In Search of the Truth in the Social Imagination!

Why is it that man searches for truth? And the truth about what??? The truth about life???

Is the search for the 'truth' about life driven by the fundamental anxiety- the fear of the unknown and death? Perhaps, but rather in his social imagination the quest for truth is much more than overcoming or facing fears. It is more about finding real life and peace of mind. The answer to that is built into what we hope for which is eternal life and peace as in that exists the absolute truth of our being. 

We search for truth because we want to know what comes next (the hope for what comes next) because we want to and we need to know what a man can set his/her mind on and in doing so, come to know the real truth about him/herself. 

The pursuit of such a truth has led man to make incredible discoveries in the sciences and in the arts: beautiful music, poetry, plays, and books. Man in his endeavors searches for the truth a truth not only about himself but about his creator. The great why and what for question. Which is probably the most important aspect for understanding the human being whatsoever. Every man seeks the truth his/her way and seeks for agreement within their circle of expertise and or colleagues, friends, society. 

Since, I am of the social sciences - sociology, and I am of the western social imagination, then my own quest for truth has to start there - the in the western social imagination and or mindset. I read recently that the western intellectual tradition is unique; well, couldn't we say... so it goes with any tradition. Yet, the history of western philosophy and its social imagination is unique and it must begin with an investigation of ancient Greek thought 'social imagination'. 

From Thales and the matter philosophers to the empiricism of Aristotle, the Greeks passed on to the west a spirit of rational inquiry that is very much our own intellectual property. And while we may never think of Plato or Aristotle as we carry on in our daily lives, it was their inquiry into knowledge that has served as the foundation for all subsequent inquiries... rational inquiry. 

Rational inquiry is one that follows Newton's laws of therm o-dynamics; specifically, the third law = for every action is a reaction and that an isolated force does not exist. Issac Newton was around long after Greek thought but Greek thought had made a path for him as we can read in the works of Plato and Aristotle.    

From Thales, who is often considered the first Western philosopher, to the Stoics and Skeptics, ancient Greek philosophy opened the doors to a particular way of thinking that provided the roots for the Western intellectual tradition. Here, there is often an explicit preference for the life of reason and rational thought. And, perhaps that is why Paul was guided to Greek/Gentiles with the Gospel.

Within that 'ethnos' we find proto-scientific explanations of the natural world in the Milesian thinkers, and we hear Democritus posit atoms as indivisible and invisible units as the basic stuff of all matter. With Socrates comes a sustained inquiry into ethical matters as an orientation towards human living and the best life for human beings. Plato’s student, Aristotle, was one of the most prolific of ancient authors. He wrote treatises on each of these topics, as well as on the investigation of the natural world.

Aristotle argued that the cosmos and its heavenly bodies are in perpetual motion and always has been. There could not have been a time with no motion, whatever is moved is moved by itself or by another. Rest is simply a privation of motion. Thus, if there were a time without motion, then whatever existed which had the power to cause motion in other beings would have been at rest. 

If so, then it at some point had to have been in motion since rest is the privation of motion. Motion, then, is eternal. What moves the cosmos? This must be the unmoved mover, or God, but God does not move the cosmos as an efficient cause, but as a final cause.

Isaac Newton said that there is no isolated external cause. Hence, for Newton and his furthering development of rational thought, there is a Creator that interacts with the creation and in that is where truth is found. 

Now, of course we cannot know exactly if all the Greek thinkers were considering this aspect fully; yet Plato seems to have been going in that direction of thought when he said that there is an absolute entity that in its entirety is a mystery always moving and unknowable. Aristotle a student of Plato had a slightly different view.  His view was that such an entity was an unmoved mover who as a final cause was to move. 

Both were somehow right and wrong. It was Newton that really had it right... there is a mover and that mover is not isolated or unknowable. This is rational thought at its height of glory and in that 'rational thought' western man began to make leaps and bounds in knowledge of the universe and in his social imagination. How do we know that Newton was right? 

We know from the process of information and that coded information is created to contain and move information. Can you know the source of that information in its entirety? Could a super computer know its creator in his/her entirety?  Could a complex design know exactly where and why it began? No, in its complexity there is the unlikely possibility it would find it in its entirety let alone know it had.  Its a matter of hope that in truth we live, move and have our being in Him ~ Acts 17:28.