Alan Keyes
Scientism: More dehumanizing than racism?
By Alan Keyes
People who profess to revere the Constitution really ought to spend time thinking through the significance of its provisions. They should read through and revisit occasionally the record of the debates at the Constitutional Convention. They should evaluate the arguments that were made – to think about how and whether those arguments continue to make sense in light of our present circumstances. I can understand that Marxist ideologues regard the Constitution as an obsolete superstructure, already hollowed out by the dialectical movement of history, their immanent and accidental God, for this is a religious tenet of their time-bound and materialistic faith.
But people who profess to be "conservatives" – which I take to mean that they believe in preserving a form of government consistent with America's founding premises of right – cannot reasonably adhere to this faith, as a matter of principle. The Constitution's provisional arrangements make no sense at all except in light of logical reasoning that begins from the postulate of a transcendent, self-sufficient source of information, at once all powerful and intelligent, whose activity structures the existence of all things, in view of an intentional purpose. Results that, in and of themselves, appear to be fortuitous are in fact the result of these realities. But from the perspective of the transcendent, self-sufficient, intelligent, and powerful source of the activity that informs their existence, such results manifest a consistent pattern, which can only be seen and understood in view of their consequential relationship to that intelligent and powerful resource.
When it comes to human affairs (human things), this is the view that makes sense of the universe in empirical terms. It is also the view in which the Constitution's provisional arrangements make sense. For there can be no orderly understanding of the universe, nor any orderly government of human affairs, without reference to the Creator, God. Try as they might, people who pretend that empirical science dispenses with God can sustain the pretense only so long as they are dealing with people unused to conceptual thinking. Such thinking demands what Immanuel Kant called "discursive (logical) clearness." People used to it remain undisturbed by the sophistry of the famous physicist who said, "The Universe Created itself," in answer to the question "But where did its power to do that come from?"
It doesn't matter a bit whether this or that individual "believes in God." Human understanding cannot proceed without taking the concept of God (which is to say a transcendent, self-sufficient source of information, at once all-powerful and intelligent) for granted.The history-worshiping ideologues mentioned above, who pretend to dispense with reference to God, get away with it only because so many people are afraid to demand "discursive (logical) clearness" when it comes to the meaning of "history." The ancient Athenians openly maintained their "temple to the Unknown God." Since the ideologues who espouse scientific materialism contend that their thinking can explain everything without reference to God, they carefully dress their worship of history in camouflage netting. They pretend that their reliance on historical "data" differs not at all from the empirical scientists' direct observation of things.
But what empirical scientists would take their study of seismology as the basis for an indignant manifesto exhorting one tectonic plate to "seize the day" and smash the power exerted by the other? Something like that may happen, but empirical science awaits the result, content to look for nothing but "what happens." It has no prejudicial intention, tempting it to appraise "what happens" in terms of some outcome extraneous to the matter – i.e., to material objects and energetic processes that simply are what they are.
People who pretend that human affairs can be treated thus "scientifically" are, as a matter of fact, treating human beings as nothing more than meaningless, lifeless things. They "dehumanize" us, in a thoroughly degrading way. Though some people either ignore or are unaware of it, this dehumanization of human affairs and communities, undeservedly cloaking itself in the authority of empirical science, lends a tinge of legitimacy to the ideologies of racism, heedless passion, and ambition that presently predominate among those I call the "elitist faction" – not just in the United States, but throughout the world.
Whatever its faults, the logic of the Constitution of the United States embraces the concept of God's benevolent will and the substantiating purpose it represents for humanity. Though framed in language intended to offer no excuse for sectarian opposition and bigotry, the statement of its premises, summarized in the American Declaration of Independence, unequivocally relies on God, on His authority and His truth. However, it also reflects the inoffensive (to God) sophistication St. Paul exemplifies as he speaks to the worldly understanding of the Athenians. He takes the kernel of truth present in all human understanding (precisely because our way of thinking must take someone like God for granted), and draws upon it, in order to pull people of goodwill in his audience toward the truth God means for him to share with them.
Instead of letting ourselves be drawn into battles maliciously fomented to distract us from the destruction of our nation's special character, the people of the United States must attend to the deep threat that this distraction is made to serve. The rock upon which the founders laid the strong foundation of our self-government is being bathed, as it were, in the acid of confusion. So, the basis for our identity as a people is headed toward dissolution. On one side and the other of our sham political divide, self-serving "leaders" (in the sense of Judas goats) are helping to herd our nation toward shearing and/or slaughter. Among those who profess to be the apostles of our liberty, where is "the Rock," by God recovered from denial, who, instead, will urge us to lead the way, back toward the right reason of our existence as a people – which is, to prove our liberty by doing right, according to God's purpose, not just for ourselves, but for the whole He made us to be careful of and represent?
