The philosopher Hubert Dreyfus and Dorrance Kelly have a great story to tell. However, to the majority of scholars and analysts, the story is not quite pretty for us the modern people. Ours is the era of nihilism whose meaning isn’t that we have nothing to believe in, but we don’t have a choice on what to commit ourselves to. In this book, Hubert and Dorrance carry out incisive analysis on how we got into this mess. The duo continues to offer varied solutions on how we can come out of this mess; “the viewer and the reader to study first and then let the imagination see” (Hart, 2011, p. 64). The book offers a number of insightful readings from authors such as Dante, Descartes and Kant, Herman Melville and Homer. The authors conceptualize that great books are like gathering places where the major cultural forces are focused; “our culture suffers from a dearth of reverence and gratitude, but we needn’t go all the way back to pagans to find it” (Neiman, 2011, p. 9). In as much as the philosophers try to stay general, they state that the roles of daily religious practices, gender dynamics and poverty have meaningless contribution to the philosophical world. Hence, this philosophy can be deemed as a lack of acknowledging the input of the ordinary things; “All Things Shining is an oddly empty book: It asks so many questions and then provides shallow answers” (Hart, 2011, p. 64).
In their argument, the authors rely solemnly on Heidegger’s concept of attunement, which reveals how receptive moods give us a clear meaning of the world. We however get out-tuned when we start to pursue monotheism; “it would allow us to survive the breakdown of Monotheism while resisting the descent into a nihilistic existence” (Dreyfus, 2011, p. 409). This approach opens up the notion that there is a coalescing principle at work in the face of the entire world. For this reason, human will tend to make the world either serve our interests or reveal its secrets. Upon trying so hard to exit this out of the world, we end up losing our touch with the whole world. The authors admire how Dante focuses on the saving capacity of various forms of a strong desire, only to find that its ultimate on the overwhelming praise on God renders all these earthly joys quite irrelevant. The achievement made by Dante turns out not to be the best answer to nihilism, but a guiding step to another direction (Dreyfus, 2011, p. 409).
In the book, Dante has been presented as the high point of the medieval thought. They go ahead to applaud his placement for his wife, Beatrice, as the intermediate focus of Dante’s desire. However, they seem to conclude that Beatrice and the world are discarded by the zeal for God (Hart, 2011, p. 65). Dante, in his book, Divine Comedy, he states that for us to have proper living, we must always conform to our reasons and will to that path that has been assigned to human nature. This path leads right from conception to the stage of vision. Dante shared Aristotle’s hypothesis of the individual persons as exceptionally real (Berret, 2011, p. 190). In addition to this, Mr. Dreyfus and Mr. Kelly agree with Dante’s vision of intellectually ordered, a gorgeous and a hierarchical universe.
Dante reviews world as a place filled with richly significances, controlled by the spiritual and moral values; “during which, on their account, the individual as autonomous replaces the former socially engaged community members who were sensitive to ‘catching’ and sharing moods that change agents like Christ, or Descartes, might initiate.” (p 410) Should this view be true for Dante’s argument, then, it is not the case with Dante’s colleague Aquinas. Aquinas in his work strongly affirms that in all things there is much goodness (Dreyfus, 2011, p. 410). Therefore, Dante needs a chance to argue out his concept of free will. If your will contradicts what you are living for, then you have no sense to punish yourself for a meaningless life. It would be a clear depiction of living in denial of the realities. As much as Dante has a voice to speak out his concept of free will, it is a contradiction of the free will we are fond of (Neiman, 2011, p.9). In Dante’s view, freedom isn’t a matter of ability to choose; neither does it involve freedom from external pressures upon your action. This argument is quite contrary to the common notion of determinism (Hart, 201, p.66).
In conclusion, the author’s perception about the issue of nihilism, it’s quite clear that the world is a place full of freedom and choices. It is for this reason that a man finds it worthy to have a strong belief in which they can base their sound judgments (Dreyfus, 2011, p. 410). Therefore, these arguments have created the outstanding need of religion and worship of God. Dante’s free will concept is also geared towards the support of the above concept. In as much as most philosophers have contrary opinions to Dante’s argument about religion, it is now clear how the matter of free will remains the main motive behind staunch religious beliefs.
.
References
Berret, C. (2011). All things shining: Reading the western classics to find meaning in a secular age. Literary Review, 54(3), 189-190,199. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/883902200?accountid=1611
Dreyfus, H. L., & Kelly, S. D. (2011). All things shining: Reading the western classics to find meaning in a secular age. New York [etc.: Free Press 120-134
Hart, D. B. (2011). Whooshing through life. First Things, (211), 64-66. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/853335954?accountid=1611
Neiman, S. (2011, Jan 23). ALL THINGS SHINING. New York Times Book Review, 1-BR.1. 44-67. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/847348524?accountid=1611
