Reason, logic, secularism in Western culture. Mysticism, religion, faith and subjectivism in non-Western culture. Philosophy, definition of reason

Western Culture Knowledge Center:
What is Western Culture? • Reason • Individualism • Happiness • Rights • Capitalism

Contents
Introduction and definition
What is Reason?
Reason Devalued in Third World
Reason Devalued in Second World
Reason and Survival
Culture of Success
Culture of Failure
Reality or Brutality

Many fundamental differences exist between nations where Western culture dominates (nations of the First World) and nations where non-Western culture dominates (nations of the Third and Second World.)

Disparities in knowledge, achievement, economic development and life expectancy name just a few. The differences are ultimately explained by the fact that Western culture is derived from reason and non-Western culture is not.

What is Reason?
The ancient Greek philosophers, especially Aristotle (384-322 BC), were the first to formally recognize that objective knowledge is acquired by reason.

Reason is reality- or fact-based thought and perception. In technical terms, it is the faculty that enables humans to gain objective knowledge by organizing information from their senses into concepts according to the laws of logic.^[1]

Reason is based on the view that reality—the world we live in—is real, absolute, universal, objective, complete in itself, and exists independent of and prior to the thoughts, hopes, desires and prayers of anyone and everyone. Reason presupposes that reality is orderly and stable, governed by causality and is, therefore, knowable and intelligible to the human mind. Secularism and science stem from this view of reality.

The competitors to reason are mysticism and subjectivism.

Reason Devalued in Third World
Mysticism is a cultural force throughout nearly all of the world. But it is especially influential in the Third World, namely Africa and the Middle East.

Mysticism is the claim to a supernatural means of knowledge—one other than or contrary to the evidence of the senses and reason, such as revelation and intuition. All religion is a product of mysticism.

Mysticism is based on the view that the reality we perceive is not real, that it is merely a reflection or distortion of “true” reality, which is supernatural. Therefore, the reality we perceive, according to this view, is dependent on “true” reality and is manipulated by it in ways that are largely beyond the grasp of reason.

Hence, a society that embraces mysticism places emphasis, not on this world, but on “true” reality. Specifically, such a society often emphasizes the existence and power of a supernatural being, such as Allah (the Islamic God), who is believed to represent "true" reality.

And instead of being guided by reason, a mystical society is typically guided by individuals on earth and sacred texts that are believed to provide mystical insight into "true" reality—such as Muhammad (Allah's spokesperson on earth) and the Koran (the word of Allah revealed to Muhammad), respectively.

Reason Devalued in Second World
Subjectivism is also a cultural force throughout much of the world, albeit a fading one. And it is especially influential in the Second World, which contains communist, socialist and left-leaning nations.

Subjectivism holds that truth varies, usually for different groups of people, such as different economic classes, and that each group, to some degree, creates its own truth. In other words, what may be true for one group is false for another. As a result, this view holds that different groups and their versions of truth clash and compete, i.e., bourgeois/capitalist truth vs. proletarian/worker truth.

Subjectivism is based on the view that reality is not universal, absolute and independent of people's desires—but can be altered, in whole or in part, by human consciousness. As a result, subjectivism holds that people should dispense with, at least to some degree, the notion of objective reality—as well as with reason, the tool for grasping it.

In fact, the Second World holds that the claim that reason and its conclusions are valid is mere propaganda, created to help the capitalists exploit the working class. Or, in the words of Karl Marx: The “kingdom of reason [is] nothing more than the idealized kingdom of the bourgeoisie.”^[2]

Despite its reputation, the Second World does not and has never represented reason. It is ultimately as hostile toward reason as is the mystical Third World.

Reason and Survival
Humans cannot survive as animals do. Animals survive by relying on their physical traits, such as fur to protect them from cold. And they rely on claws, sharp teeth, keen senses, brute strength and speed to catch prey and avoid predators. Animals also rely on instinct to guide their actions and to keep them alive.

