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Originally Posted by cih1355  What would be another reason to study unbelief besides being able to speak their language and to engage with them? What is the importance for knowing about different philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, and so on? |
The reason you want to study these guys is because they have a profound influence on how the modern, everyday man thinks. For example, without getting into the full story, Kant had a
profound influence on how we view the world. In philosophy (for the most part) prior to him, people thought that there were properties within an object, and properties that we ascribed to an object. So, for example, an object might have form and texture inherent to it, but you ascribe color and smell. Kant says, "No way!" Kant comes in and says, "No, everything you see is an interpretive grid that you apply to the world." That is, essentially everything is a blank slate until you come in and apply your grid of order to it, giving color, texture, meaning, etc. to an object. Now, he has a much fuller and extensive reason behind this that we should understand because it influences how we think. How does his influence come around in normal life today? Have you ever heard somebody say, "It's all a matter of interpretation?" This may have existed before Kant, but he sure gave it a big, reasoned out push into the modern mind that has trickled down into the "Average Joe's" way of thinking because it's in the media, news paper, books, tv shows, and pulpit that he listens to. Most people have never heard of Kant, but it's important to read him because if you know how the mother ship operates, you have a better understanding of where to poke holes, and a better appreciation for the system of Christian thinking from the Revelation of God.
There's more to say on this, particularly Plato's
Cave, and forms, to Kant's
Categorical Imperative, but the above example is all I can provide at the moment.