Dear Joseph,
Am 13.09.23 um 20:10 schrieb Joseph Rabie:
I have doubts whether a group of academics in a given university forms
a sufficiently heterogenous sample for drawing general conclusions.
I fully agree. The example does not justify any general conclusions for
sure. And there are certainly people who feel a need in spiritual
content for their lives. This also does not allow the general conclusion
that all people are in need for some spirituality, religion or the like.
So what should we do? As far as I see it's a good idea to let everybody
take a personal decision. A perspective, that renders general arguments
that are based on some sort of spirituality and include consequences for
others useless. In short: Spirituality justifies nothing. In this
respect, there is still some room for improvement in today's world,
isn't it?
I agree with you. The sociologist Maurice Halbwachs spoke of how different
groups (professions, for example) constitute a particular “world”, which has
its particular knowledge, complicity, habitus... and truths.
Interesting. I got the list of scientific, political, religious etc.
truth spheres from Max Weber and connected it with the idea of different
language cultures from Wilhelm von Humboldt. Didn't know that Halbwachs
argued this too (only read his book on memory). Thank's for the hint!
Can you give me a hint in which of his writings I can find it?
In this way, the idea that there are subjective truths appears to not
contradict the idea that a truth must necessarily be absolute and objective. I
do hesitate, though, because some truths (in physics, for example) do equate to
objective facts.
Can a truth be objective and subjective at the same time? Sounds like a
contradiction, but I think it's possible. With physics as an example: In
this case, the truth does equate to objective facts, but the meaning of
"objective" does not include the claim that it will be true tomorrow.
Even physicists changed their idea of truth occasionally. From an
educational point of view, I would argue that the term "truth" might be
considered as true today - but it needs to be passed on from older to
younger people in time. And in this process, people might change the
idea of truth.
I disagree with this. What you write appears to compartmentalise, in
the way that academia compartmentalises disciplines. For me politics,
religion, art and all other things have everything to do with
everything, and a pluridisciplinary approach is essential.
Indeed. A pluridisciplinary approach is a good idea as far as I see. And
if all things have everything to to with everything, that's a
monodisciplinary perspective. But that's challenging if you consider a
pluridisciplinary perspective as relevant. I would really like to learn
how you integrate a monodisciplinary and a pluridisciplinary perspective
(same question as " Thus I wonder how you think true criticism and
unified truth together?"). Can you give me a hint on that?
Apart from that, I personally find the idea that the meaning of
existence lies in transmission of whatever kind profoundly nihilistic.
It corresponds to the evolutionary idea (that I have come across here
and there) that a species’s ultimate purpose is to assure its
perennity through reproduction. In other words, its meaning comes from
mothering the following generation, and beyond guaranteeing that, it
does not live for itself. And so on, all the way down the line. I find
this sort of utilitarianism profoundly depressing, the antithesis of
the spiritual need I believe exists in many of us.
For some people, spirituality certainly works. I have to admit - I'm to
lazy for it. I've learned that most spiritual ideas are connected with
lots of regulations. Thinking, nutrition, partnership, and the like -
all regulated. And since I've not grown up with the protestant ethic of
hard work, that's to much for me. I thus decided to change my
understanding of "depressing" instead. Solved the problem for me - maybe
since I have no idea what "spiritual needs" might actually be. Never
felt something like that. But others say they do. Personally, I enjoy
this heterogeneity.
--
Liebe Grüße,
Christian Swertz
https://www.swertz.at
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