Reading the Root Causes of Todays Societal/Moral Woes

  • Thread starter Thread starter peregrinus_WA
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

peregrinus_WA

Guest
Being a student of history, I am a firm believer that history is a good source to understanding the roots of today’s liberal societal and moral diseases. This includes reading the writings of people who, let just say, are the bases for these ills.

Now some will say reading these works sets a dangerous precedence and may even give credence to their philosophies, but I must disagree. To know one’s enemy, you must know how they think and there is no better way than to read them.

Saying that, I am wondering what other think of reading the works of those like Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and even Adolf Hitler (yes, I am one of the few who put Hitler with the rest of his Socialist brethren). Are there moral implications to reading their works?
 
Just a few Scriptures which come to mind (there are many more like them):

Psalm 101:3 3 I will set no base thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; It shall not cleave unto me.

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
 
There’s no substitute for primary sources, and no excuse for not having read them. Rome doesn’t index books any more. You might even discover that you’re completely wrong about more than one of those, and probably many related ‘bad influences’.

Just fr’instance, Hitler hated Communists almost as much as he hated Jews, Roma, homosexuals, and cripples, and Nietzsche’s (no socialist he, either) reanimated corpse would have personally beaten him into a pulp given the chance.

Read them, then maybe you’ll be able to give an informed opinion about them.
 
peregrinus_WA said:
Being a student of history, I am a firm believer that history is a good source to understanding the roots of today’s liberal societal and moral diseases. This includes reading the writings of people who, let just say, are the bases for these ills.

Now some will say reading these works sets a dangerous precedence and may even give credence to their philosophies, but I must disagree. To know one’s enemy, you must know how they think and there is no better way than to read them.

Saying that, I am wondering what other think of reading the works of those like Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and even Adolf Hitler (yes, I am one of the few who put Hitler with the rest of his Socialist brethren). Are there moral implications to reading their works?
Click to expand...
I voted other. There is no type of “socialist” plot out there we need to worry about.🤷

To understand today’s society is to look at a broad view of society, to read and listen from many different people from many different backgrounds, social levels, and heritages. We all learn from our differences when we interact with each other. That helps open our eyes to causes of social blight in our lives. The best way to understand it is seeing it as close as we can get to others experiencing it.

You can read the things you mentioned, but it is a narrow and unrepresentative selection which moves away from the problem of finding “root causes” rather than towards it.
 
peregrinus,

The Bible is loaded with examples of the root causes of today’s societal and moral woes. Sin - particularly that of pride - comes first to my mind.

Blessings~
 
WatchfulPilgrim said:
peregrinus,

The Bible is loaded with examples of the root causes of today’s societal and moral woes. Sin - particularly that of pride - comes first to my mind.

Blessings~
Click to expand...
True. But you have to realize, the ideologies of people like Marx, Darwin, Nietzsche, and even Hitler are more of an influence on the left today.
 
peregrinus_WA said:
I got this idea when I read 10 Books That Screwed Up the World: And 5 Others That Didn’t Help by Benjamin Wiker. The list above is by no means complete. It also includes the likes of Darwin and others.

I am going to probably start by reading Drama of Atheist Humanism by Henri de Lubac which should give me more ideas.
Click to expand...
True. But you have to realize, the ideologies of people like Marx, Darwin, Nietzsche, and even Hitler are more of an influence on the left today.
Click to expand...
Why is your focus so directed towards a “Atheist-Humanism”, “left”, and such? No single philosophy in the world is a cause of all the world’s current problems. 🤷 Causes of “Societal Woes” comes from all sides, that is the nature of humanity.

The real world is not “left” vs right or anything like that.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top