Voltaire smiles sarcastically upon Aquinas ...

 




Voltaire deathmask

Voltaire’s (1694-1778) quarrel with the Catholic Church it appears was that it was a self-serving institution … a worldly body, and not of or for God. As well, the bible to Voltaire was not a divine gift or the ‘word of God’, but rather by and large a metaphor that taught some good lessons. He famously observed "if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him".  On the other hand for Aquinas (1225-74) the bible was a sacred doctrine whose sources are self-revelations of God to certain 'select' individuals throughout history. Aquinas apparently denied that human beings have any duty to animals and plants because they are not persons, have no 'souls' and accordingly can be used freely with impunity for consumption. He encouraged people to reproduce with irresponsible abandon without limit viewing it as a basic god-given right. His tenets are still widely believed and practiced without reservation. Voltaire viewed this elitist view of man’s place in nature as profoundly evil. It has to do with choice and action, and the tension in which choices are made which are reckless, irresponsible, suicidal, and indeed ultimately godless.



animals have no 'souls'

Metaphorically speaking …

Metaphors are incredibly seductive: they effortlessly slot into the brain, allowing us to seemingly make quick sense of difficult ideas.



But we should heed Nietzsche's warning … that metaphors illuminate as they conceal:

“What, then, is truth? A mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, and anthropomorphisms—in short, a sum of human relations which have been enhanced, transposed, and embellished poetically and rhetorically, and which after long use seem firm, canonical, and obligatory to a people: truths are illusions about which one has forgotten that this is what they are; metaphors which are worn out and without sensuous power; coins which have lost their pictures and now matter only as metal, no longer as coins.”

As much as could be said of Nietzsche’s sister, seen here as a vital old woman in her late eighties, wearing granny glasses and a bonnet welcoming Hitler to the Nietzsche Archives in 1934. She was a dupe to contrived hollow tribute and apparently not a reliable custodian of her brother's legacy.

Who cares?

"Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all ... the apathy of human beings"

    ... Helen Keller (1880-1968)