Monday, December 30, 2019
Diary of a Kenyan Atheist: RELIGION, THE NOBLEST OF LIES
Diary of a Kenyan Atheist: RELIGION, THE NOBLEST OF LIES: Hello readers!! Welcome back to the wonderful, weird mind of your friendly neighborhood atheist. As usual I have been spending my time in ...
RELIGION, THE NOBLEST OF LIES
Hello readers!!
Welcome back to the wonderful, weird mind of your friendly neighborhood atheist. As usual I have been spending my time in the crevices of the information superhighway trying to figure out the important questions in life; and I have found the answer! It is definitive, beer is the best alcohol out their bar NONE!
However, on the less important matters of the meaning of life, God(s) and religions, my ideas are still somewhat murky and unknown. For those of you who don't already know me, and somehow didn't read the title of my blog; I am an atheist. I do not believe in God(s). However, despite my entirely convincing arguments and depth of wit... religions continue to thrive.
This is one of the primary questions that prompts me to continue to traverse the internet in search of so-called knowledge. One of the most common arguments I have found for both the existence of religions and justification for their goodness is the concept of "The Noble Lie" (I know philosophers come up with the weirdest names for their thoughts).
The ancient blogger Plato is credited as one of the first people to detail this argument, although for him, the argument was more of a political nature. He believed, that certain myths, though untrue could serve an essential purpose in driving societal unity and development. In his famous work "The Republic" he breaks it down as such;
My own interpretation of this is that a myth though untrue, that helps people accept their children as they are (maybe even those born out of wedlock), then society would be better as a whole than if the society followed only the truth.
This argument is not limited to philosophy; I personally have had this argument in different forms in different settings and by a variety of people. If it is true, then it would mean that individuals are so foolish or self centered that if it were not for religions, society would break down, or at least not function as well.
Freidrich Nietzsche, famously worried about this problem in his seminal work, Thus Spake Zarathustra;
In this instance, Nietzsche felt that with the intellectual revolution, beliefs and myths will die out to be replaced by pure logic, but then "Must we not ourselves become Gods?"; must we not evolve some higher morality create our own commandments. Or alternatively, if we stay human we are doomed.
Indeed, I would think that the "Noble Lie" was an essential part of societal history; some of the greatest events of human history were driven by religious ideals. Religion, if a lie, gave us great governments, wars, architecture, stability and such.
However, this lie, being a lie can only be justified if it is, on the whole beneficial. Is it necessary today to have religion as a noble lie?
This is a difficult question for me, and I can't say my mind is made up one way or the other, but I can say this; at least in the modern world, several countries have shown that you can have stable, prosperous and moral societies WITHOUT the belief in God. China, the best performing large economy in history, is officially an atheist country. The Scandinavian countries, widely heralded as providing the best standards of living for their citizens are highly irreligious and many identify as atheists.
It remains, do we need a noble lie now?
For me, I think in some instances it is warranted....
Welcome back to the wonderful, weird mind of your friendly neighborhood atheist. As usual I have been spending my time in the crevices of the information superhighway trying to figure out the important questions in life; and I have found the answer! It is definitive, beer is the best alcohol out their bar NONE!
However, on the less important matters of the meaning of life, God(s) and religions, my ideas are still somewhat murky and unknown. For those of you who don't already know me, and somehow didn't read the title of my blog; I am an atheist. I do not believe in God(s). However, despite my entirely convincing arguments and depth of wit... religions continue to thrive.
This is one of the primary questions that prompts me to continue to traverse the internet in search of so-called knowledge. One of the most common arguments I have found for both the existence of religions and justification for their goodness is the concept of "The Noble Lie" (I know philosophers come up with the weirdest names for their thoughts).
...the earth, as being their mother, delivered them, and now, as if their land were their mother and their nurse, they ought to take thought for her and defend her against any attack, and regard the other citizens as their brothers and children of the self-same earth...While all of you, in the city, are brothers, we will say in our tale, yet god, in fashioning those of you who are fitted to hold rule, mingled gold in their generation, for which reason they are the most precious—but in the helpers, silver, and iron and brass in the farmers and other craftsmen. And, as you are all akin, though for the most part you will breed after your kinds, it may sometimes happen that a golden father would beget a silver son, and that a golden offspring would come from a silver sire, and that the rest would, in like manner, be born of one another. So that the first and chief injunction that the god lays upon the rulers is that of nothing else are they to be such careful guardians, and so intently observant as of the intermixture of these metals in the souls of their offspring, and if sons are born to them with an infusion of brass or iron they shall by no means give way to pity in their treatment of them, but shall assign to each the status due to his nature and thrust them out among the artisans or the farmers. And again, if from these there is born a son with unexpected gold or silver in his composition they shall honor such and bid them go up higher, some to the office of guardian, some to the assistanceship, alleging that there is an oracle that the city shall then be overthrown when the man of iron or brass is its guardian
My own interpretation of this is that a myth though untrue, that helps people accept their children as they are (maybe even those born out of wedlock), then society would be better as a whole than if the society followed only the truth.
This argument is not limited to philosophy; I personally have had this argument in different forms in different settings and by a variety of people. If it is true, then it would mean that individuals are so foolish or self centered that if it were not for religions, society would break down, or at least not function as well.
Freidrich Nietzsche, famously worried about this problem in his seminal work, Thus Spake Zarathustra;
God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?
In this instance, Nietzsche felt that with the intellectual revolution, beliefs and myths will die out to be replaced by pure logic, but then "Must we not ourselves become Gods?"; must we not evolve some higher morality create our own commandments. Or alternatively, if we stay human we are doomed.
Indeed, I would think that the "Noble Lie" was an essential part of societal history; some of the greatest events of human history were driven by religious ideals. Religion, if a lie, gave us great governments, wars, architecture, stability and such.
However, this lie, being a lie can only be justified if it is, on the whole beneficial. Is it necessary today to have religion as a noble lie?
This is a difficult question for me, and I can't say my mind is made up one way or the other, but I can say this; at least in the modern world, several countries have shown that you can have stable, prosperous and moral societies WITHOUT the belief in God. China, the best performing large economy in history, is officially an atheist country. The Scandinavian countries, widely heralded as providing the best standards of living for their citizens are highly irreligious and many identify as atheists.
It remains, do we need a noble lie now?
For me, I think in some instances it is warranted....
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