by Robert » December 28th, 2009, 4:08 pm
Well whether or not he uses the word worth, it seems the implication is that one is more esteemed than the other. Again, I can not say that this is his intention, but it does seem that when speaking of hierarchies in such a manner, the sense that one is of more worth than the other often creeps into our own personal opinions and values; whether we will consciously admit it or not.
As to worth being an an intrinsic quality of persons is of no concern. Naturally, from the Christian perspective this is a foreign quality, given to the beloved by our creator. But, what the creator views as being of lesser or greater worth is His concern and I am not sure this is revealed to us. If it is, I doubt that it would be provided by common sense, the scientific method or some other rational method.
Furthermore, as to evaluating an historical figure's body of work, this can be done any number of ways. To merely state what were the theories, opinions, actions, events coinciding with the person's history and what not, this is simply doing history. For instance, to recount what is or was Bonaventure's views on epistemology, soteriology, ethics and the like is nothing more than presenting his philosophy as such. To evaluate it, or to say that one agrees or disagrees and to defend or refute his views on say Platonism is another matter. I can have reverence for his immense and respect him as an important and historically significant philosopher, but still perhaps disagree with some such theory or what have you.
Lastly, it was simply my intention to point out that perhaps Lewis' use of the term 'dunce' was inappropriate and ignored what I feel is a much larger issue pertaining to the subject of intelligence. I am not suggesting that I in any way will detract from Lewis' genius or that I have somehow found an error in his logic. I am merely stating that perhaps he associated with an Aristotelian tradition of epistemology that ignores another tradition (namely Platonism or more specifically Augustinian illumination) that allows for a better explanation of intelligence and tolerance for what society and or academia term as stupidity, duncehood and mental defects.
[I am] Freudian Viennese by night, by day [I am] Marxian Muscovite
--Robert Frost--