Andrew Fiala cultivates community civility, respect

I’m puzzled by Stewart Hough’s July 18 tirade about Andrew Fiala’s recent award for excellence from the American Philosophical Association.

What is “a universal or transcendent confirmation of truth and reality”? And why do we need one?

Why does he think that Mr. Fiala is propounding “inadequate humanistic post-modern relative truth beliefs, pandering to haters of the president and equivocating on culturally essential concepts of trust, faith and common good”? Responsible people give reasons for what they say. They do not find it necessary to resort to unsubstantiated allegations and inflammatory rhetoric.

Finally, why does he think that Fiala denies the existence of inalienable rights and that “what he espouses, in fact, is his own mob rule”?

I hope other Bee readers will join me in congratulating Mr. Fiala for his accessible and well-argued discussions of controversial issues and for his tireless attempts to impress us with the importance of cultivating character traits like civility and respect. Let’s encourage him to continue to do so and not allow himself to be discouraged by occasional irresponsible criticism.

This story was originally published July 20, 2017 at 4:51 PM with the headline "Andrew Fiala cultivates community civility, respect."