August 29, 2017
People who profess to revere the Constitution really ought to spend time thinking through the significance of its provisions. They should read through and revisit occasionally the record of the debates at the Constitutional Convention. They should evaluate the arguments that were made – to think about how and whether those arguments continue to make sense in light of our present circumstances. I can understand that Marxist ideologues regard the Constitution as an obsolete superstructure, already hollowed out by the dialectical movement of history, their immanent and accidental God, for this is a religious tenet of their time-bound and materialistic faith.
But people who profess to be "conservatives" – which I take to mean that they believe in preserving a form of government consistent with America's founding premises of right – cannot reasonably adhere to this faith, as a matter of principle. The Constitution's provisional arrangements make no sense at all except in light of logical reasoning that begins from the postulate of a transcendent, self-sufficient source of information, at once all powerful and intelligent, whose activity structures the existence of all things, in view of an intentional purpose. Results that, in and of themselves, appear to be fortuitous are in fact the result of these realities. But from the perspective of the transcendent, self-sufficient, intelligent, and powerful source of the activity that informs their existence, such results manifest a consistent pattern, which can only be seen and understood in view of their consequential relationship to that intelligent and powerful resource.
When it comes to human affairs (human things), this is the view that makes sense of the universe in empirical terms. It is also the view in which the Constitution's provisional arrangements make sense. For there can be no orderly understanding of the universe, nor any orderly government of human affairs, without reference to the Creator, God. Try as they might, people who pretend that empirical science dispenses with God can sustain the pretense only so long as they are dealing with people unused to conceptual thinking. Such thinking demands what Immanuel Kant called "discursive (logical) clearness." People used to it remain undisturbed by the sophistry of the famous physicist who said, "The Universe Created itself," in answer to the question "But where did its power to do that come from?"
It doesn't matter a bit whether this or that individual "believes in God." Human understanding cannot proceed without taking the concept of God (which is to say a transcendent, self-sufficient source of information, at once all-powerful and intelligent) for granted.The history-worshiping ideologues mentioned above, who pretend to dispense with reference to God, get away with it only because so many people are afraid to demand "discursive (logical) clearness" when it comes to the meaning of "history." The ancient Athenians openly maintained their "temple to the Unknown God." Since the ideologues who espouse scientific materialism contend that their thinking can explain everything without reference to God, they carefully dress their worship of history in camouflage netting. They pretend that their reliance on historical "data" differs not at all from the empirical scientists' direct observation of things.
But what empirical scientists would take their study of seismology as the basis for an indignant manifesto exhorting one tectonic plate to "seize the day" and smash the power exerted by the other? Something like that may happen, but empirical science awaits the result, content to look for nothing but "what happens." It has no prejudicial intention, tempting it to appraise "what happens" in terms of some outcome extraneous to the matter – i.e., to material objects and energetic processes that simply are what they are.
People who pretend that human affairs can be treated thus "scientifically" are, as a matter of fact, treating human beings as nothing more than meaningless, lifeless things. They "dehumanize" us, in a thoroughly degrading way. Though some people either ignore or are unaware of it, this dehumanization of human affairs and communities, undeservedly cloaking itself in the authority of empirical science, lends a tinge of legitimacy to the ideologies of racism, heedless passion, and ambition that presently predominate among those I call the "elitist faction" – not just in the United States, but throughout the world.
Whatever its faults, the logic of the Constitution of the United States embraces the concept of God's benevolent will and the substantiating purpose it represents for humanity. Though framed in language intended to offer no excuse for sectarian opposition and bigotry, the statement of its premises, summarized in the American Declaration of Independence, unequivocally relies on God, on His authority and His truth. However, it also reflects the inoffensive (to God) sophistication St. Paul exemplifies as he speaks to the worldly understanding of the Athenians. He takes the kernel of truth present in all human understanding (precisely because our way of thinking must take someone like God for granted), and draws upon it, in order to pull people of goodwill in his audience toward the truth God means for him to share with them.
Instead of letting ourselves be drawn into battles maliciously fomented to distract us from the destruction of our nation's special character, the people of the United States must attend to the deep threat that this distraction is made to serve. The rock upon which the founders laid the strong foundation of our self-government is being bathed, as it were, in the acid of confusion. So, the basis for our identity as a people is headed toward dissolution. On one side and the other of our sham political divide, self-serving "leaders" (in the sense of Judas goats) are helping to herd our nation toward shearing and/or slaughter. Among those who profess to be the apostles of our liberty, where is "the Rock," by God recovered from denial, who, instead, will urge us to lead the way, back toward the right reason of our existence as a people – which is, to prove our liberty by doing right, according to God's purpose, not just for ourselves, but for the whole He made us to be careful of and represent?
To see more articles by Dr. Keyes, visit his blog at LoyalToLiberty.com and his commentary at WND.com and BarbWire.com.
© Alan KeyesThe views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
