Re: BHA: Bearded men

[Colin Wight <Colin.Wight@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Michael,

A good thought experiment at that. I'm not convinced that it changes the
logic of my argument though. If indeed there was a happy character located
somewhere in historical time out of which the narratives of Santa are
constructed, then I concede. Santa existed, because he existed, or, at
least we might uncover a historical account of someone somewhere who seems
to fit the bill. But would this be Santa? I don't think so, anymore than I
think that the person who wandered round the Holy Land was Jesus (defined
as the son of God). I do think it possible/likely that there was a person
who acted in certain manner, that played a particular political and
religious role out of which the stories of Christianity are constructed.
However, was he Jesus? Well it seems to me that a depth realist ontology
and fallibilist epistemology has to leave open the possibility that
christianty has simply got it wrong and that the person the Romans
crucified was not Jesus, the son of God, but some con-man on the make.

 The mere existence of someone claiming to be Jesus, or claimed by others
to be Jesus, doesn't make them Jesus. In order to do that they would have
to meet the criteria by which a reference to Jesus can be said to succeed.
If by Jesus you simply mean the person the Romans dealt with, then we might
say your reference succeeds, but if by Jesus we mean the son of God, then
it may fail.

There are deep poststructuralist traps, it seems to me, waiting round the
corner in this debate, if we aren't clear about what our referents are. I
know there has been much debate about who Shakespeare really was and that
it doesn't matter who really wrote some of the material. It does to me I'm
afraid, at some level at least.

Cheers,



Thanks,


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Dr. Colin Wight
Department of International Politics
University of Wales
Aberystwyth
Tel: (01970) 621769
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