24AR29-03

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AR 29:3 - Biblical illiteracy in the humanities

In this issue:

BIBLICAL LITERACY - secular approaches and an ironic shared lack of understanding

CONSCIOUSNESS - matter and "panpsychism"

EVIL - peril at the extreme end of "high self-esteem and moral idealism"

Apologia Report 29:3 (1,644)
January 21, 2024

BIBLICAL LITERACY

"He chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful." 1 Corinthians 1:27 -- In "Unbiblical Scholarship: The persistent problem of biblical illiteracy in the humanities," Alan Jacobs reports: "In a recent issue of the venerable academic journal Modern Language Quarterly, ['eminent Victorianist,' Timothy] Larsen returns to this theme to discuss, not the Victorians themselves, but those whose profession is to study them. About such scholars Larsen is seriously concerned, and states his concern in forceful italics: 'an alarming amount of work done in the field of Victorian studies today… is marred by biblical and theological illiteracy. ...'

   "The problem I speak of is relevant to almost every work of literature written before 1950 and many written since; it is simply most evident in the Victorian era, which marked the height of biblical literacy, at least in the English-speaking world. 

   "Second: In the same issue of MLQ, Lori Peterson Branch of the University of Iowa has a superb essay on how one might address the complacent, even ostentatious, disdain for religion that's fairly common among humanities professors. ...

   "It is one of the strange habits of scholars to treat their peers' judgments with the greatest skepticism while remaining completely credulous about supposed facts. Here it might be useful to remember that 'Trust but verify' really is a Russian proverb. ...

   "[I]t takes a village to raise up a culture in which this level of error and ignorance propagates unchallenged and seemingly unnoticed in the pages of publications from our very best scholarly presses. ...

   "In his delightful book Studies in Words, C. S. Lewis <www.tinyurl.com/yc42mrv7> points out that in any given historical moment there may well be a single 'dominant sense' of a given word - but the dominant sense is not always and everywhere the same."

   Jacobs concludes: "At Malvern House Preparatory School, Bertie Wooster - the same Bertie Wooster referred to by his valet Jeeves as 'mentally negligible' - won the Scripture Knowledge prize. If Bertie can do it, so can you."

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CONSCIOUSNESS

"Is Consciousness Part of the Fabric of the universe?: Physicists and philosophers recently met to debate a theory of consciousness called panpsychism" by Dan Falk (Scientific American, Sep 25 '23) -- As philosopher David Chalmers asked: "How does the water of the brain turn into the wine of consciousness?" He famously dubbed this quandary the "hard problem" of consciousness. ...

   "The concept proposes that consciousness is a fundamental aspect of reality, like mass or electrical charge. ...

   "Lately it is seeing renewed interest, especially following the 2019 publication of philosopher Philip Goff's book Galileo's Error, which argues forcefully for the idea. ... <www.tinyurl.com/3u5kba4r>

   "[P]anpsychism runs counter to the majority view in both the physical sciences and in philosophy that treats consciousness as an emergent phenomenon, something that arises in certain complex systems, such as human brains. In this view, individual neurons are not conscious, but thanks to the collective properties of some 86 billion neurons and their interactions - which, admittedly, are still only poorly understood - brains (along with bodies, perhaps) are conscious. Surveys suggest that slightly more than half of academic philosophers hold this view, known as 'physicalism' or 'emergentism,' whereas about one third reject physicalism and lean toward some alternative....

   "Many philosophers at the meeting appeared to share Goff's concern that physicalism falters when it comes to consciousness. ...

   "In his 2021 book <www.tinyurl.com/4fnkdkvd> Being You, neuroscientist Anil Seth wrote that the main problems with panpsychism are that 'it doesn't really explain anything and that it doesn't lead to testable hypotheses. It's an easy get-out to the apparent mystery posed by the hard problem.'"

   Falk identifies the "key question: Is there something about consciousness that cannot be accounted for by physical facts alone?"

