I once sent a reading list to my friend Michael, who is a PhD in philosophy and religion, to get his thoughts on using it to try and create a sort of self-directed masters in history, technology, and religion.
He wrote back and said something like, “Cool, yeah lots of stuff you’d expect to see in here. But, you’d never start with a reading list. You start by finding the questions you’re interested in, find a way to arrange them intelligibly, derive the most relevant topics to help answer those questions, and then start reading.”
First, you need interesting questions. Then you can go somewhere.
Well, the main question(s) on my mind right now is:
What is the Good Life?
So, I have my question.
I think I’ve arranged it intelligibly. Or at least legibly.
Which is:
I believe in high capacity classical liberalism. And throw some communitarianism in there.
High capacity classical liberalism:
- Classical Liberalism
- The individual matters.
- There are natural rights and a discoverable moral framework (and to tie that into my Christian faith, I believe God set in motion with the creation of the universe).
- Free speech is necessary.
- Freedom to determine your life is important.
- Free trade is necessary: individuals should be free to make and exchange.
- High Capacity
- The state is responsible for providing a framework for the individuals consenting to work together for some goal (a nation), to achieve these aims.
- The state respects these realities and enforces them in the least coercive way they can.
- The state should do it’s best to be good at doing this.
The point of writing this is to acknowledge, and express, the question top of mind for me right now.
Originally, when starting this post a few hours ago I thought my question was: What is my economic and political model of the world? And, where does my Christian faith fit into that?
But then I left the post and came back, and realized that my question is more simple than that.
The questions of, “What are my economic and political models of the world? And, where does my Christian faith fit into that?” are the relevant topics derived from the question.
Next is the reading list.
It’s good think.