“Catastrophic Gradualism”

It is common in contemporary humanist writing to find that a good deal of lip service is paid to the value of “emotion,” “compassion,” “human needs,” “vision,” and the like, but somehow reason always emerges as the dominate force in any humanist world view. This is not the road to synthesis. For a working synthesis can only be achieved if we make a continuous conscious effort to purge our thoughts and behavior of all traces of condescension towards the non-rational part of our nature. Emotion is a vital part of life – anger, love, fear, happiness – part of the essence of daily existence, part of our birthright which we have paid for with the countless deaths and tragedies over the course of eons. In full partnership with emotion, reason has at least a chance to help us survive. Without it, none. As usual Orwell, in his frank and simple language, has said it very well, in this case in an essay entitled “Catastrophic Gradualism.” “The practical men have led us to the edge of the abyss, and the intellectuals in whom acceptance of power politics has killed first the moral sense, and then the sense of reality, are urging us to march rapidly forward without changing direction.” Is there survival value in morality? I believe so. The modern effort to disprove the existence of altruism, the glorification of selfishness, and the apotheosis of the cost-benefit analysis are all manifestations of a reason run amok. They are short term wisdom, and no good can come of them. It is time to question reason once again, and a good question to start with can be found in Matthew 6:27. “Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?” The Arrogance of Humanism by David Ehrenfeld, chapter 4, Emotion and Reason, p.174