Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Quote of the Day

"What inclines even me to believe in Christ’s resurrection? It is as though I play with the thought. -- If he did not rise from the dead, then he decomposed in the grave like any other man. He is dead and decomposed. In that case he is a teacher like any other and can no longer help; and once more we are orphaned and alone. So we have to content ourselves with wisdom and speculation. We are in a sort of hell where we can do nothing but dream, roofed in, as it were, and cut off from heaven."

Ludwig Wittgenstein
Culture and Value


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4 comments:

KESS said...

His point is total fideism, and I can't help but totally agree with it.

I know the arguments for atheism better than many atheists. I've read all the same books and probably had many of the same questions and fears...but ultimately, I simply could and will never make that leap of doubt into the belief that Jesus died and rotted in the ground.

Fideistic in this regard? Yeah probably...but a little fideism built upon a foundation of rational argument and veridical experience probably won't hurt.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Thank you for the quote, Jim. Would it be possible for you to write a post about witgensteinian fideism in the future? Seems like an interesting topic.

I have in inkling towards Reformed Epistemology, but I won't follow it until I get Plantinga's Warrant trilogy.

Jim S. said...

Matko, I don't know enough about Wittgensteinian fideism to write a post on it. As for Plantinga, I've read Warrant: The Current Debate and about half of Warrant and Proper Function.