More on 'On the Genealogy of Morals'

This issue that I am currently having about the problem of Christian morality is in some way related to a talk I attended last Monday organised by the Legion of Mary. The topic was about 'Truth'. In a nutshell, and as you might be familiar, it was about how 'truth' has been degraded in recent times into unknowability, how relativism reigns, and how the modern world has become one of 'feeling' and not 'knowing'. A good article to read if you are interested is 'On Faith and Reason' by the Catholic Church. The speaker argued that Truth exists and that other truths, such as scepticism or agnosticism, despite being perfectly logical and coherent, are actually "self-refuting absurdities.

The point is likened to a madman, that has insane views about the world. To himself, he is sane, and alone knows the truth about the world (which is what he thinks and sees of the world). In fact, he can be very believable and consistent; everything in his world makes perfect sense. However, this is the problem - it actually is non-sense. There is something about the whole picture that ultimately self-refuting. For example, the doctrine that there is no such thing as truth is self-refuting in that it itself claims a truth. Apply this to religion and you can begin to see why, with the right disposition, doctrines such as Calvinism appear to be absurd nonsense.

I have tried to paint a good picture of this argument, but a big doubt on my part remains. This is encompassed in my earlier post about Nietzsche's theory of morality being genealogical. I am unable to see why some doctrines (albeit the less absurd ones) such as atheism and sociobiology are actually "self-refuting absurdities". In honesty, I feel that the Catholic faith appears just as, if not more absurd than these ideas about where we and out morals come from.

I know it is very easy to shrug off these questions and say 'arh, its too hard. Its not important! What's important is that we live life the best we can with what we have!' But I'm not one to shrug or hide. Call it a curse if you will. I need to know what this Truth is, and this curse is killing me.