In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
- John 1:1-5
Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight.
- Isaiah 5:20-21
“ ‘A meaning of a word is its use in language.’ – Ludwig Wittgenstein”
- Bryan Magee, The Story of Philosophy
“ ‘The Sense of Reality is vital in Logic.’ – Bertrand Russell”
- Bryan Magee, The Story of Philosophy
“Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.”
- C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was an Austrian-English philosopher, logician, and linguist. He was born into a very wealthy family. He gave large portions of his wealth to a variety of people, and eventually gave the rest to his brothers and sisters. He left philosophy for a while to act as an army officer in World War I and then taught in schools in rural areas of Austria. He created controversy by using harsh corporal punishments. He moved to England in 1939. He was raised Catholic, and he held to the Christian faith, but he was three quarters Jewish.
I am sure that Wittgenstein could define “woman.”
The Wittgenstein quote above seems so elementary that we might shrug it off. But add it to the Bertrand Russell quote, and we have some of the anarchy in our world today.
The psychology people have created great chaos in our society. They first made the statement that queer people were born that way. Sure, we all have a sin nature, and we are all attracted to one sin or another, but that does not make our sin something good for us. And they have never found any science to back up their statement. But then, psychology went further, to create hundreds of genders when there is only two. Why? They could not figure out how to “cure” the issue, so stating that it was normal for them “cured” them, but it started a firestorm. Again, sin cannot be called good, just because an individual wants it to be normal. But then the medical profession joined in to transition people.
In short, we humans began to play god. And now, some in the medical profession, most all politicians, and others cannot define what a woman is.
I noticed one female cross-country skier who had a full mustache. Some countries have been banned from one Olympics or another by feeding their female athletes male hormones to build up muscle before a competition. I had a friend who won her weight class in the national powerlifting competition. She said she was the only female there who did not have a five-o’clock shadow.
There are tests for such drug enhancements. And there are clear identifications of the genders, but if the meaning of the word is muddied, then anarchy results.
That is the key here. Wittgenstein’s statement should be a plainly obvious statement, but when the corollary reigns we get anarchy. There are rioters and protestors spewing hatred toward people who do not think the way they do, but if the words were carefully defined and understood by both sides, would we start asking “What we were fighting for?”
Words often have context. The word “Word” at the beginning of the Gospel of John refers to Jesus in poetic form. Maybe not necessarily Jesus, but the Son of God. In understanding the context in these verses, we clearly see what and who Jesus was and is.
And once we define our words carefully, we can communicate. As long as some words change as often as the wind changes, communication is impossible. And then distrust and even hatred rule the day.
It used to be big news when the writers of dictionaries published their annual new words and outdated words. They were only allowed to change so many per year. Now that everything is digital, we can change the definitions of words instantaneously, but should we?
Let us take in a deep breath and think about the harm we cause by making bad good and good bad. Let us leave the dictionaries alone for a while until everyone can logically figure out when end is up, and maybe the anarchy will lessen.
If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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