Philosophy: December 2007 Archives

A few months ago on a bulletin board, someone argued with me that people have always been more likely to cling to a god the poorer they were, and that if history is any indicator, things were unlikely to change anytime soon.  

So I spent the next day thinking about whether or not that could be true. If an event or idea continues over a long period of time, does that mean that it is destined to continue unchanged forever? Now here's the part I need to hash out. It seems to me the longer something continues on an unchanging course (at least where human intervention is involved), the more likely it becomes that the object or the person's course will be changed or eventually halted.

For example, the longer you spend driving your car in a straight line, the more likely you are to turn or stop. An unstoppable disease or virus eventually runs out of hosts. The Crusades eventually ended, witch trials aren't tolerated anymore and slavery has been largely abolished. Stonings for blasphemy don't happen in the enlightened world. Beatniks and hippies fade into obscurity while a new generation finds new things to improve. The avante guard becomes the establishment.

Newton said things tend to continue in their present course until acted on by another force. Do philosophical ideas follow this rule? It's hard to say. But it seems we have two choices. Humanity could continue on its present course of irrationality and violence in a straight line, but it seems it can't continue indefinitely. Just like driving, we've reached a point where we have to turn soon.