"There was a vitality to the believer type - whether he called himself Christian, Zionist, Communist, or any of a hundred other faiths which had shaken history. It was too bad that the reasonable man didn't share that devotion. But then, he wouldn't be reasonable if he did." (p. 65)
A false dichotomy.
"Reasonable" and "rational" have different connotations. Many self-proclaimed "reasonable" types would probably regard it as unreasonable to apply reason rigorously. When CS Lewis converted to Theism, he expected God to be Reason but not necessarily to be reasonable.
Many believers claim either that their beliefs are reasoned or that they combine reason with well-attested revelation transcending but not contradicting reason. Finally, rationalists have been devoted to causes that shook history.
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
But I think you are missing the point of what the character you were quoting from PLANET OF NO RETURN probably meant. I think he thought "reasonable men" were more likely than not to be lacking in zeal and determination. To be lacking in willingness to sacrifice everything, if necessary, for advancing a cause.
And what were some of these "rationalists" whose causes shook history?
Sean
Sean,
I thought some of the leaders of the American and French Revolutions?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But the leaders of the American and French (the latter of which I have only the utmost possible scorn and contempt) were not acting reasonably in the ways I would use that word. Zeal, determination, unbending determination also marked many of those leaders. People with those qualities can be used for bad causes as well--such as the French Revolution. Many French revolutionaries were also cruel, brutal, and blood thirsty fanatics.
Sean
Sean,
Maybe we are back at the different connotations of "reasonable" and "rationalist"?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
To ME, I think of a "reasonable man" as one who is calm, logical, non-fanatical, open to persuasion and being convinced of something by the evidence.
Sean
Sean,
That is reasonable.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And the exact opposite of a zealot and fanatic.
Sean
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