“To love truth for truth's sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world, and the seed-plot of all other virtues.”

There's a germ, a disease-causing microbe in Locke's quote. It's a throw-back to the first bite taken from the apple that hung on the tree of the knowlege of good and evil. A counter-point to Locke's philosophy is a quote by Paul (1st century A.D.): "No one is righteous---not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one." Romans 3:10-12

Paul was the first corrupter of Jesus' doctrines. I will take Locke any day. In fact, this quote is absolutely brilliant, and indeed a great truth.

Ron, what about "If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)

This quote is right-on; I'm afraid Paul's quote is right-off. The disease we have is not from any fruit but from ourselves, it's a malady that most take with them to the grave - it's called greed and indifference - as Archer said yesterday: '...The truth indeed frees those bound to belief systems. I think if Jesus were to return today, many so-called Christian faiths would come tumbling down' top marks for that one Archer.

Human perfection is a very fleeting thing. It always seems to be just within reach, but never can be grasped. It seems some here still believe in the natural goodness of humanity and that human beings can perfect themselves eventually. All of human history would say otherwise.

The flaw in your logic Ron is that Adam and Eve were seeking knowledge not truth. They already had the truth. Eal has it right.

We are most all toprn between truth and getting along. Thus Galileo recanted the truth in order to protect his standing in society and with his family. Often people are not ready for the truth. Take global warming for example. A scientist discovered and explained it over 100 years ago when he anaysed what the modern world was doing with fossil fuels. And yet we still have sceptics. Will we ever learn, it took the church 500 years to apologize to Galileo. Jesus said, :"We can see the 'splinter' in another's eye but can not detect the log that is in our own."

Brilliant! To some extent, the greatest perfection is our imperfection since learning from our mistakes teaches how not to make them any more with truth as the guide, then again honesty allows us to doubt our own actions and thoughts and become better. It is quite a ride.

Absolutely right, Locke. Truth should be valued for truth's own sake. I fail to see what this has to do with the story of Adam and Eve, or Paul.

Some people are more concerned with being right than in establish what is right.
It is human nature to use emotion as logic
It is human nature to think in terms of black and white.
The truth doesn't care how we feel about it
The truth sometimes lives in the gray.
If we CHOOSE to think in these two ways we are just slamming the door to the places our own intelligence might otherwise roam.
There is no greater threat to humanity than the human ego.

How are we feeling about this idea of human perfection...? sounds like the seeds of eugenics to me...
I can't help hearing a sense that being right is more important than all else... I'd like to see a marriage float on those waters.

I prefer Jean Jacques-Rousseau: "What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?" (I sense an antithesis)