John's humanism is thus religious and spiritual but in direct opposition to any kind of asceticism or spirituality that rejects the world; it recognizes our ability to attain knowledge and happiness in this life through active engagement with the world and each other.
"The way you attain knowledge," Hester once observed, in what amounted to his credo, "is to go to college, get an education, start an argument, take either side, and then put your money in".
In his preference for the philosophical quest to attain knowledge of the Forms over indulgence in the pleasures of mimesis, for example, one can see a hierarchy of values that rank the eternal, abstract, intellectual world of ideal forms over the transient, particular, sensuous world of physical objects.
Thus, it follows from FBP that in order to attain knowledge of abstract mathematical objects, all we have to do is come up with an internally consistent purely mathematical theory (and know that it is consistent).
Although it remained unfashionable throughout most of his active years, he held to the classic program of Western philosophy: to explain and defend our capacity to attain knowledge (so far as that reaches), in the light of that to present a well-reasoned account of the most general and fundamental features of Reality, and on that basis to propose a wise scheme for the good life.
"To attain knowledge, add things every day.
This trend in turn produced a growing distrust of the power of human beings to attain knowledge of the ultimate basis of natural phenomena.
Through self-knowledge, the devout mystic strives to attain knowledge of God Himself.
It is perfectly true that we can never attain knowledge of things as they are.
It means the way to attain knowledge.
