Quote:
There is another form of temptation, even more fraught with danger. This is the disease of curiosity... It is this which drives us to try and discover the secrets of nature, those secrets which are beyond our understanding, which will avail us nothing and which man should not wish to learn.
Augustine. Late 4th/Early 5th Century AD.
That says volumes about the attitude of the Early Church to the acquisition of knowledge (or the virtue of ignorance). How much has changed I wonder in the 1500 years since.....
About Me
- CyberKitten
- I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.
10 comments:
Those words--the secrets of nature, those secrets which are beyond our understanding, which will avail us nothing and which man should not wish to learn--seem inherently harmful and religious in nature.
There was a period where the church had libraries and was the repository of knowledge--which it would hoard for the sake of power and control. The loss of centralized power when everyone has access to knowledge is a huge part of the church's psychology now.
Knowledge is Power. When you control the Knowledge you hold all the Power.
I'm seeing different things at work here and I'll apologize in advance because I'm tired and might not connect all the dots well.
Whereas once the Church withheld knowledge to secure it's power, now knowledge is readily available. But now, "Knowledge" is open to interpretation. Churches are reasserting their power based on particular interpretations of the knowledge out there. Look at the split on evolution and intelligent design.
We (at least here in the U.S.) are very lazy and apathetic where knowledge is concerned. Just package it all up for us, nice and neat. Dumb it down and put it into 30 second soundbytes we can understand. Make it catchy so we can remember it. Don't ask us to think, reason or question the information presented to us. The "Authority" has already done that for us, for our own collective good.
This is why our governments run amok and we never see it coming. It's because we don't pay attention and then what little attention we pay, is limited by the government withholding critical information we need to make reasoned decisions or manipulating that information. A number of evangelical churches are doing the same thing. Does any of this make sense or do I need to seek out caffeine. It's hard to think critically when we're encouraged not to on a daily basis.
Ahhh Augustine. A man so wrapped up in his own issues and guilt he chose to ruin our lives as well...
I don't think anything should be categorized as "should not wish to learn." Willfull ignorance and lack of intellectual curiosity -- what a thing to aspire to...
Cyberkitten, you are now linked to my blog.
Ajaz
V V said: Does any of this make sense or do I need to seek out caffeine. It's hard to think critically when we're encouraged not to on a daily basis.
Yup. Made sense to me - then again I'm pretty wasted too... [grin].
It's funny the attitude Americans seem to have to knowledge & intellectuals. In the UK we're somewhat less hostile to thought. Of course on Continental Europe they just *love* intellectuals - especially in France & Germany. I understand that Susan Jacoby has just published a book on this very issue.
laura said: Ahhh Augustine. A man so wrapped up in his own issues and guilt he chose to ruin our lives as well...
[laughs] *Very* true - what I know of him. I have one of his books somewhere....
laura said: I don't think anything should be categorized as "should not wish to learn." Willfull ignorance and lack of intellectual curiosity -- what a thing to aspire to...
*Exactly* why I could never 'buy into' this sort of thing. Not asking awkward questions would be like me chosing not to breath!
Ajaz Haque said: Cyberkitten, you are now linked to my blog.
Thanks. I hope you find things you like here... Welcome.
Forget the church ... lack of intellectual curiousity is the calling card of our current administration. Intellectuals are considered effete and anti-intellectualism is worn as a badge of honor. Our president can't seem to string a single cogent sentence together and seems honored to be perceived as a moron.
Hopefully the war on science and thinking is soon to come to an end.
Hey, this all goes back to the original war on knowledge. It was eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge (and wanting to do so) that was the original sin. So the whole ignorance is bliss/knowledge is sin position has been around for a long, long time. Not something to be proud of, but definitely there. Right up there with the "atheists in foxholes" speciousness and idiocy, but I'll stop now.
dbackdad said: lack of intellectual curiousity is the calling card of our current administration.
Unfortunately I don't think its just the Republicans - though they may be particularly anti-intellectual. It saddly appears to be part of the American culture. Not exactly sure why that would be though nor how long things have been like that.
dbackdad said: Hopefully the war on science and thinking is soon to come to an end.
One can but hope - but if it doesn't change soon there could be troubled times ahead for your country.
FW said: Hey, this all goes back to the original war on knowledge. It was eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge (and wanting to do so) that was the original sin.
Indeed it does. Eve has been a heroine of mine for some time [laughs]
FW said: Not something to be proud of, but definitely there. Right up there with the "atheists in foxholes" speciousness and idiocy, but I'll stop now.
Did you see my post of Feb 15th? It's on that very subject. Oh, and any time you want to vent you know the place to do it - apart from your *own* Blog of course [laughs].
Nice to 'see' you here FW. I know how busy you are so your comments are doubly appreciated. Hope you & the foil-kids are fine & healthy..
CK said: "Unfortunately I don't think its just the Republicans." - It may not be, but I don't believe it's representative of the vast majority of Democrats. By that, I mean the science and knowledge deniers are almost exclusively religious (evolution), hard-core conservatives (global warming, environment) or the non-political (general apathy about anything).
Democrats will almost always look for the logical or scientific answer, as opposed to the mythical.
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