RELIGION AND THE INTELLECTUALS
477
the people Philip Rahv has named the "secular radicals," with being
religious myself. Yet such, unfortunately, is not the case. I say "un–
fortunately" because, from a purely intellectual point of view, God is
a hypothesis I found to be, if not necessary, at least most convenient.
For two reasons:
( 1) I'm compelled to recognize the existence of two worlds
which don't seem to connect: that of "science," where judgments can
be established objectively, on the basis of quantitative criteria
(measurements), and that of "values," where judgments are ultimate–
ly subjective and criteria are qualitative (one's own personal moral
belief and aesthetic taste- these may be communicated to others
and may influence them, for men do have "something in common"
in those fields, but they can not be established with the precision
and universality of scientific judgments, since the appeal is a sub–
jective one, from "me" to "you," and "you" is always different from
"me") . Despite John Dewey's technically impressive effort to bridge
the gap, in his
A Theory of Valuation,
I see it as still gap-ing. For
some reason, this dualism makes me uncomfortable, and I try in–
stinctively to show that the good also "works," that honesty is the
best policy and beauty is truth, truth beauty. The most satisfactory
bridge between the two worlds is ... God. But, for me, the bridge
is out.
(2) An even more important intellectual function of God is
to serve as an ultimate base for one's system of values. Discussing the
basis of one's moral code is like taking apart one of those wooden
Russian eggs, each of which encloses a still smaller one: "I believe
it is wrong to kill people." "Why?" "Because I have respect for
humanity." "Why?" "Because I am human and recognize my
brother's kinship." "Why?" etc., etc.
If
one believes in God, one
finally gets down to an ultimate egg that is solid and so ends the
taking-apart (analytical) process. God is simply and logically an
absolute, an end and not a means, unique in our-that is, some
of us- experience. But an unbeliever gets down to an egg that is
hollow like the rest, but that contains no further egg. One's belief
turns out to rest, ultimately, on air-"I just feel it to be so." This
doesn't bother me too much emotionally, but it is undeniably awk–
ward from a logical point of view.
Yet what can I do? I just don't seem to have the knack for
