Wisdom and modernist instrumentalization || John Pesebre

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"Thus, then, all action originates in purpose,—that is to say, in the choice of means to a given end, not in the mere conception of, or impulse towards that end,—purpose consisting in impulse towards an end, followed by an analysis of that end into its means." Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics

Yung #neighborology pala kung hindi lang sana nagka blanket disdain at demonization ng modernity ay makakatagpo ng recuperation na organic sa Western thought concerning yung "instrumentalization of reason."

Dito si Aristotle mismo nagsa suggest ng analysis ng end at means. Ayaw nung Frankfurt School na yung "means" ang affair ng "analysis" natin imbes isama yung end (cf Adorno & Horkheimer). Etong neo-marxist critique na ito should be taken seriously, and Christianity is not bereft of solution considering na sa Christian ethics napakahalaga ng "end" ("glorify God," WSC, 1). Instrumentalization kasi napakalaking problema sa Christianity ngayon kaya napaka constant ng gamitan -- even ang Diyos ginagamit as a means, as an instrument.

Etong section na ito sa Nicomachean ay Book 6 on "intellectual virtue." A good deal ng Book 6 asserts yung ina assert lang din ng New Testament na word and deed, o yung sabi ni James na wag daw maging hearers of the Word but doers. Basically ang sabi ni Aristotle dito is that reason has to have an end at yun ang virtue, hindi lang abstraction. Yan ang ultimate end niya na sa atin ay immediate lang pero we don't devalue that.

Recall that para sa Judeo-Christian religions merong dominant na Hebrew concept called "chokmah" (wisdom; skill) na may outworking sa practical. The nearest NT Greek word is "phronesis." Eto ang term ni Aristotle for practical wisdom.

So contrary to #neighborology's claims to rescue Christianity from the pits of modernity, it is actually doing her disservice by alienating her sa thought tradition niya at papalitan ito ng illusory progressivist thought na naka angkla sa postmodernity. Gusto ng mga proponents niya to disentangle us from a tradition na hindi perfect but already has a self-critical mechanism.