Viktor Frankl
I really like Viktor Frankl and his ideas. I have been reading Man’s Search for Meaning for the paper and he has become one of my favorite thinkers that I have encountered in this class. His idea of logotherapy shows his redemptive spirit. His ideas about how people must find meaning in their lives offers hope. He had first-hand experience of the depths of human experience, spending three years in the Nazi Concentration Camps but his ability to be able to focus on the hope of seeing his wife again along with the opportunity to rewrite his manuscript, gave him meaning and by his own admission saved his life. That hope that shines through in his own person story is what makes it so clear that although he is classified among the existentialists, who often fit in the fall, he is a man who looked to help people in their search for meaning and to help them redeem themselves from themselves and their situations. I especially like the quote that we talked about today about how we ask life questions but how life also asks us a question. That question is, “What are you going to do about the situation you are in?”. He says that the only way to answer it is to find meaning to go on and live responsibly. That is the kind of redemptive thoughts that flowed from him throughout his career and life.
Matt McMahon on Gall's Phrenology and Fall
8:46 pm, 10.21.13
I thought this was an interesting post. I had never thought about Gall as related to prejudice but i think it is a connection that makes sense and clearly fits into the Fall.
Matt McMahon on Galton: The Fall
8:41 pm, 10.21.13
I agree with your assessment of Galton under the category of the fall. I believe Galton is a good example of the phrase, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” I’m sure that he fully believed that the work he was doing with eugenics was helping mankind but it led to atrocities like the Holocaust.
Matt McMahon on Kant's Categorical Imperative
7:05 pm, 10.07.13
I really like the idea of the categorical imperative, while I agree with Levi and you that it is hard to truly live it out because it seems like there are so many exceptions but even so I feel like the theory seems valid in a lot of ways.
Matt McMahon on Kierkegaard: Creation or Redemption?
6:46 pm, 10.07.13
I agree that Kierkegaard fits well into the category of redemption. I also wrote about him in this category. I think you made a good point of how the existentialist model could fit into the theme of creation.
Matt McMahon on Kierkegaard's Redemption
6:39 pm, 10.07.13
Levi, I think you made several good points. I think his theory can still fit with the gospel in the sense that while a personal relationship is the pinnacle. The good news is still for everyone.
Matt McMahon on Bound and Broken
6:28 pm, 09.23.13
I think you brought up some interesting thoughts in this post. I like what you had to say about his ideas of motivation. I agree often problems arise when people are striving after negative motivations.
Matt McMahon on Luther and the Fall
6:16 pm, 09.23.13
I thought that this was a good post. It really makes some interesting points about Luther. I believe he was strict but I also think in many ways he fits into the idea of Redemption because of his efforts to make changes in the church. I think you make a good argument for categorizing it under the Fall though
Matt McMahon on David Hume and The Fall
6:10 pm, 09.23.13
I like how you connected Hume’s work with the moral battles that people face. I find that topic really interesting.
Matt McMahon on Thales-The Fall
3:57 pm, 09.08.13
I think you make some good points but I think I might have categorized Thales under Creation because of his ideas about trying to find out a primary substance of physics. I think his search for naturalistic explanations inform creation because he is still trying to figure out how things came to be.
Matt McMahon on In the Beginning...
3:47 pm, 09.08.13
I thought this was a very interesting and well thought post. It also brought up some questions though. Are things such as poverty eternal? Or are they simply symptoms of the things that are eternal such as people? And if they are not eternal does that go Parmenides’ theory?