If we humans tried to live like animals, relying mainly on our comparatively puny physical traits or instinct, we would quickly perish, probably from starvation or exposure to the elements.

For humans to survive, we must do so as humans. That is, we must use our minds. To achieve any hope of survival we need shelter, clothes and hunting tools. And to flourish we need language, agriculture, medicine, a proper government, industrialization and countless other values. These things are not created instinctively or merely by physical labor. Nor are they gifts from God. Rather, they are primarily the products of human reason.

In other words, humans are the "rational animal”—not because we always use reason, but because our capacity to reason is our defining attribute, our basic means of survival.

Culture of Success
Over the past 200 years or more, Western culture has given the world a glimpse of the potential of the rational animal. In places where Western culture has dominated, a flood of material and spiritual wealth has flowed forth, benefiting human life by every objective measure.

Western culture has proven that humans are not helpless or hopeless. We need not cower before nature and the challenges of living, but can rather face them boldly—with the confidence that we, through the power of reason, can ultimately answer any question, triumph over any obstacle, achieve greatness and shape the world in the image of our values.

Western culture has shown that life on earth can be fulfilling, joyful and even heavenly. And it has shown that the reaching of ever-higher levels of knowledge, achievement, progress and human splendor can be commonplace, and that setbacks and suffering need only be temporary and unimportant.

Culture of Failure
Both Western culture and non-Western culture show the power of reason. Western culture shows what happens when reason guides a culture; non-Western culture shows what happens when it does not.

Ignorance, superstition, dogma, poverty, despair, dread, meekness, disease, violence and premature death are the hallmarks of non-Western culture. And whatever advanced knowledge, progress and reprieve from misery people living in it have ultimately comes from Western culture.

With the suffering that accompanies it with each passing day, non-Western culture proves that people can reject reason as their guide to thought and action, but they cannot escape the fact that reason is man’s means of survival.

How much longer will people of the Third and Second World, by choosing to not embrace reason, reject their humanity and doom themselves to darkness, including genuine darkness?

Reality or Brutality
One hallmark of non-Western culture that deserves special attention is violence. Disgusting brutality on a ghastly scale often takes place within, or emanates from, nations where non-Western culture dominates.

Some of the blackest examples of violence within non-Western culture include: the murder of at least 85 million people in communist nations in the 20th century^[3]; the murder of nearly one million people in Africa since the mid-1990s; and the murder of as many as 600,000 people in Iraq under Saddam Hussein.^[4]

Some of the blackest recent examples of violence emanating from non-Western culture, in terms of loss of life, include of course the September 11, 2001 massacre and the Madrid and London bombings.

The lack of embrace of reason in non-Western culture is ultimately the cause of these atrocities. Reason is the only objective way in which people can communicate and understand one another. When people deal with one another by reason they refer to reality as their objective arbiter and guide, and this allows people to ultimately settle disputes peacefully.

When people claim, however, that their knowledge is mystical, above reality and reason, or that it is subjective, and that reality is relative and reason is mere propaganda—then no persuasion, communication or understanding is possible. Consequently, in case of disagreement, there can be no recourse except to physical force and violence.^[5]

Until people in non-Western culture recognize that reason is the foundation of a proper, civilized and peaceful society—the failure, the suffering and the bodies will only continue to pile up.

Go to Individualism

[1] Leonard Peikoff, Objectivism: the Philosophy of Ayn Rand, (New York, Meridian 1991) p.152 soft cover.
[2] Karl Marx, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, translated by Aveling, pp.3-4.
[3] Stephane Courtois, Nicolas Werth, Jean-Louis Panne, and Andrzej Paczkowski, The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression; (Harvard University Press, October 1999).
[4] The Documental Centre for Human Rights in Iraq
[5] Ayn Rand, Philosophy: Who Needs It; “Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World” (New York, Signet, 1982) p.70.