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Dear Socrates
Dear Socrates
Having traveled from the turn of the Fourth Century B.C. to the turn of the Twenty-First Century A.D., Socrates has eagerly signed on as a Philosophy Now columnist so that he may continue to carry out his divinely-inspired dialogic mission.
Dear Socrates,
You know the idea associated with Dostoevsky, that without God, everything is permitted – or as I once put it myself, “There is no virtue if there is no immortality.” Since you always claim to be concerned about virtue and the soul, why, then, are you so down on religion?
Yours,
Ivan
Dear Ivan,
As I have indicated several times in this column, I am not ‘down’ on religion as such, but only when it presumes to be opposed to philosophy. What do I mean by philosophy? Very simply, rational inquiry. Thus, it is only when religion resists rationality that I resist religion.
Why do I place so much importance on rationality? Because it is the most trustworthy guide to truth of which I am aware.
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