The aim of knowledge
So, I've been reading Richard Weaver's trenchant Ideas Have Consequences. There are plenty of snippets that I could share but here's one that encapsulates alot of my thinking about the purpose and direction of my life as an academic.
The split in the theory of knowledge which took place at the time of the Renaissance is enough to account for that form of ignorance which is egotism. Under the worldview possessed by medieval scholars, the path of learning was a path to self-deprecation, and the philosophiae doctor was the one who had at length seen a rational ground for humilitas...An opposing conception comes in with Bacon's "knowledge is power." If the aim of knowledge is domination, it is hardly to be supposed that the possessors of knowledge will be indifferent to their importance. On the contrary, they begin to swell; they seek triumphs in the material world (knowledge being meanwhile necessarily degraded to skills) which inflate their egotism and self-consideration. Such is a brief history of how knowledge passes from a means of spiritual redemption to a basis for intellectual pride.
As I've gone through college and, now, through the first few years of graduate study, I've discovered the paradox that the more I learn, the less I know. And, as Weaver indicates, that is the beginning of humility. None of this is to toot my own horn. But I have noticed in so many churches a fear of higher education that springs (I think) from a fear of how the educated handle their knowledge (with arrogance, with contempt of others). So, it remains for me and for all who pursue higher education to consider how we use our knowledge and the responsibility that that knowledge places upon us.
posted by Chris @ 5:45 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
As a fiftyish Church of Christer with some advanced degrees, my experience has been that the older crowd both respects and fears education. I'd say older means 60 and above. The reason is that education was less common in the South in the earlier part of the previous century and those that did get an education stood out more. Educated people in the Church of Christ at that time would tend to go liberal. By that I mean that they would be more likely think that there were christians in other denominations, instrumental music was OK, etc.
The younger crowd these days is not as impressed since most everyone has some college and they know that PhD's, MBA's, and what have you are a dime a dozen.
As a fiftyish Church of Christer with some advanced degrees, my experience has been that the older crowd both respects and fears education. I'd say older means 60 and above. The reason is that education was less common in the South in the earlier part of the previous century and those that did get an education stood out more. Educated people in the Church of Christ at that time would tend to go liberal. By that I mean that they would be more likely think that there were christians in other denominations, instrumental music was OK, etc.
The younger crowd these days is not as impressed since most everyone has some college and they know that PhD's, MBA's, and what have you are a dime a dozen.
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