What Kind of Man Would Take on God?

Abstract

Trying to answer the baffling “accursed” questions, even an intelligent man can go off on a tangent. Philosophy is like any other science in that one first comes up with a hypothesis, then tests it against available evidence, and then, depending on how the test turns out, either accepts the hypothesis or not. Philosophy is unlike any other science in that there are no instruments whose flashing displays and flailing cursors can tell the thinker to turn around and backtrack to his starting point. The thinker acts as his own testing equipment: his mind says the ostensibly promising idea does not really work, his integrity accepts the disappointment, his inner strength forces him to do an about-face, however painful such a reversal may be.

And who are the judges?

Alexander Griboyedov