What Does Our Culture of Bad Answers Need? More Questions

In our culture ruled by relativism, we've lost the ability to ask questions.

By Jim Tonkowich Published on March 14, 2018

In a recent article entitled “We All Live on Campus Now,” columnist and gay activist Andrew Sullivan wrote,

As for objective reality, I was at an event earlier this week — not on a campus — when I made what I thought was the commonplace observation that Jim Crow laws no longer exist. Uncomprehending stares came back at me. What planet was I on? Not only does Jim Crow still exist, but slavery itself never went away! When I questioned this assertion by an African-American woman, I was told it was “not my place” to question her reality. After all, I’m white.

His sin was not just his comment, but the far worse sin: “I questioned this assertion.”

Do You Dare Question?

In a recent lecture with the rather provocative title “Is Reading Plato Necessary for Salvation?”, my Wyoming Catholic College colleague Dr. Thaddeus Kozinski talked about the death of questioning. “The death of questioning, of inquiry,” he said, “is the death of the soul.”

Kozinski quotes Alasdair MacIntyre. Our age, says the the Notre Dame philosopher, “tends to be a culture of answers, not of questions, and those answers, whether secular or religious, liberal or conservative, are generally delivered as though meant to put an end to questioning.”

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Consider campus protests and you’ll see that Andrew Sullivan got off easy. Ask a question, receive a string of expletives. You’re labeled “racist,” “homophobe,” “Nazi,” “white supremacist,” and so on. You’re just a bad person with no right to an opinion so don’t ask questions.

Inquire about homosexuality, transgenderism, sanctuary cities or any other fad of the day and get the same treatment. I say “fad of the day” because behind the most vehemently held beliefs of our day is relativism. Relativism writes all things in sand even if it writes them with a vengeance. The next tide of elite opinion could wash away everything.

The Tyranny of Relativism

Relativism is the notion that there are no or at least no knowable truths. It sounds like freedom. In all matters of truth and morality, we each get to decide for ourselves. No one’s truth is better than anyone else’s. What could provide greater freedom and equality?

Of course, sooner rather than later, my “truth” and actions I take based on that “truth” come into conflict with your “truth” and actions you take based on that “truth.” When that happens, we need resolution. But in this relativistic system, no resolution is possible.

The only way to convince our neighbors — and more important, our children — of the Good that can lead to God is to revitalize questioning.

There is no objective truth against which we can measure our ideas and actions. Rationality itself is viewed merely a social construct. So a rational conversation to work things out is impossible. The only way to keep the peace is through power. Either I force you to do it my way or you force me to do it yours. This is why any opinion that contradicts mine becomes an existential threat. All conflicts must be to the death.

Feelings Change

The catch is that opinions arrived at for no compelling rational reason but rather by feelings can suddenly change. Only a few years ago the vast majority even in liberal strongholds like Hawaii were against same-sex marriage. And transgenderism was not the coolest thing on high school campuses. (Though even twenty years ago, bisexuality was.) Not any more. Feelings changed and, God help us, we’re changing laws to match those feelings.

Could it all change again? It’s all about subjective feelings and political expedients rather than arguments about what is real. So it certainly could. But changes won’t help us if we are still relativists who will not believe in any truth beyond our individual, private judgments.

Why We Need Plato

What we need, Kozinski argues, is Plato.

If Plato teaches us anything, and if reading Plato has any effect on our souls, it is this: The Good exists, and we are not it; it is absolute, demands our obedience, is thoroughly knowable by every human being; finally, that it is in searching for, knowing, and obeying this Good, which we can encounter in the very heart of our souls, that we become happy, and are rendered pure so as to possess this happiness forever.”

This is a pre-Christian idea as surely as Plato was a pre-Christian thinker. It’s also a pre-evangelization idea. What if our neighbors don’t believe in the possibility of absolutes? Then even if they receive Christ, at best all they’re doing is taking on a nice hobby to fill up Sunday mornings with good feelings.

The only way to convince our neighbors — and more important, our children — of the Good that can lead to God is to revitalize questioning. We should encourage honest inquiry and discussion in our homes, in our churches, and among our friends. Not for the sake of endless skepticism. But, in imitation of Plato, to reject relativism, discover the Good and the True. That way we can go beyond Plato to meet the Absolute One who is the Truth.

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