Of Man and Reason

Hobbes begins Chapter V of Of Man writing: “When a man reasoneth, hee does nothing else but conceive a summe totall, from Addition of parcels; or conceive a Remainder, from Subtraction of one summe from another: which (if it be done by Words,) is conceiving of the consequence of the names all the parts, to the name of the whole; or from the names of the whole and one part, to the name of the other part” (110). Hobbes words illustrate the shift from a metaphysical pursuit of ideal Truth, to the dissection of reality in order to determine mechanical explanations for the world around us. Considering his views of practical reasoning in mechanical terms, it isn’t very surprising that he has a very negative opinion of the “ancient” Philosophers’ metaphysical view of reality. After all, our purpose is not to define reality, but to explain reality as has been defined by G-d. While on one hand it does give rise to the idea of humanism, the individual’s relationship to the world and the pursuit of knowledge, it also seems to limit the possibilities of such a pursuit.

Perhaps I am an idealist, but it seems to me that the purpose of man having reason isn’t to simply understand the world as it is but imagine how it can be. When our reason is limited to only what is before us, then how can we truly begin to understand what it means to be human. “What is our purpose? What is my purpose?” These questions haven’t gone away after centuries of the new paradigm of thinking. If the answer to all metaphysical questions lies within God then why are we still asking those two central questions? The mechanical paradigm has seemed to ignore the really difficult questions instead, leaving their answers to an ubiquitous deity, which may or may not exist. How can we as humans ever hope to evolve or progress if our path is one of mechanical definitions and needs and not the path of Truth. Honestly, we may never return to the higher ideals, as there is no financial profit in philosophy and life is so much easier to live if we leave the hardest questions up to someone else to answer.