[lit-ideas] Re: Univocal philosophy as the value of transcendental claims?
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 6 Jan 2009 07:33:12 +0900
On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 11:30 AM, Phil Enns <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Where I would differ from Kant and Habermas is in suggesting that such
> moral prohibitions, at some point, require a religious dimension.
I'm inclined to agree. My starting point, however, is Clifford Geertz's
essay, "Religion as a Cultural System," in which Geertz portrays religion as
a system of "models of" (cosmological descriptions) and "models for"
(prescriptions for proper action) fused in symbols that evoke enduring moods
and motivations.
In the ideal type of full and undisturbed faith appear inextricably
entwined, the yin and yang of a seamless whole. To a believer of this type
the world will, indeed, appear to be one in which, speaking of any act in
question,
_This_ particular act is something _we_ think is always wrong, no
> matter who does it, no matter where it is done, and no matter why it
> is done. Even if _this_ is done by someone from a different culture
> on the other side of the world, it is still wrong. The force of the
> assertion lies in _our_ inability to see _this_ action as being
> anything other than wrong.
Difficulties emerge when the models of and models for fall apart. Good
examples include the separation of Biblical morality from Biblical
cosmology following the Enlightenment and emergence of competing scientific
accounts of the way in which the world and universe work. Another is the
collapse of the traditional Chinese worldview in which Confucian ethics were
rooted, described by Joseph Levenson in his trilogy, Confucian China and Its
Modern Fate. The problem of evil, especially in situations in which bad
things happen to good people, is a less historic but more pervasive occasion
in everyday lives.
Our modern awareness of multiple cosmologies and multiple moralities
specific to particular times and places drives the wedge deeper, making it
possible to question if any action, however awful it seems from our own
perspective, is purely and simply wrong. The inevitable first response to
any such assertion is, "Says who?"
John
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
jlm@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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