by dexeron » Wed Feb 24, 2016 5:21 pm
Yeah, I said that poorly. Humanism is, certainly a "lens."
What I was aiming for was pointing out that there are lenses... and there are lenses.
Analogy time:
So, you've got dudes with bad vision. They all recognize that they can't see the world clearly. So, one dude goes and gets glasses so that he can see better.
Another dude gets glasses, but he gets his tinted pink, because just seeing things clearly is boring and the universe is so much more beautiful if everything is pink.
Both can see things, but the pink lenses are kind of pointless. They don't actually add anything to the guy's perception. The glasses have improved his ability to see, but there is this additional layer that he's added because he can't deal with the universe as it is. In addition, he runs the risk of accidentally misunderstanding the true color of potentially poisonous berries.
The first guy's perception isn't perfect, but it's objectively better because while it's still a lens, and can still be scratched, and sometimes the guy forgets to wear it, we can't just say "well, they both have lenses, so both approaches are equivalent."
Yeah, it's a terrible analogy.