Secular Thomism

In my experience, the modern elite university is an intellectual wasteland. Most students are just trying to get job security, and insofar as they can be said to have ethical or philosophical views, they are uncritical “preference” utilitarians of a decidedly scientistic cast of mind.

But there are very significant exceptions among students and faculty. It is thanks to them that, despite the depressing general standard, I cherish my time at college as a period of tremendous intellectual growth.

Many of my most valuable interlocutors were liberals who managed to transcend the ambient liberal preconceptions and take conservative critiques with full seriousness. Yet, despite their honesty and rigor, it soon became clear that they would never change their mind on any basic conclusion of ethics or policy. They would tolerate no bad arguments for their conclusions, but would accept anything that would have to be true for their conclusions to make sense. There was no bullet that they would not bite, no view of man or society so unattractive or counterintuitive that they wouldn’t accept it, provided it could get them to gay marriage and an unlimited abortion license.

This attitude towards the conclusions of mainstream liberalism is, interestingly, comparable to Thomas Aquinas’ attitude towards the revealed truths of Christianity. He rejected bad arguments for any Christian position, but ultimately never doubted the doctrines, and he would accept anything that would have to be true for these doctrines to make sense.

How odd that a tradition historically dominated by proud rationalists now has advocates who treat it like a revealed religion.