Monday, April 30, 2012
Gee, I wonder why …
… The covers the New Yorker rejected | Media | The Observer. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Join the fun …
… Twitter - the virtual literary salon | Books | guardian.co.uk. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
In search of a new normal …
… Coping With the Terrible Twins | Periodicals Price Survey 2012. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I hadn't actually thought about this, but when you think of a library, you think of place where you go to pick up a newspaper or a magazine or a book and sit down to read it (or, in the case of the book, check it out and take it home to read). What I hadn't thought about is that this sort of behavior must be changing along with everything else. Why should libraries stock newspapers if nobody is reading them? Maybe newspapers should start providing libraries with complimentary copies of the paper. I have no idea how this will ultimately play out. Probably nobody else does, either.
The question of limits …
… Rod Dreher — What Can I Know? Should I Know? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
One must take into consideration mitigating circumstances, of course. But murder is murder — i.e., the unlawful taking of a life, even if the life is that of dirt bag. There is sentimentality at work here. And sentimentality is emotion out of proportion to what a situation calls for.
… in the pursuit of justice, we must undertake at least something of a sympathetic journey into the mind of the accused, to consider the circumstances under which he committed the act. We quite rightly do not view the actions of a woman who plotted and carried out the murder of her husband in cold blood to get insurance money with the same degree of sympathy as we do the battered wife who finally has enough of it, and murders her abusive husband in his sleep. The banker who embezzles $10 million is not in the same category as the man who robs a gas station to feed his family. And so forth.
One must take into consideration mitigating circumstances, of course. But murder is murder — i.e., the unlawful taking of a life, even if the life is that of dirt bag. There is sentimentality at work here. And sentimentality is emotion out of proportion to what a situation calls for.
Since you ask …
… What is the purpose of a newspaper? — Tech News and Analysis. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Newspapers as we have come to know them came about because there was a market for news produced and packaged that way. Since a lot of people wanted to buy yet papers, a lot of people wanted to advertise therein. In short, there was gold in them thar columns.
Hmm indeed …
… Near death, explained - Neuroscience - Salon.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The scientific NDE studies performed over the past decades indicate that heightened mental functions can be experienced independently of the body at a time when brain activity is greatly impaired or seemingly absent (such as during cardiac arrest). Some of these studies demonstrate that blind people can have veridical perceptions during OBEs associated with an NDE. Other investigations show that NDEs often result in deep psychological and spiritual changes.
Representative accident …
… Convergence of the Twain — The Dabbler. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Notice how, for Hardy, the “Immanent Will” so orders things that the ship will have, for its “mate,” the very “Shape of Ice” that will sink it. If this “will” “stirs and urges everything,” as Hardy and Schopenhauer alike say, then the iceberg, the waters out of which the iceberg crystallizes, the men who plan and build the Titanic, nay, the Titanic itself: all these things, all these apparently dissociated phenomena, are unified. Ordinary men cannot see the underlying unity. But it is there. Only “for [a] time” are the ship and its “mate” (the iceberg) “far and dissociate.” The self-executing justice that derives from the unity I speak of here—and which allows us to say, with Schopenhauer, that “the world itself is the judgment of the world”—will see to the “consummation” in due course.
Perspective please...
I just walked out halfway through a screening of Avengers. It just did not appeal to me at any level. Stories about intergalactic missions and saviors averting apocalypse have lost all novelty. Apart from that, there is a scene in the movie where one of the members of the team deputed to save the world is recruited from a slum in Calcutta. Frankly, Hollywood's portrayal of India as the land of poverty and disease has been done to gratuitous death. I think Slumdog Millionaire gave this poverty porn a new cachet. Please visit India and see for yourself the many strands of life that exist in this country. It is not all gloom.
Maybe, maybe not …
… The Millions : The Bathrobe Era: What the Death of Print Newspapers Means for Writers. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Given that plenty of literature was produced before there were newspapers, it seems reasonable to assume that literature will be continue to be produced when there no longer are newspapers.A good bit of literature produced before there were newspapers was pretty good. Think Shakespeare or Montaigne or Dante or Homer or …
Dedication …
… “Pity the Beautiful”: The necessary angel and the sound of light | The Book Haven.
I heard Dana read the ghost story at the WCU Poetry Conference a couple of years ago. It's really great. And he also introduced me to Lauridsen's music, which ought to be better known.
Thought for the day …
Man is a classifying animal: in one sense it may be said that the whole process of speaking is nothing but distributing phenomena, of which no two are alike in every respect, into different classes on the strength of perceived similarities and dissimilarities. In the name-giving process we witness the same ineradicable and very useful tendency to see likenesses and to express similarity in the phenomena through similarity in name.
— Otto Jesperson, who died on this date in 1943
Sunday, April 29, 2012
So you think regulations are fine, right …
… Naked Rider Gets A Ticket For Not Wearing A Helmet - The Frisky.
