The Weak Reed of Reason

The truth is the truth

And so all you can do is live with it.

-          Repentance, Dream Theater

A second video from Jean-Luc Marion (my review of an earlier video is here): The Only Way to Truth is by Love.

When the debate goes to truth, you cannot pretend to remain neutral.  You may love the truth or hate truth, depending on the issue.

He offers the example of a trip to the hospital.  When the doctor comes out to give you the test results, you may love the truth or hate the truth.  But the truth is the truth; all you can do is live with it – certainly if you intend to confront and deal with it.

Nietzsche was right: he was the first to explain that in the alleged conflict between faith and reason, the weakest of the two competitors was reason, not faith. 

Marion describes the strength of the faith in the believers of the horrendously deadly twentieth century “isms,” and how faith so overwhelmed any behavior that could be considered reasonable.

We have downsized reason to the universal knowledge – the part of rationality which always succeeds.  This is what can be measured and put into order. Rationality is meant to know only this.

Only this.  Our mind, our body, religion, God…. Everything is reduced to an object.  If it cannot be measured or tested or falsified, then it doesn’t exist.  It is not reasonable to believe anything that cannot be measured, tested, or falsified.  Which pretty much removes any ability to comprehend human beings and human action.

It is an interesting point – and certainly for students of or proponents for Austrian Economics.  We have come to a time where the only rational economics is economics based on measuring and quantifying – and we as a society (and, I suspect, even much of the economics profession) have come to accept this despite realizing full well that what is measured is not important, and what is important cannot be measured.

All aspects of our relationships are subject to mathematical measurement.  For example, the state desires to reduce discrimination in hiring – the only way they can ultimately deal with this is to measure the racial, gender, and age components of hiring decisions.

This does not mean reason [as defined above] is not working.  The problem is that the more it is working, the less it addresses the real issues.

Everything is reduced to its cash value – nothing has value in its own right, it only has value that is given; a valuation by another.  Inherently, reason is weak as it can only give us an evaluation.  My bathroom scale can do the same thing.

I suspect this is one reason – in the long line of reasons – why mainstream libertarians have such difficulty with Murray Rothbard.  He came down clearly on the side of objective value when it comes to issues of ethics and morality, and the necessity of objective values in morals and ethics if one is after liberty.

Marion goes on to make a very interesting and perhaps provocative point:

This weakness of reason is perhaps most obvious yet nevertheless not well known in the current situation.  Regarding politics, for example, in the US and in Europe, we are not in a situation of crisis.  In a situation of crisis, it is possible to take action and improve the situation by deciding something.

Many reading this blog know that some very fundamental things regarding economics, politics, and overall social interaction must change in the larger society if the coming pain is to be minimized; I suspect many who are causing the pain know this as well but want to continue to ride the gravy train in the meantime.

But in the situation where we are, the political leaders appear powerless and in fact not leading anything.  Not that any possible program will prove inefficient and we don’t know exactly what is the right option.  But we know that there is no right option.  That is the difference between crisis and decadence.  We are in a situation of decadence, not in a situation of crisis.

I would say that there are better or worse options, but none that will avoid meaningful pain for many members of society.

It is worth defining the word decadence:

o   the act or process of falling into an inferior condition or state; deterioration; decay

o   moral degeneration or decay; turpitude.

o   unrestrained or excessive self-indulgence.

I think this describes the current situation of the West quite precisely.  While the defining event is certainly World War One, the downturn began when Western man killed God – pure reason.

Decadence is a situation where no crisis is possible anymore.  Everyone sees the problems, yet denies the issues or is unable to face them.  This is a result of the current weak understanding of reason.

It seems to me that Western man has spent better than two-hundred years exhausting whatever is possible with pure reason – call it reason without God or artificially separating reason and faith.  With reason – not only exhausted but also having led us to this point – and God eliminated, Western man has nowhere to turn for answers.