Drafts by Fr Joseph Hudson, OSB
Currently, a common approach to happiness is to view it from a distinctively psychological point ... more Currently, a common approach to happiness is to view it from a distinctively psychological point of view. Happiness for many today is simply a state of positive feeling. The reduction of happiness to a state of affairs that is most pleasant was rejected by Kant for the reason that it fails the test of morality. In contrast to the dichotomy of duty versus pleasure, ancient and medieval conceptions of happiness linked together the two ideas and argued that there was no inherent contradiction between them.
In his work entitled Science as a Vocation, Max Weber famously critiqued modern day science for i... more In his work entitled Science as a Vocation, Max Weber famously critiqued modern day science for its failure to bring meaning to life. In a quotation attributed to Leo Tolstoy, Weber voices the objection that “science is meaningless because it has no answer to the only questions that matters to us: ‘What should we do?’ and ‘How shall we live?’” While Weber endeavors to fill this lack through a new discipline, what later authors will call ‘social science,’ the answer to the question of ‘how shall we live?’ goes beyond scientifically observable facts and mechanisms, and presupposes a non-arbitrary and discernible hierarchy of values by which men can adequately learn ‘how to live.’ The task of discovering and understanding this hierarchy belongs to the moral philosopher.
The German Lutheran Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack’s life spanned from May 7th 1851 to June 10th 1... more The German Lutheran Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack’s life spanned from May 7th 1851 to June 10th 1930. His lectures entitled What is Christianity were an inspiration to his generation, and yet were rejected by the succeeding generation of distinguished theologians such as Karl Barth, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. To understand why the vision of this likable and passionate person was not ultimately able to satisfy his students I have identified seven important themes in this work, which could be called, as Rowen Williams has, appealing and yet deadly simplicities. Only after looking at them as a whole will we be able to form some conception as to why Harnack’s analysis of Christianity was found inadequate.
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Drafts by Fr Joseph Hudson, OSB