Point of View

1.      Do we do what is good because we are supposed to?

2.      According to the Platonic theory of Forms this is so because there is another transcendental world where there exists absolute Good.

3.      In that sense we are supposed and inclined to do good because we all have a sense of the Ideal Good.

4.      However this opinion leads to a problem:

5.      If Good exists as an Idea in the transcendental world of Ideas then does Evil also exist?

6.      The fact that people are inclined to do not only good but also bad things suggests so.

7.      Even if we suppose that Evil is inferior to Good (as God is superior to the Devil) still both these Ideas will have to exist in their spiritual world. 

8.      It seems therefore that there is nothing special to that world, which is either similar or a mere reflection of our own- although perhaps at a higher level.

9.      But again there seems to be a ubiquitous idea about what is good or evil:  

10.  Even if such an idea changes with time or it is different in different societies, within the same society and at a certain period of time there is a common sense of what is good or true- even if some people, consciously or not, deny it.

11.  In physics such truths are called universals and they are represented by physical constants. Such constants, for example the speed of light, do not change in space and time- no matter what we say.

12.  Similar universals can be found in mathematics and they are called axioms. Any logical deduction, consequently any conclusion we arrive at, is in fact based on such axiomatic truths.

13.  Interestingly enough Kurt Gödel showed that the axioms, on which logic is based, cannot be proved. If this is true then our whole way of thinking is either incomplete or inconsistent.

14.  Does this mean that the Universal Ideas on which the Universe is based are imperfect and defective?

15.  Or is it that the Idea of Imperfection offers us the opportunity to be flexible and to have our own Point of View?

12/11/2013

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