This is my opinion--I think it depends on the person. Some people are generally content to do what makes them feel good; others have a drive to search for wisdom, the good, the true and the beautiful. I myself don't think that God is obsolete in any sense of the word, and that science only brings us a view we hadn't seen before. I think that most people have a connection with nature, and in their quiet moments-- watching the clouds being blown by the winds, hearing the bird song in the morning, looking into the eyes of a child, feeling the love and beauty of the moment which things are in a class not connected with things like "mind-numbing entertainment"--there's no comparison, really. And I think everyone feels there's something more to life than what he/she might commonly experience--but for myself, I'm not able to define it except to say that I don't know everything.
And, maybe the leisure and the lazy moments in our lives make possible the previously unseen to come into view for us.
The increase in leisure and health brought about by our increasing mastery over Nature has not resulted, as the ancient sages supposed, in an increase in wisdom and the contemplation of the good, the true, and the beautiful. Instead, our technology-based leisure is more likely to result in quiet hedonism, consumerism, and mind-numbing mass entertainment.
Definition: hedonism - an ethical system that evaluates the pursuit of pleasure as the highest good
Although I want to disagree, I must agree that we as human beings, do tend to lazily move ourselves toward leisure, rather than loftier pursuits such as wisdom, the good, the true, and the beautiful.
"Does Science Create or Enable Hedonism?"
1 Comment -
This is my opinion--I think it depends on the person. Some people are generally content to do what makes them feel good; others have a drive to search for wisdom, the good, the true and the beautiful. I myself don't think that God is obsolete in any sense of the word, and that science only brings us a view we hadn't seen before. I think that most people have a connection with nature, and in their quiet moments-- watching the clouds being blown by the winds, hearing the bird song in the morning, looking into the eyes of a child, feeling the love and beauty of the moment which things are in a class not connected with things like "mind-numbing entertainment"--there's no comparison, really. And I think everyone feels there's something more to life than what he/she might commonly experience--but for myself, I'm not able to define it except to say that I don't know everything.
And, maybe the leisure and the lazy moments in our lives make possible the previously unseen to come into view for us.
May 20, 2008 at 6:00 PM