Conatus: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

morality as we are with truth. We’ll see this as a re-current theme throughout the work. It is a temptation to derive values and ethics either just from what we observe people doing or from what we think values and ethics ought to be. Both approaches are suspect, and in this work it is a rather more complex story that I’m looking to tell!

So the hope of finding absolute truth, beauty and goodness is, to say the least, optimistic! But we still cling to a hope — and even live out in practice — the idea that all these big three are indeed solid and immovable. Of necessity, a start must be made from the knowledge of the world that seems to be available — with the intimate presence of our own minds and the seeming endurance of an external reality. Perhaps our brains are hard-wired to process the world in particular ways. Or perhaps something about the way the world is in itself leads us inevitably to see it in the way that it is normally seen, even if the underlying reality is different. But, if this is the case, it’s an odd and unsettling idea that our minds cannot be trusted!

And the situation is a bit more subtle than just saying yes or no to whether one, two or all three of our big three can be ticked off as ‘conquered’. For one thing, I think it’s a good thing to be uncertain! I think doubt should be welcomed as the doubt allows for scope and imagination in the way the world is met. I think this can give us a measure of genuine tolerance and compassion in dealing with others. But actually, as explored in this work, the way these matters are dealt with is a story that people seem almost reluctant to admit to! Because it’s not a

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