I have been reading ancient philosophy the last few days because
I have that kind of time. What sparked
this personal revival, if you will, was a past discussion I had with a
professor of mine in graduate school. The
chair of the department would teach a course in the summer titled, Advanced
Research and Statistics. The purpose was
to make students better researchers and how to use a statistics program. One of the course readings was, “The
Philosophy of Research”. The purpose of the
reading was to show how the rational investigation of questions about existence,
knowledge, and ethics is essential to research regardless of the topic. Hang on; I’m coming to my first point.
The discussion with the chair involved the writings of Plato. He theorized that Plato had proven the
existence of God over two thousand years ago.
Plato accomplished this through logical reasoning. No fancy mysticism or prophecy, just logical
reasoning. Plato was able to logically prove the existence of God by asking himself two questions. Just two questions and some down home
logic. Plato began by asking himself:
1.
Is there a God?
A perfectly sane and logical question. I am going out on a limb and stating that every
person who has ever existed has questioned the existence of God or of some divine
creator. We would not be human if we did
not ask this question at least once.
Plato followed up with his second question:
2.
Am I God?
He began his reasoning with the idea that if you have to ask
then you cannot afford it. If you are
questioning your own divinity then you are probably not a God. Plato reasoned that because he is able to ask
these questions and think on these matters, then he must be part of an imperfect
situation. If there is an imperfect
situation then, logically, there must be a perfect situation and if there is a
perfect situation then there must be a perfect being. Guess who Plato theorized was the perfect
being?
The remembrance of this discussion got my creative juices
flowing and I decided to re-familiarize myself with the classics. Eventually, I stumbled onto Euclid’s
Elements. Euclid was a Greek
mathematician from around 300 B.C. and his book details early mathematic
principles and axioms (yes, ladies I am single). His works are still used today because we
still hold them to be true. The first
book of Euclid’s Elements is titled Common Notions and one of these notions set
off a mind grenade in my brain. Common
notion one states, “Things which equal the same thing also equal one another”. By now it should be obvious what I am really talking about. Yup, gay
marriage. Ha! Didn’t see that coming did you?!
I will make this quick and I will not be too preachy. There is a raging debate going on in the U.S.
Supreme Court and across the nation on the topic of gay marriage. Most people do not change their minds based
solely on logic, but, I am going to lay out a logical argument without
appealing to raw emotion, prejudice, or guilt.
There is an important passage from the Declaration of
Independence which is the basis of our society and legal system. The passage states, “We hold these truths to
be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”. Remembering Euclid’s first common notion, let’s
loop this through the current issue. If
you believe in the premise of America, that all men are created equal, then we
are all deserving of equal protection under the law. The arguments before the Supreme Court are
discussing if gay marriages can be recognized under federal law which would
determine tax statuses, inheritance, last wills and testament, and wealth
transference. That should be the entire
argument. No morals, religion, or family
values. If you agree that all are created equal
then we are all deserving of equal protection under the law and no one idea or
religion should be favored above all else.
That should solve this dilemma and should be the sole basis for any
argument on the topic. You are welcome
America and where is my Nobel?
