> I think it depends on what one means by "religious" (which doesn't mean
> "certain" or "dogmatic" -- doubt is a central theme in Christianity after
> all, even if we restrict ourselves to what I personally think is the most
> interesting religion). Certainly a lot of the ethical precepts in Marx (and
> Enlightenment figures in general) are ultimately of Christian derivation,
> and the eschatology has a lot of parallels with it.
>
>
> --- On Thu, 11/20/08, Philp Pilkington <pilkingtonphil at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > People often confuse religion with fanaticism and absolute
> > conviction. For
> > example I don't reckon that Marx was in any way
> > religious. If you read his
> > writings they're all over the place and often
> > self-contradictory, they seem
> > to suffer (?) from a perpetual lack of conviction. I think
> > that's probably
> > why he never wrote the "bible" of dialectical
> > materialism... that would have
> > to wait for some pious disciple like Althusser. Certainly
> > though Marx's
> > writings incorporated many religious elements (which is
> > fairly
> > inevitable...) and these were quickly picked up on by many.
> >
> > Unfortunately, people can just as easily start worshipping
> > logic and
> > supposed rationality - to the point that it becomes highly
> > irrational, to
> > the point that it becomes a sort of
> > "rationalisation", in the psychological
> > sense of the term, for peoples actions (just look at the
> > "Objectivists"). I
> > think its less the belief system one adheres to and more
> > the manner in which
> > one adheres to it.
> >
> > Johann Georg Hamann, the anti-Kantian par excellence, once
> > said: "I look
> > upon logical proofs as a well-bred girl looks upon a love
> > letter". Of course
> > he was saying this from the standpoint of Christianity, but
> > I always like to
> > think that it was less in the name of religion that he said
> > this and more in
> > the name of countering dogmatism...
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>
>
>
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>
Personally I've always found that religion, when articulated properly, tends to be a very sophisticated representation of both the social link and collective desires. It can also function as an extremely precise language to cast psychology in - Kierkegaard was ten times the psychologist any of his secular rivals were. I've always found it humorous to open up a book by someone like Habermas. In attempting to articulate an all-encompassing "social philosophy" he merely follows step by step the construction of an anti-dogmatic theology. It seems to me that Western reason is far too rooted in religious discourse to ever move fully away from it.