Guest: Dr. Aaron Preston; Deep dive into Standpoint Epistemology
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Segment #1: Interview with Dr. Aaron Preston
Dr. Preston helped us answer the question ""Why does philosophy matter??""
First, we have to understand the history of philosophy and how we got here.
Dr. Preston helped us understand the distinction between Analytic vs Continental philosophy...Analytic philosophy being a style of argumentation that utilizes rigor, formal logic, and scientific induction. In contrast, continental philosophy embraces the ""messiness"" of language, bringing in Hermeneutics (interpretation) to understand truth. Here, there is a rejection of objective meaning and instead truth is based on how it connects to the postmodern individual. Standpoint epistemology, then, (which came out of perspectivilism), falls into the category of continental philosophy.
How has Christianity historically understood the idea of truth? Christians have believed there DOES seem to be objective truths that can be KNOWABLE by humans. Furthermore, these ""necessary truths"" or ""universal truths"" (such as 2+2=4) are true at all times, in all locations, for all people. These truths are reflective of the mind of God and grounded in His character. In other words, things that MUST BE because God IS.
Okay, so what's the problem with all this??
Krista gave a helpful analogy using a shopping cart to illustrate the point...Over the years we've taken ideas from a variety of sources (Marx, Nietzsche, Critical Theory, Feminist Theory, Postmodernism) like items off a grocery shelf that have gone into our shopping cart. Now we have a poisonous mix of ideas that have been fed to university students for decades that has ""left the lab"" and has infiltrated society at large in this current cultural moment.
So what do we do now??
Let's focus on our common human experience!
**Find points of commonality
**Start off with simple experiences (i.e. our experiences of red, sweet, bitter, etc) and then move into more complex experiences (i.e. racism, oppression, etc).
**Be open to the Holy Spirit!
**Let's not limit our ability to see people from God's perspective (i.e. seeing ""the other"" as deficient).
Other Resources
Check out our friends at the ministries below! Let's support each other as family!
Terrance Williams at Kingdom Culture
Caleb Harrelson at Engage Apologetics"
Connect with Aaron
Email: Aaron.Preston@valpo.edu