The Problem with Human Logic [Great Books 1]

The Problem with Human Logic

By: Patrick B.

            Most philosophers would agree that Socrates was the man who invented logic. He was a man who could take most arguments and find the one flaw that was overlooked. A man of impeccable honor and intelligence, he was someone that many wish was still alive today. Socrates even figured out alone that there was only one God, and not the many that most Greeks believed. Even on death row he was never fazed, believing to the bitter end all that his logic told him was true. The only flaw found in his logic is when he extrapolates that people live and die many times over. This is seen when he says, “’There is an old legend, which we’ve been recalling, to the effect that they (souls) do exist there, after leaving here; and that they return again to this world and come into being from the dead. If this is so- that the living come into being again from the dead- does it not follow that our souls would exist in the other world? They could not come into being again if they did not exist; and it will be sufficient proof that the living come from the dead, and from nowhere else.” Having all but said that the idea of reincarnation was true, most will see where human logic goes astray from the will of God.

            This paper will prove that human logic should be no more helpful to a man of God than a screen door would be on a submarine. Not only that, but it will furthermore prove that logic and wisdom are not the same, the former coming from man, while the latter comes from God.

            What is going to be covered in this paper is that despite how punctilious Socrates was with his logic, and how recherché his ideas could be, he was no more than a man, with man’s fractured thinking of right and wrong. This paper will continue to compare Socrates’ ideas and theories to the Bible to see if they are comestible for the mind or pure flummery. It will be the writers’ intent to show that someone as intelligent as Socrates’ can be wrong, along with the fact that man’s logic is and has been pestiferous since the fall of man.

            Firstly, one can see immediately that Socrates’ logic has gone off course when he says that from death comes life and from life comes death, and that it ever circles. He even goes on to state that before people are even born they know all there is to know, but after people are born they forget, and that the only way to remember is to be asked a question in just the right way. This theory can immediately be defeated because the Bible clearly states that when someone dies they either go to heaven or hell.

            Secondly, it can be seen that logic is fallible within the first book of the Bible. It shows in Genesis that when man fell he had a corrupt vision of God, and that, that image was passed down from Adam to Seth, and from Seth this refractory version of God, was passed down all the way to Noah. When the world was flooded and all men except Noah and his family died, and they were left to repopulate the Earth, that image of God continued on, so that it is now amongst all of humanity. Now many may wonder how this has anything to do with logic, it may yet still be plain to others that since man fell all that he does is tainted by evil, unable to do anything that will help them come to God wholly. Seeing as this is the case it is not so difficult to see that human logic would also be tainted, knowing that it is something created, by man, apart from God.

            Finally, as most will agree, wisdom comes straight from God, as it says in Proverbs 1 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction,” Wisdom continues, saying, “Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord…” Thus many will see that it expunges all possibility that people can be wise without the Lord.

            Many will say that Socrates could have just been wrong about this one thing, and that logic is not shown to be corrupt because of it. The answer to that is simply, that one mistake was one of the things that kept Socrates from knowing the one true God. Now would anyone believe that it is worth that risk to never go to heaven just because they like the idea of logic?

            To conclude, many will plainly see that logic is a flawed thing, which can be trusted for little if not nothing. That does not mean logic is completely worthless. People still need to be trained how to defend themselves with it, but they should not trust in logic alone. Many may wonder how these facts may be used in their day to day lives, and the answer is that this is simply a warning to not fall into the same whole that Socrates fell into, he may have gotten close but as they say “close only counts in horse shoes, hand grenades, and atom bombs.”