MDMD(1) - Comments: china

[dennis grace]

Doug takes note of my:

>>In this light--i.e., the old God is dead, and
>>the new God doesn't give a rat's ass about us--far Cathay offers a whole new
>>array of philosophies.  Of course, the real irony here is that Buddhism
>>ultimately offers only disolution and Nirvana--so we're back to Lucretius.

And responds"

>The "old God is dead" may be a bit anachronistic, more of a late 19th-early
>20th century formulation than an Englightenment idea, but then I'm not a
>specialist and may be badly mistaken.

Yah.  Mea maxima culpa.  Sorry.  Lo siento.  Personal philosophical
shorthand--dearth of shared assumptions and all that.  Okay, the longer
version of my claim that "[in the Age of Reason] the old God is dead" goes
something like this:  

The Age of Reason, the Enlightenment, essentially proof that DesCartes
failed in his Meditations:  you can't prove the existence of God starting
with cogito ergo sum, but--Damme--you just might prove exactly the opposite
if you aren't too careful.  Read Swift's attack on the Royal Academy in book
3 of _Gulliver's Travels_ (yeah, the section everyone always skips), and
you'll see evidence of discomfort with the whole idea of scientific study.
Granted, some of those experiments were purty darn looney; still, Swift
never admits that any of the RA's experiments were worthwhile.  

No, the Enlightenment didn't quite produce determinism, and yes I believe it
was Nietzsche who first came out and actually pronounced God's demise.
Nonetheless, all those philosophers and mathematicians in lace and powdered
wigs DID lay the groundwork.  Without Adam Smith's _Wealth of Nations_, we
never would have had Darwin's _Origin of Species_, f'rinstance.  And without
David Hume's unique take on reality, we never would have had Kant or Mr.
Determinism hisself:  Schopenhauer.  The Enlightenment was the first era in
Europe since Saul of Tarsus saw the light, stopped selling Christians as
lion food, and went on tour with the road company from Nazareth in which it
was actually safe for any prominent individual to openly express a heartfelt
belief in a diety-free cosmos. _But just barely._  David Hume was an
atheist, but a century before Rene D was careful to assert his faith
prefatory to his revolutionary philosophical musings. 

In an intellectual atmosphere of this sort, it's kinda hard to take the
pulpit pounders and incense wavers seriously.  In that sense, God--for the
18th century thinking woman or man--was dead, or at least on his deathbed.
So, where's an Enlightenment body to go for some comfort?  TRP students,
fans, critics, and wannabees love to talk about paranoia and note its
appropriateness to late twentieth century US of A.  Maybe, but I don't think
we have anything on the 18th.

dgg
  
_____________________________
Dennis Grace
University of Texas at Austin
English Department
Recovering Medievalist

That's right, you're not from Texas, but Texas wants you anyway.
                                                  --Lyle Lovett