5.29.2009

What's with David Brooks?

And his burgeoning determinism?:
"Supreme Court justices, like all of us, are emotional intuitionists. They begin their decision-making processes with certain models in their heads. These are models of how the world works and should work, which have been idiosyncratically ingrained by genes, culture, education, parents and events. These models shape the way judges perceive the world. "

2 comments:

Darwin said...

Determinism is the god to which those who have no others eventually resort, since it provides the only remaining answers for questions about, "Why is this the way it is?"

And yet, they're fundamentally unsatisfying answers, because the human creature instinctually believes (not, I would argue, as a matter of determinism, but because of a deeply rooted contact with the real) that qualities such as "good" and "just" do in fact exist.

Zach said...

Nah, "good" and "just" are just gussied-up emotions we have every once and a while :)

But seriously, you make a very astute point.

Human beings are unavoidably creatures of purpose and meaning. How privileged we are as Christians to be privy to the true and ultimate purpose of mankind. It's much more thrilling than to "find meaning" in telling other people that their lives are meaningless.