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Position:Home>Philosophy> Am I right in connecting these ideas?Question: Am I right in connecting these ideas!? Plato's Theory of Ideas, Christianity, and Kant
They all seem to promote the belief that the transcendant (or noumenal or metaphysical) is more important than the immanent (or phenomenal or physical)!. This leads to a rejection of 'worldy' pleasures and a 'denial of the will to live'!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Precisely!. When Aristotle was introduced into Christianity by Aquinas, they took Aristotle to heart because he said our happiness (on this earth) was our first motivation!. Within a year, the first mountain being climbed JUST BECAUSE IT WAS THERE was recorded!. It took the general population much longer to get it into their middle-ages heads, but the result was called The Enlightenment!. Happiness ON EARTH was possible for the first time to the decendents of the madman Abraham!. But after the fall of Aristotelean cosmology (at the trial of Galileo) Plato began raising his ugly head again!. Now we are back to thinking men are a plague on the face of the earth!. Actually we never thought that until recently, but it comes from Plato, and its a cousin to the lack of fun that men had before Aristotle!.Www@QuestionHome@Com In various ways, yes!. However, there are lines in each of the three which encourage a more enlightened mastery of "living!." E!.g!., Plotinus notes One Mind Soul-individuation as true Life; Christians "living in the world but not of it" are another example of "correct living and energy-sowing!." The basic contrast you are noting is "will to live" as "unconditioned" or "uninformed" by the "higher Life" or "Nous!." It is the distinction between God and Godless, or Man informed by divine Law, and man as grown-up germ!. To a certain extent, Nietzsche, Sartre, and such follow or preach the latter!. However, "Life" is affirmed by the Godly, simply not the kind of "life" that the Godless hold to be the sole reality: i!.e!., man as supervenient, grown-up germ!. So, it is incorrect to overgeneralize the "Godly" as "denying life;" they, at least in certain teachings, claim that they are affirming Life ever-lasting, rather than mere sensate and indiscriminate pleasure!. Modern examples of the latter: "The Great Divorce," C!. S!. Lewis; "The Path of the Higher Self," Mark Prophet; "Expecting Adam," Martha Beck!.Www@QuestionHome@Com the will to live has nothing to do with pleasure its not logical or rational its an instinctWww@QuestionHome@Com do you stop going to the movies because you like chocolate ice-cream more!?Www@QuestionHome@Com What a load of tommyrot!. Take up jogging!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |