How Should We Then Live? by Francis A. Schaeffer
Week 7: Chapter 7 — The Shift in Philosophy
Read Chapter 7 of How Should We Then Live? Key figures discussed: Kant, Hegel, Kierkegaard, and the move toward existentialism; the concept of the 'line of despair.'
Previewing Week 7 of How Should We Then Live?
Read 3 of 7 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 13-week guide when you’re ready.
Schaeffer's most philosophically dense chapter introduces one of his most powerful concepts: the 'line of despair' — the point at which Western thinkers gave up on the possibility of rational, unified knowledge and retreated into subjective experience.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Schaeffer describes what he calls the 'line of despair' — a threshold crossed in European philosophy (roughly in the late 19th century) below which thinkers gave up on the possibility of finding a unified, rational meaning for human existence. In your own words, what does it mean to be 'below the line of despair,' and what drove thinkers there?
2.Kant argued that while we can know the phenomenal world (the world of appearances and sensory experience), we cannot know the noumenal world (ultimate reality, including God, freedom, and morality) through reason alone. How does this Kantian split contribute to the modern sense that religious faith and rational knowledge occupy completely separate realms?
3.Schaeffer argues that Hegel's attempt to resolve the tension by making contradiction itself the engine of all reality ('thesis-antithesis-synthesis') was a fateful move that ultimately dissolved the possibility of fixed truth and meaning. Whether or not you follow the philosophy, what are the real-world consequences of living in a world where there is no stable truth, only an endless process of contradictions?