Love of truth, on the other hand, is the root of all that is good.
Bill Whittle at PJTV very kindly produced a video entitled “Best. Sentence. Ever.” (it does not embed) by which he meant the title sentence of this post, and the motto I have plastered on the leftmost portion of the screen. Please watch—he even quotes Patton.When and if a theory describes reality without error it is no longer a theory but truth. If a theory does not describe reality perfectly, then it is not true. To love a theory over truth is the mark of madness. Or of Enlightenment. Or, nowadays often, of tenure.
Everybody knows the hoary old joke about the academic who says, “That works fine in reality, but does it work in theory?” Only it isn’t a joke. Many cannot think of truth except in the framework of theory. Just bring to mind the standard issue (media) climatologist and you’ll have the idea. And then recall literary “theorists”, the field of art “theory”, and so on ad infinitum.
Not quite true. The love of money really is the root of all evil…but Briggs’ theory is almost certainly, for those raking in the big bucks from their climate theory, rooted in the love of money.
I would say that the love and desire of money you did not earn would be the root of the evil you are talking about here. Earned money is not evil by its nature, as it represents the value and wealth created by actions, and should be considered a good thing.
And the love of their own egos. The two go hand in pocket.