Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Weston's Pluralistic Philosophy
In C. S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Plane, Weston attempts to shift Ransom's worldview. He tells Ransom that his beliefs are "insufferably narrow and individualistic" (p. 27). Weston is arguing from a pluralistic perspective. He wants to open up Ransom to everything and anything. For years philosophers have been saying the same thing about Christianity, especially Western Christian thought. To be fair, much of the overly-analytic form of Western Christianity is birthed out of the Enlightenment and has grossly under-examined the mysticism of the Christian religion. This, however, does not allow one to do or believe anything he or she sees fit (Rom. 7). Friedrich Nietzsche, although brilliant, is an example of this extremely corrupt perspective. He says why limit the truths of reality? He thinks we can make as many truths as we allows ourselves, but don't commit to one! Because this will keep you from discovering truth. What Nietzsche fails to recognize is that we cannot escape the master-slave dialectic. As humans we are worshippers of things, people, places. We MUST worship something. So, to be open to anything, is to worship everything. I can think of nothing more enslaving than that. Nietzsche and Weston want freedom via "will to power," however, they are both chasing a ghost, something unattainable by mere human reason. Once again, this is not to say we shouldn't be open to mystery. Much of Christianity is a mystery: the trinity, the incarnation, divine wrath, etc. However, this does not excuse us to follow whatever we want in the name of mystery or meaning.
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