My understanding of the world \u2013 particularly the one we subconsciously create \u2013 evolved drastically when I read Plato\u2019s Euthyphro. Socrates asks \u201cIs the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved by the gods?\u201d establishing what has become commonly known as the \u201cEuthyphro Dilemma\u201d. More simply put \u2013 is something morally good because God says it is, or does God say its good because it is? The dichotomy is clearly predicated on religious undertones, but to me, is more valuable when taken beyond religion. I realize I am flirting with controversy, but please bear with me a moment. <\/p>\n
I was born and raised in a theist family. Going into university, while I was by no means a staunch religious practitioner, I instinctively felt uncomfortable with the idea of atheism \u2013 either way, I did not pay much attention to my religious beliefs. I did, however, pride myself on a tendency to think logically and objectively about ideas. My love for deducing logical arguments and questioning unsound thinking grew further in Philosophy class \u2013 which is where I stumbled upon Euthyphro\u2019s Dilemma. <\/p>\n
It quickly became evident that from a theist lens, neither answer is particularly desirable. But despite my firm commitment to objective, open-minded thinking, I found myself unable to stomach the implicit troubles entangled with either conclusion. While there are undoubtedly compelling theist arguments in response to the dilemma, I personally was unsatisfied, and yet deeply hesitant to entertain atheist conclusions. It was my first conscious encounter with cognitive dissonance. <\/p>\n
While the internal dialectic did not yield a confirmatory answer to the truth of the universe, I discovered something about the human condition: our default setting is to believe that we chose our beliefs, rather than actually choose<\/em> our beliefs. To be clear \u2013 I do not know whether God exists, but it is unimportant \u2013 the insight was in acknowledging which reality I am programmed to root for. <\/p>\n My revelation was followed by a deep suspicion \u2013 what other beliefs, values, and biases did I blissfully inherit? And more importantly, is it just me? The latter is something I have grown increasingly passionate about. If it is true that my predisposition is not atypical, then it seems to me that the walls that divide us \u2013 be they ideological, racial, or religious \u2013 have less to do with difference, and more to do with familiarity. The beliefs we vehemently wear as our identity \u2013 particularly to separate ourselves \u2013 may be nothing more than the prolific manifestation of parasitic ideologies. Of course, it would be na\u00efve to suggest that we serve as vessels for a seemingly deterministic tale of humanity, but it does beg the question \u2013 if you woke up tomorrow with a reset mind, would you choose the same beliefs? I bet that as you read this, your answer is \u201cyes\u201d. Now imagine a world where the one trait we all share is the urge to delineate, coupled with an evolutionary duty to propagate. <\/p>\n In case you were wondering, I now consider myself a humanist theist. The irony is not lost on me \u2013 the oxymoron is a form of temporary compromise, because the dialectic lives on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My understanding of the world \u2013 particularly the one we subconsciously create \u2013 evolved drastically when I read Plato\u2019s Euthyphro. Socrates asks \u201cIs the pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-papers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/technoligarch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/technoligarch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/technoligarch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/technoligarch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/technoligarch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/technoligarch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212,"href":"https:\/\/technoligarch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions\/212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/technoligarch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/technoligarch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/technoligarch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}