I had a brief chat with you last nite, Kuresu. Allow me to elaborate a bit on certain differences in philosophical worldviews.
As a Christian, I have some definite worldviews which I espouse. Some of them are written in my heart, some of them are ones that I chose for the moment but am not unable to change from, and some of them are just stuff that I have learned. Lets discuss them.
I had to take a stand on Biblical literalism---in regards to ideas such as original sin, purpose and destiny of ones life, the reality or symbolism of Christ, and what God expects out of me on a day 2 day. [b]Conclusion[b]: I don't believe that Biblical philosophy is word for word literal. I don't believe that the book is without error in regards to absolute accuracy. I DO believe that Jesus Christ is real in not only a symbolic sense (as in a character in a really deep parable) but that Christ is the character behind the book. I don't want to drag us too far off topic, but you have to understand that its not a matter of criticizing Adam Smith without a fair trial so much as it is a matter of critisizing humanity for being full of knowledge yet empty of truth. Your quote says that all a mans knowledge comes from his experiences. I would argue that some knowledge comes from a divine spark of impartation, but I would be unable to prove it to you.
As I told prophex when explaining to him why I promoted this post, I assumed that he was not directly blaiming Adam Smith for the ills of modern society so much as he was blaiming modern society for being so darn naive of how unspiritual we really are as a people.
It may be true that we have invented many things that have improved our lifespans of 80-90 years on Earth, but what have we done to get to reconcile ourselves with the Creator?
Lets toss in another angle.
Lets say that you are non-religious. Explain to me then how society is progressing in terms of our purpose, our morality, and our destiny?
We dont have Adam Smith to thank for our inadequacies. We have ourselves to thank. (pessemistic view)
So be an optimist! How are we as a society getting any better? Do we have fewer wars or more wars?
Do we exploit other humans any less than we used to or is it at least the same?
Capitalism may be the best system that we have or it may not. I certainly don't want to share my money with the third world! Is it I who is the hypocrite? (I know that im selfish)
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