[September 1998 journal entry] What is my ‘core’?
- There is a ‘more’ to being human (i.e., some reality/essence about being human that is beyond empirical verification) that requires a vocabulary, grammar, discourse.
- There is a reality beyond my/our perception/interpretation, thus mixing reality and my/our perception/interpretation.
- Human beings leave evidence supporting the thesis that they are the most oughtful, reflective, and imaginative of beings on earth.
- The category ‘human being’ includes variations in (1) intelligence, (2) cultural formation, (3) gender, (4) individual stages of existence (e.g., birth and death) – with the lower end of these variations found among human beings merging/overlapping with the higher end of the variations found among some other beings.
- ‘God’ as a reality transcends ideas of ‘God’ in human discourse due to cosmo-, socio-, and anthropomorphisms.
- Trust/conviction must include doubt.
- Integrity must be maintained.
- A political theory must affirm the individual as such and the individual as a social being.
- Ethics can be reduced to a single concept/vision – i.e., respect (i.e., re + specere).