexity science, emergence, western philosophy, and religion
Excellent ruminations Max! Permission to send this article to Fr Stephen for his reply? Should be most interesting?!?
Reformulations of Natural Law by various Secularism(s) is, of course, anything but new. Been goin on for a few centuries [Nat-Law without the Law-giver]. The large Burkian/Christian in me wants to herald, yet again, the critical importance of the "Permanent Things"...Chesterton's quip of "giving a vote to our wise ancestors"! :-) Here's an imperfect but "loaded-by-links" helpful example of it's critique for everyone's enjoyment!
I like brevity in my comments, so keep that in mind. I tend towards Zen and simplicity. The "how" is complex no doubt and I'd be a fool to claim to know the answer. I'm just pointing out that at the heart of the complexity is a simple Primacy to being. If we can understand that Primal then we can understand the complex. It is my quest to understand nature and it's 'laws', so far I've found this to be True.
"Again, if we are to have enough solidarity to face down such power as threatens us today and our children’s futures tomorrow, we must be more ecumenical."
Absolutely agree. I have been trying to cultivate civil debate under a general rubric of cooperation. The "narcissism of small differences" ends up being a perennial problem, but people of goodwill, with a focus on a larger objective, must do our best!
Amen.
At the heart of Natural law is a simple/ complexity. In order to thrive life seeks to reverse entropy, which is the source of Positive Sum outcomes. But always there is the Yin of entropy and decay which is also necessary. We have to understand the Primacy within Nature to understand Natural Law.
Interesting. Complexity is certainly an important consideration. The question is: How--in your opinion, anyway--do we connect complexity (a set of facts) to morality (a set of values) that will give us some set of prohibitions on power and the contours of rights? Can we take care not to derive values from facts?
No, I don't "...take care not to derive values from facts." I do understand my values by understanding the facts of my biology. I am human. Humans are unique in their ability to survive differently from other life with their ability to think, to conceive. We are not equipped to survive without our mind. We can't compete with other animals, mindlessly. We can't live, by/on instinct alone. We need our superior cognitive powers all our lives, developing them constantly. We cannot evolve as a species without passing along our intellectual progress. One life is too short. We progress by building on past knowledge.
The point is you can’t derive values from facts, in the Humean sense. No one is arguing one shouldn’t use his cognitive faculties to survive. That’s a completely different claim and unrelated.
@brendangrahamdempsey here on Substack (can also introduce you on Facebook) would be a great person to ask this question. He’s devoted his academic career to integrating complexity science, emergence, western philosophy, and religion
I know BGD and we're connected. We overlap in the metamodernism community and he's a bright one. Greetings!
Excellent ruminations Max! Permission to send this article to Fr Stephen for his reply? Should be most interesting?!?
Reformulations of Natural Law by various Secularism(s) is, of course, anything but new. Been goin on for a few centuries [Nat-Law without the Law-giver]. The large Burkian/Christian in me wants to herald, yet again, the critical importance of the "Permanent Things"...Chesterton's quip of "giving a vote to our wise ancestors"! :-) Here's an imperfect but "loaded-by-links" helpful example of it's critique for everyone's enjoyment!
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/the-theological-roots-of-the-secular-world-order/
I like brevity in my comments, so keep that in mind. I tend towards Zen and simplicity. The "how" is complex no doubt and I'd be a fool to claim to know the answer. I'm just pointing out that at the heart of the complexity is a simple Primacy to being. If we can understand that Primal then we can understand the complex. It is my quest to understand nature and it's 'laws', so far I've found this to be True.