Page 13 - The Irony Board

Into the Mind

Omnivortex

Let logic loose
On things for which
You do not care,

And hungrily
Of meaning it
Will strip them bare;

The problem then
Is that you can’t
Stop logic there.

Another danger in working with symbols lies in the universality
of the method used. When logic pops out of Pandora’s box, the first
thing it does is eat the lid. Analysis implies dissolution, the
breakdown of wholes into parts: at the least, demystification of high-
level generalizations. The history of science’s battle against
superstition is the fitful seepage of a powerful solvent throughout
the contested body of knowledge and experience. Occam tried to
draw a line between matters of fact and faith in order to save the
latter, but was charged with heresy; his accusers saw the danger in
letting logic loose against a line so weakly held.
Within an individual mind, the process of stripping meaning may
begin as a desire to eliminate falsehood and ambiguity. Logic will do
that efficiently, removing unjustifiable metaphysical attributes and
dissolving self-contradictory obfuscations fleshing out the
undesirable fantasies. How, then, to put this cutting, burning
monster back into the box once the enemy is defeated? That is the
question Gluckman poses.
Psychological compartmentalization may have been feasible in
the Middle Ages, but truth-seekers today lack the faith necessary to
erect the walls. Logic will also expose the meaninglessness of
symbols cherished by the mind’s deepest desire for physical order
and security; the philosopher has to learn to live without them. No
ultimate predictability, no final justice, no grand cosmic design.

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