Before we can possibly know that truth is the provision for the
intellectual nature of man, we must determine whether the knowing
faculties, which he finds himself to possess, are capable of grasping
truth and turning it into knowledge. The fight of skepticism in modern
times has been made upon the knowing faculties. It is useless to
talk about the existence of God, the inspiration of the Scriptures,
the divinity of Christ, or the immortality of the soul, if the human
intellect is, by its limitations, denied the possibility of knowing
anything whatsoever concerning these things. It is a waste of time for me
to attempt to dip water out of the ocean with a bucket with no bottom to
it. What is the relation of the intelligence to the outer world? Does the
outside world create knowledge in the mind by the impressions it makes
upon it, or does the mind bring something to the outside world which
converts this raw material into knowledge? Is knowledge a reflection of
the outer, or a creation of the inner? Does nature work it in us, or is
there some spontaneous, creative, organizing, mental activity within us
that takes the material presented by nature, turning it into a rational
system of knowledge? What is the relation between the being that knows
and the object known? How much of the creative factor of knowledge
does nature supply? How much does man supply? Can a man with deranged
faculties get order out of a rational world? Can a man of sane mind get
order out of an irrational world? If there is to be a rational system of
knowledge built up in the mind, must there not be reason in the thinker
and reason in the outside world, coming into organic relations, the one
with the other? As to how we regard this question will determine how we
regard truth, and whether or not it is possible for us to know it.
V.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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