This refusal to consider take consequential evidence into analytical consideration is a gross intellectual error in that it violates fundamental principles in both scientific and legal inquiry. This reality logically leads to the question of the source of the opening quotation, which is NOT the Bible. It is instead the recorded insights of one of the greatest of all philosophers, the pagan thinker, Aristotle in his section on ethics.[1] There is found the additional factor of the moral dimension to the right application of knowledge. One anonymous author states,
“The
phrase ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ has
come to mean something different than was originally intended. In the West, the
proverb see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil means
to turn a blind eye to something that is legally or morally wrong. In this
case, a person who will see no evil, hear no evil,
and speak no evil pretends that he has not witnessed
wrongdoing, and therefore abdicates all responsibility in righting a wrong.”[2]
Aristotle and the Apostle Paul (Romans
1:18-32) agree with each other on the reality of a moral dimension (obligation)
to not merely take notice of truth but also seek it out and indeed obey its
ramifications. Aristotle’s teacher, Plato,
preceded him regarded this matter of a binding obedience to truth by affirming
in his “Republic” his commitment to “follow the truth where it leads.”[3]
[1] H.H. Joachim, tr. Renford Bambrough, ed. Philosophy
of Aristotle. “Ethics” Book III. (Mentor, 1963), pp. 323-4. Boldface mine.
[2] https://grammarist.com/proverb/see-no-evil-hear-no-evil-speak-no-evil/
[3] H.D.P. Lee tr. Plato: The Republic. (Penguin, 1955), #394, p. 133.
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