No Man's Land

Our conceptions of life and the world are philosophical and come from inherited religious and ethical conceptions and scientific investigation. Qoheleth suggests we cannot ignore experience because of the danger of becoming unreal. Individual philosophers differ in the proportions of each but the presence of both is necessary to be philosophy. Philosophy according to Russell goes between theology and science. Theology speculates on matters about which we have no 'knowledge' and science appeals to human reason rather than authority. We cannot accept simplistic theological statements any more than any other kind if they do not square with experience. We can also argue about wisdom. He calls the gap between theology and science 'No Man's Land'. Ever since man became capable of free speculation his actions depended on theories of the world and life and what is good or evil. Our life determines our philosophy and our philosophy determines our life. Wisdom cannot predict the future. Anything might happen. Philosophy can teach us how to live with uncertainty without being too hesitant. The same things are important today as they were thousands of years ago. We still debate about conscience, ideas of good and evil, right and wrong, justice, pleasure and pain, the proper development of culture, freedom and many others things. Some concepts are unchanging such as those of mathematics and geometry. We can't avoid looking at the past in terms of the present.

Liberty is curtailed by different degrees by the state. Absolute power, dull and spiritless legalism and force should be avoided as should any ethical extremes. Advice that recommends blind obedience to simplistic authority should also be avoided. There is the relationship of the soul to God, of the individual to the State. Philosophy is also about bringing order out of chaos. The Church during the middle ages represented order in anarchy and it won the support of the merchants. The world had been corrupted by complicated and unscrupulous power games. Mysticism and subjectivity may be worthy pursuits for religious but their usefulness to lay people is debatable. It is something else Qoheleth seems to doubt. Wisdom's traditional emphasis on total absorption in industriousness is also questionable. Feverishness robs one of enjoyment. The prospects of labour are uncertain. The fate of accumulated wealth is also uncertain. Laziness is no good. God laboured six days and rested on the seventh, not all seven. There are those who want to tighten the bonds and those who want to loosen them. Disciplinarians are hostile to science for whom happiness is not good but nobility and heroism and libertarians and utilitarians, scientific and rational are hostile to extremes. The dangers for any community are ossification and dissolution or subjection to conquest through an individualism that makes co-operation impossible. Life is transitory. Qoheleth remarked it is all vanity. We should accept the ordinary joys we receive, enjoy the good days, do what we can and not look for what is unattainbale.