Patterson In Pursuit: Philosophy | Politics | Religion

There’s a purely rational argument for the divinity of love. The core Christian claims can be translated into straightforward analytical philosophy without appealing to mystery, faith, or superstition.I am not saying this argument is true, merely that it’s reasonable, coherent, and understandable in the context of standard philosophy.Here’s the argument:1) Patterns are real and mind-independent (we’ll call them “Forms”).2) There is a metaphysical hierarchy of Forms.3) At the top of the hierarchy is the Form of the Good.4) The highest form is Love.5) Therefore, Love is the Form of the Good.We can break this argument into two parts: Propositions 1-3, which can be understood as a simple Platonism (using the word “patterns” instead of the usual term “universals”); and Propositions 4-5 which can be understood as an empirical Christian claim which clarifies and updates the Platonic idea.What I mean by PlatonismBy “Platonism,” I do not mean a faithful reconstruction of Plato’s ideas—rather, a metaphysical framework