by Leo Tolstoy

“Christianity Misunderstood by Men of Science”

good point and faulty analogy?
“Just as the individual man cannot live without having some theory of the meaning of his life, and is always, though often unconsciously, framing his conduct in accordance with the meaning he attributes to his life, so too associations of men living in similar conditions—nations—cannot but have theories of the meaning of their associated life and conduct ensuing from those theories. And as the individual man, when he attains a fresh stage of growth, inevitably changes his philosophy of life, and the grown-up man sees a different meaning in it from the child, so too associations of men—nations—are bound to change their philosophy of life and the conduct ensuing from their philosophy, to correspond with their development.” p. 61

unexpected use of mathematical analogy?
“Christ recognizes the existence of both sides of the parallelogram…”
“The divine perfection is the asymptote of human life to which it is always striving, and always approaching, though it can only be reached in infinity.”

“Conclusion”
“And, indeed, what sort of ethical doctrine could admit the legitimacy of murder for any object whatever? It is as impossible as a theory of mathematics admitting that two is equal to three.// There may be a semblance of mathematics admitting that two is equal to three, but there can be no real science of mathematics. And there can only be a semblance of ethics in which murder in the shape of war and the execution of criminals is allowed, but no true ethics.”

“Evil Cannot Be Suppressed by the Physical Force of the
Government”

social contract theory
“And it cannot be proved, as the champions of the state maintain, that the destruction of government involves a social chaos, mutual spoliation and murder, the destruction of all social institutions, and the return of mankind to barbarism. Nor can it be proved as the opponents of government maintain that men have already become so wise and good that they will not spoil or murder one another, but will prefer peaceful associations to hostilities; that of their own accord, unaided by the state, they will make all the arrangements that they need, and that therefore government, far from being any aid, under show of guarding men exerts a pernicious and brutalizing influence over them.”

(next sentence)
hypocritical condemnation of abstract reasoning? (most of this book is Tolstoy using abstract reasoning to claim things are obvious conclusions)
“It is impossible to prove either of these contentions by abstract reasoning. Still less possible is it to prove them by experiment, since the whole matter turns on the question, ought we to try the experiment?”

This entry was posted on September 9, 2009 and is filed under history/memory, literature, philosophy/religion, quotations.