The State of Modern Philosophy
a Brief Overview of the Devolution into the
Absurd
Richard Kaleb Hammond
In modern
times, the majority of Western people's worldview is based on,
or influenced by, a philosophy of modernism deriving from the
thought of different philosophers and movements begun in the
Renaissance, primarily with the philosopher Francis Bacon, and
developed over time with philosophers such as Kant, Nietzsche,
Karl Popper, and many others . They began and developed a
worldview founded in a sense of atheism - or, rather, a type of
humanism, replacing God with man. Though some early modernist
philosophers had some form of belief in God, as Galileo and the
American Founding Fathers did, it was still a worldview centered
on man, with God as a removed entity - i.e., deism, with God
being detached from the world and simply establishing its
fundamental scientific reality. Gradually, the philosophy of
modernism has become increasingly humanistic in the sense I have
defined, relegating God to the point of non-existence.
In the Renaissance, several changes occurred that inspired this
philosophical change from the scholastic Catholic worldview of
the Middle Ages, which was based primarily on ancient Greek and
Roman philosophy in combination with Christian faith. As the
Black Plague ended, commerce grew heavily, with merchants even
replacing nobles as the leaders of nations. This increase in
money created a mindset focused on man and nature, rather than
God. Art expressed this philosophical change, and the beginning
of modern science, politics and economics drove it. Another
development of the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation,
though not usually thought of as a Renaissance-inspired movement
indeed was. The Reformation was inspired by a sense of
nationalism and rebellion against religious authority, best
expressed by Luther and Anglicanism, as well as a puritanist
moralism expressed by Calvin that also contributed to future
modernistic philosophies.
Over time, the puritan moralism evolved into the "problem of
evil", which atheists used and continue to use to dispute God's
existence by citing the existence of evil, imperfection and
suffering in the world that God does not repair instantaneously
as evidence of His impotence and/or lack of benevolence, and
thus nonexistence. They also believed that due to the many evils
Christian individuals had done over the centuries, it was
morally "better" for a society to lack religious belief, again
another philosophy of modernism that lives strongly today. Early
on, beginning with Bacon, modernist philosophers believed that
humanity has the inherent capacity and in a sense destiny for
success in all his endeavors. Different thinkers proposed
different methods for the realization of this success. Bacon
believed science would certainly bring about a perfect world if
we would only hope in human scientific progress, placing our
faith in it rather than God. And, political philosophers, from
Machiavelli to the Communist theorists, believed that through
the removal of economic and political "tyrannies" such as class
structure, people would automatically be good and motivated
towards success, thus denying the free will of man to choose
good or evil regardless of his situation. This removal of God
and objective morality led to the horrors of 20th century
Communist and Fascist regimes.
Though Communism was mostly defeated, modernist philosophy made
another development based in previous philosophy but coming to
fruition in the 1960s. People took on a worldview based on
dualistic concepts of tyrants and victims, oppression and
freedom, conservatism and liberalism, religion and atheist
self-centered hedonistic spirituality. In that philosophy, most
people are victims of some oppressive, tyrannical force, such as
religion, business, government, etc., and to be free one must
rebel against those forces, and must soothe the pain of their
victimization by hedonistic, liberal pleasure-seeking of
whatever urge one feels, all such acts "justified" because one
is a victim. For example, because of this "tyranny", the
"victim" should smoke marijuana, have random sex, get an
abortion, abandon their religion and sing/listen to protest
songs to be free and soothe their victim wounds. This "hippie"
philosophy, combined with the earlier modernist concepts of
scientific progress, human will determinism based on life
conditions, and the tyrannical nature of religion and objective
morality form the general philosophy and worldview of modern
people.
Modernist philosophy is mistaken in many ways, and its erroneous
nature has been displayed by the evils and fallacies in its
implementation. God is Love, Justice, Goodness. Without God,
none of these things can exist, and the only reason humans are
capable of realizing them and adhering to them is because of
God's existence. These traits are the highest spiritual virtues
and thus constitute the highest spiritual entity, God. Without
God, these things would not exist, and so when God was removed
from people's lives, they were left to themselves, and though
their conscience and reason kept them (usually) from becoming
too far gone for any semblance of goodness, they committed
horrific acts in the name of their "progressive" philosophy, and
are continuing to do so today with atrocities such as legalized
abortion, the death penalty, widespread drug use and
pornography, taking away all dignity and even life from the
human person and life itself. This will only continue to spiral
downwards, and though the Church is a voice "of one crying in
the wilderness" (Matthew 3:3), diligently and lovingly
proclaiming the hope (the only real hope) of the Gospel to the
world, it is the responsibility of individuals to choose to
follow it. We can only pray that they will come to know the love
of God.
Richard Kaleb Hammond
Dawsonville, Georgia
Roman Catholic Writer
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