   Other ideas are floated, such as cosmopsychism: "the notion that the universe itself is conscious." Another is "a subtly different idea known as 'psychological ether theory' - essentially that brains don't produce consciousness but rather make use of consciousness. In this view, consciousness was already there before brains existed, like an all-pervasive ether. If the idea is correct, he writes, 'then (in all likelihood) God exists.'" <www.tinyurl.com/3n3znhwn>

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EVIL

Atheism struggles to address a solution to evil. In "Unmasking Malevolence" (Oct 8 '23), Rob Henderson <www.tinyurl.com/8cy96m9h> provides an example with his lengthy discussion of "the psychology of evil. ...

   "There is a widespread belief that only evil people are capable of truly evil acts.

   "Many people view the crimes of Nazi Germany, Maoist China, the Soviet Union, and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia (oft-cited Socialist "triumphs"? - RP) through the eyes of the victims.

   "But to understand evil, it would be wise to view it through the eyes of the perpetrators. ...

   Thus Henderson declares that "The best book to understand the psychology of evil" - as opposed to "a philosophical or moral treatise on what constitutes evil" - is Roy Baumeister's Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty. <www.tinyurl.com/2v252az6>

   Baumeister "focuses primarily on the psychology of perpetrators,” and writes: "The hardest part of understanding the nature of evil is to first recognize that you or I could, under certain circumstances, commit many of the acts that the world has come to regard as evil."

   Henderson outlines the three-part "myth of pure evil" which characterizes evildoers as always having been evil." And here, a "key component of evil is the 'magnitude gap.' ...

   "Victims of wrongdoing remember the events long after they have passed. But perpetrators usually forget within a short time span."

   Henderson asks: "Who should we believe: victims or perpetrators? ...

   "The book describes a study in which people read a story of something that occurred. People were randomly assigned the role of either the victim or the perpetrator in the story. ...

   "[R]egardless of whether people were assigned the role of victim or perpetrator, they distorted the facts to an equal degree. ...

   "Many perpetrators see themselves as victims. ...

   "In half of domestic violence cases, both parties were violent. ...

   "The book describes four basic causes of evil.

   "The first is instrumental evil: inflicting harm as a means to an end. ...

   "The second root cause of evil is idealism.

   "This is the most disquieting and tragic cause, because perpetrators are driven by the belief that they are doing something good.

   "In The Happiness Hypothesis, <www.tinyurl.com/3h954f7h> the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt <www.tinyurl.com/AR-on-Haidt> pointed out:

   "'Two biggest causes of evil are two that we think are good, that we try to encourage in our children: high self-esteem and moral idealism… The major atrocities of the 20th century were carried out largely by men who thought they were creating a Utopia.' (This reminds us of The Great Reset. <www.AR-on-Great-Reset> )

   "The third root cause of evil is threatened egotism.

   Baumeister's book "cites several studies indicating that perpetrators of violence are often highly sensitive to perceived slights. (Justifiable insecurity? - RP) ...

   "The fourth and final cause of evil is sadism. This is about as close to 'pure evil' as any of the causes get."

   Sadism is simply defined as "sincere enjoyment from inflicting harm."

   Baumeister "delves into research on BDSM. Studies suggest that there are far more masochists than sadists. ...

   "Human nature is often far more complicated than we think." Henderson quotes Ibérico Saint Jean, governor of the province of Buenos Aires, two months after the 1976 coup that launched Argentina's military dictatorship: 'First we will kill all the subversives; then we will kill their collaborators; then… their sympathizers, then… those who remain indifferent; and finally we will kill the timid."

   Jordan Peterson wrote about this phenomenon in his essay, "Hell, One Step at a Time," <www.tinyurl.com/5hxv64nu> in which he explains: "Tyranny grows slowly… Each betrayal of conscience weakens resistance, increases the probability of the next tyrannical move forward ... particularly when a certain percentage of those pushing forward delight in the irresponsible power they have been granted."

   Henderson moves on to the origins of evil. "Many people believe that poverty breeds crime. ...

   "However, most poor people do not commit crimes. And there are plenty of rich criminals."

   Further, "Baumeister suggests that most crimes are due to a lack of inner discipline and restraint."  

   Henderson concludes: "By learning about evil, we discover that many violent acts are caused by motives that seem quite ordinary. Which should encourage us all to be wary whenever we have seemingly reasonable justifications for coercing or hurting other people." <www.tinyurl.com/mt4sdccy>

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