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Subject: Percy-L: Literary, Religious, Scientific, and Philosophical Discussion on Walker Percy

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  • From: <robert.g.eckert AT us.army.mil>
  • To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [percy-l] Language is an airplane [correction]
  • Date: Tue, 15 May 2007 18:11:44 -0500


Should read: Natural selection is a scientific hypothesis and being such is
not a claim to certain knowledge. An analytic statement like 2+2=4 is a claim
to certain knowledge. The first statement is a synthetic statement about
which we can never achieve a finality of certainty.

I need to be more careful before I hit send.

Spc Robert Eckert
172 Chemical Corp
Ft. Riley, KS 66442


----- Original Message -----
From: robert.g.eckert AT us.army.mil
Date: Monday, May 14, 2007 20:11
Subject: Re: [percy-l] Language is an airplane
To: "Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical Discussion"

> Natural selection is a scientific hypothesis and being such it is
> not a claim to creation knowledge, as analytic statement 2+2=4,
> but is rather a synthetic statement. A scientific hypothesis is
> subject to an endless process of verification by a community of
> knowers. Therefor, there is no finality to scientific knowing as
> is with knowing through faith.
>
> Faith is yet another form of knowledge. Faith and reason are two
> distinct ways of knowing. This distinction is discussed on JPII's
> "Fides et ratio" and Kierkegaard's "The Difference Between a
> Genius and an Apostle."
>
> Ken s correct when he distinguishes between forms of creating.
> God's is "creatio ex nihilo." Human creations are the result of
> imposing arbitrary form upon creation. We create in our
> conception, then impose our mental creations on the physical
> environment by rearranging nature.
>
> Domesticated species and recombinant DNA creations are "cultural"
> in the anthropological sense. The anthropological definition of
> culture is the imposition of arbitrary form upon the environment.
> The archaeological evidence of this imposition of arbitrary form --
> symbols, clothing, ect. is evidence of our having crossed the
> triadic threshold.
>
> Language is the most pervasive symbol system. Other symbol
> systems, mathematics, alphabets, have given us even greater power
> to rearrange nature to our will.
>
>
> Spc Robert Eckert
> 172 Chemical Corp
> Ft. Riley, K 66442
>
>
> BTW -- Spc is E-4, Sgt is E-5 (Soon, but not yet.)
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Michael Larson
> Date: Thursday, May 10, 2007 21:52
> Subject: [percy-l] Language is an airplane
> To: percy-l AT lists.ibiblio.org
>
> > Robert Eckert states:
> >
> > "The process of natural selection which allows a creation to
> > continue is the mechanism the Creator uses to create creature
> > speciation.
> > [...]
> >
> > We cannot finally know how we were created."
> >
> >
> > These two statements seem to be in conflict. If we cannot know
> how
> > we were created, then we can claim neither evolution in general
> > nor natural selection in particular as the method by which God
> > created us. Science, by its own admission and method, must
> derive
> > its explanations of the universe by observable phenomena. This
> is
> > good as far as it goes (as Percy often said), but it only goes
> so
> > far. If we look to science for an explanation of origins, well,
> > then evolution, with its subset of various processes (some of
> > which are even readily observable) is an admirable theory, a
> > valiant attempt to make sense of it all given the self-imposed
> > handicap of allowing only material evidence. But along comes
> man,
> > the symbol-mongerer, and a wrench is thrown into the
> evolutionary
> > machine. And this was Percy's point: language is one of those
> > things man does (not the only one) that cannot be explained in
> > random-evolutionary or materialist terms. At the very least, we
> > must acknowledge a mystery here (as I think Robert does as well).
> >
> > If we expand our considerations in our search for truth to
> include
> > such non-material proofs as philosophy and alleged divine
> > revelation, then we have much more to work with, and we have
> > righted the modern inversion; spirit once again takes its place
> > above and over matter. From the Roman Catechism (Article I),
> > "Christian philosophy, on the contrary, so quickens the human
> mind
> > that without difficulty it pierces the heavens, and, illumined
> > with divine light, contemplates first, the eternal source of
> > light, and in its radiance all created things." Before we are
> too
> > quick to cast aside such a claim, let us remember that Percy
> > counted himself among the recipients of Catholic Faith. And this
> > is not something to easily dismiss. Consider his essay, "The
> > Message in the Bottle," which centers on the idea that it is not
> > so much the news as the news bearer that carries persuasive
> > weight. And this merely echoes Aristotle, who claims that ethos,
> > among the three rhetorical proofs (the other two being logos and
> > pathos), is in fact the most influential on the rhetorical
> > situation. In other words, we often learn what is true by our
> > trust in who it is that tells us so.
> >
> >
> > Robert goes on to state:
> >
> > "Man does become a unique being at the crossing of the triadic
> > threshold.
> >
> > The reason we become god like is, to me, because only God and
> man
> > can synthesize triadic relations.That is, God speaks the
> universre
> > into being, we speak our mental, cultural world into being.
> >
> > The act of creation by man is indeed not the process of natural
> > selection. God and man are creators now. Witness domesticated
> > species and recombinant DNA creations.
> >
> > We indeed have dominion."
> >
> >
> > It is true that we are unique among material creatures by way of
> > language, but the function of language is strained, I think, by
> > suggesting that it makes us co-creators. A novelist, for
> instance,
> > can do no more than signify the objective creation; he cannot
> > actually call it into being. Even Tolkien, who invented in
> detail
> > the idea of Middle Earth, does not cause it to actually exist.
> >
> > So language is a portal through which we may leap into the non-
> > material realm, but it is not synonymous, in and of itself, with
> > that realm. Imagine a man, a complete amnesiac, who wakes to
> find
> > himself on a deserted island, nothing but the clothes on his
> back
> > and, farther down the beach, a weird metal object with wings.
> Day
> > after day, he examines the object, certain that it is a clue, a
> > key to how he got here and possibly to how he might return
> > (whatever that might mean). Then one day, he starts it up by
> > accident, and something clicks: he remembers that he is a pilot,
> > and he starts making forays to neighboring islands--for
> communion
> > with others (and for fuel!). He makes longer and longer flights.
> > One day, he knows, he will have to make the longest flight of
> all
> > in a calculated gamble to find his homeland.
> >
> > As a pilot, Percy never mistook his airplane for where he meant
> to
> > go with it.
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Michael Larson
> >
> --
> An archive of all list discussion is available at
> https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/percy-l/
>
> Visit the Walker Percy Project at http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy
>




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