OK, so I’m writing this book. The title is, of course, “Families from the Beginning.” So I thought I’d just post some updates as it is going along, and maybe offer excerpts and ideas about the content.
The first section is either a long introduction or a short first chapter. I may just use it as the first chapter and title it “Introduction.” The point of the section is to introduce the concept of presuppositions and describe how presuppostions are the beginning points of our worldviews. I define them as “what we suppose beforehand or require to be true for our worldview, the values upon which we base our beliefs and actions, to make sense or be logically justifiable.” I discuss what I think are the various origins of presuppositions, and to expose those ideas to comment, I include the paragraphs here:
‘Some presuppositions are accepted after careful study reinforced by personal or verifiable experience. Enumeration, or the ability to count objects, is an example of such a presupposition. A child learns to count by beginning with simple recitation of otherwise meaningless words in a particular order: “One,” “Two,” “Three,” etc. Repeating the now familiar words is coordinated with the experience of handling a series of objects. Eventually, as the child begins to understand a one-to-one correlation between the words and the objects; the presence of one object gets differentiated from the presence of multiple objects. (This is usually when the idea of “Mine” also develops, which is a presupposition that tends to be inherent in mankind, which is discussed in the next paragraph.) If a child has one item, then gets another, the awareness of counting provides a word for that quantity: “Two,” (both “Mine,” of course). As other items are added, the sequence of memorized words identifies the quantities. Children then can verify that one item with another is two items, and 2 + 1 = 3, and mathematics and its wonderful corollaries become a presupposition upon which all sorts of learning and actions are based. This is also a beginning of logic, because I can count to see that one plus one equals two, but one plus one cannot equal three, because I can count to see that it is not, verifying the law of non-contradiction.
I think other presuppositions are instinctive, inherent to human nature. They are not learned by rote, or carefully studied, and are so innate that once recognized they may be ignored, but are never really disproved, overridden or unlearned. Recognizing right and left is an inherent presupposition. While the learning of which side of their body is called the “right” side versus the “left” side is normally a childhood process, the idea that there are two sides, or directionality, is instinctual, shown even by a newborn that turns its head toward a familiar sound. That an item may be desirable to be possessed, and possession may be exclusive, or “Mine” is also a presupposition inherent to all humans at an early age.
I believe that the existence of a God who created us and to whom we are accountable is an instinctive presupposition.’
What do you think? Do men have an instictive presuppostion that God exists?
