Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

There are some “everlasting” ideas in the human mind. For thousands of years, humans have looked for something that has some “ultimate magical power.” Usually, such things were associated with artifacts made in the deep past and completely forgotten by a given civilization.

However, such things can also be associated with some categories of the human mind completely forgotten in the deep past, as well as all other ancient things lost forever in the sand of time. In that case, the appearance of such a category in the human mind means enlightening because of its groundbreaking effect on other categories.

C-IV, or current Western civilization as we know it, encourages people to search and find such things. That activity is usually associated with the fundamental category of C-IV about freedom of action of a human being. In other words, the freedom that C-IV gives to a person is returned as a request to do something. Otherwise,

A similar situation happened at the time of C-III or the previous bible-based civilization a few centuries ago. Humankind had significant achievements in technologies to make big ships. Strictly speaking, they had considerable freedom to move around continents.

However, only Christopher Columbus used that freedom to make his famous navigation across the Atlantic Ocean. This tremendous action appeared as the turning point for C-III and its transformation into C-IV. For example, that expedition brought “Indians” to Europe. Those people were unknown in Europe. Even the cornerstone of C-III, the Holy Bible, gives no answer to the question about their origin.

Something in flesh and blood that appeared in front of human eyes but had no explanation of its existence even from “the most fundamental categories” ignited tremendous cognitive dissonance in the human mind. In other words, it was the appearance of something that stood beyond the Holy Book and could not be explained by the categories of the Bible.

Moreover, that navigation made one more illusion in the human mind. People started to think that Christopher Columbus had reached India and found a new way. For decades, humankind believed in two routes leading in West India and East India. Even Columbus believed all his life that the new land was the Eastern coast of India. Therefore,

Almost any branch of science has a category like the one described above. Usually, that category is something ultimate or unique. In many cases, that category becomes associated with the holy grail. This legendary artifact possesses the unique power to give a person eternal life.

There is a movie that shows the “modern fight” for that artifact, which became a significant part of human art. That movie is ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’. The main hero of that movie is archaeologist Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford).

Let’s follow that story again and see it one more time from another perspective offered by this site.

Pic. 1. Archaeology is the search for fact, not truth. If it is truth you are interested in, then Dr. Tyree's philosophy class is right down the hall.

Allan told you many times about similar aspects here on this site, such as that philosophy is the only branch of science that pursues truth. In other words, only philosophy answers some fundamental questions about categories used by the human mind. For example, a researcher has a strong belief in something. However, a physical experiment disproved his point of view. What should be done in that case? What is wrong with the a priori point of view of that researcher? Which experiment has to be done to see a new perspective?

All such questions can be answered only by philosophy, which determines the impact of each experiment on a given set of categories in the human mind.

However, many scientists try to use facts by themselves without any attempt to form proper and usable categories for the human mind. They see science as a place where their freedom of action leads to valuable results for them instead of civilization. A usual way for such scientists looks like a few steps in their career, like a university degree, complex research at some other place that gives a groundbreaking result, and possessing the Nobel Prize.

That aspect is shown in the movie as a fundamental question to Dr. Jones about his efforts.

Pic. 2. Ask yourself, why do you seek the cup of Christ? Is it for his glory or for yours?

In most cases, scientists choose the second option, which leads to their wealth in the scientific community despite the negative impact of their ideas on civilization and humankind.

The movie shows two scientists, Dr. Jones and Dr. Schneider (Elsa Schneider), competing for possession of the grail. The general idea remains correct for any branch of science and any number of scientists despite the form of that competition shown in the movie as field battles.

There is one more aspect here. There is no possibility of showing a competition between scientists in a library. Two scientists spending years of their lives among books, reading them and moving from side to side looks too boring for any movie. Therefore, such competition can be shown only as an action to entertain people. As a result, two scientists pursue their ideas in the fields.

There is one more hero in the movie who depicts some human population interested in “scientific progress.” Such people show only their interest in scientific research without scientific output for a higher level of civilization.

Pic. 3. Depiction of the human population that requests scientific progress

He put his ideas in the following words.