This is what you get when you let bureaucrats or cops — and I'm the son of of a cop and the uncle of another, so don 't give me any crap — run things. My old man, of course, who knew Latin and, despite being a hopeless drunk (though for good reason), was a rather civilized fellow, I'm sure would agree with me.
Back and forth …
… Who's in charge – you or your brain? | Science | The Observer. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The substrate of what we call reality appears to be made up of constellations of electrical impulses. Most of what seems to be solid matter is in fact empty space. Somehow we perceive certain of these constellations — the one that I happen to be, for instance, sitting here typing these words — was what we call a body. The brain can't be the origin of this perception, if only because it is part of what is perceived thereby. More and more I tend to think there is reason to resume thinking about things hylomorphically, in terms of prime matter and substantial form. It might help us make better sense of quanta.
Consider this: Is it my brain that makes me think of my brain. Is it tricking me to think that way? Anyone who has slept around a bit knows of the dissociation between himself and his member. Maybe these scientists should get out more.
Consider this: Is it my brain that makes me think of my brain. Is it tricking me to think that way? Anyone who has slept around a bit knows of the dissociation between himself and his member. Maybe these scientists should get out more.
From Maxine …
… Book review: The Loyal Servant by Eva Hudson | Petrona.
There are other new reviews there as well. Click on the home page and scroll.
There are other new reviews there as well. Click on the home page and scroll.
Making ends meet …
… Breadwinner is just one of versatile Grace Gonglewski’s many roles. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
She is a very good actor.
She is a very good actor.
Siblings, no rivalry …
… OUPblog — She danced like a lilac flame: the other Astaire. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Vegetarians — the brutes …
If Peas Can Talk, Should We Eat Them? - NYTimes.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The research findings of the team at the Blaustein Institute form yet another building block in the growing fields of plant intelligence studies and neurobotany that, at the very least, ought to prompt us to rethink our relation to plants. Is it morally permissible to submit to total instrumentalization living beings that, though they do not have a central nervous system, are capable of basic learning and communication? Should their swift response to stress leave us coldly indifferent, while animal suffering provokes intense feelings of pity and compassion?Actually, this research seems to strengthen the proposition that intelligence, in one way, shape, form, or another, permeates being.
Get a grip...
Coping with email overload
I have never faced this problem. Hell, I could do with more emails. But then I have never felt technology taking over my life.
I have never faced this problem. Hell, I could do with more emails. But then I have never felt technology taking over my life.
Well, I've enjoyed it …
… Forget That Survey. Here's Why Journalism Is The Best Job Ever. - Forbes. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
But I also enjoyed working in construction and at an art gallery. I even liked my government job. You meet interesting people everywhere, and no matter what you do, if you do it well, you'll have to keep learning.
Thought for the day …
The grand tune is the only thing in music that the great public really understands.
— Sir Thomas Beecham, born on this date in 1879
Saturday, April 28, 2012
They sound good to me …
… well, at least some of them: 50 Life Secrets and Tips | James Russell Ament.
But of course we believe …
… in evolution and letting nature run its course … except when we decide we can manage things better: Oregon asks to kill salmon-eating birds - East Oregonian: Free.
Maybe he prefers golf …
… Paul Davis On Crime: 5 Reasons Why Sean Connery Should Return To Acting.
I have to admire a guy who knows when to quit. I sure in hell don't expect to be doing this when I'm his age — presuming I make it to is age.
I have to admire a guy who knows when to quit. I sure in hell don't expect to be doing this when I'm his age — presuming I make it to is age.
Imagine …
… Goethe and the search for the spirit of science - Philosophy and Life. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The paradox that Goethe highlights is that materialism understands itself to be the champion of empiricism, when really it detaches us from the world as we experience it, in the name of objectivity. "All theory, dear friend, is grey," he wrote. "But the golden tree of actual life springs ever green."
This, of course, is the same point Paul Feyerabend makes is something quoted in an earlier post today. I have been arguing for years that imagination is the integrating faculty of intelligence.
Huh?
… Logical thought causes less religious belief | COSMOS magazine.
This article never defines what is meant by "logical thinking" and equates it with "analytical thinking." Now, one must use logic to analyze something but analysis and logic are not the same thing. Moreover, strictly speaking, intuition is not "gut feeling." It is an immediate grasp of something, such as your own existence, without having to arrive at it by reasoning about it. Of course, I suppose I'm being altogether too logical about this. Anyway, both Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine provide plenty of evidence in their work that they had a sound grasp of logic — far better than is on evidence in this article. But it doesn't seem to have increased their disbelief. But that could also be because they could distinguish between belief and faith.
I also wonder if the disbelief doesn't come from having thought about something for the first time. I knew kids in Catholic grade school who started having doubts about their faith as if they were the only people who had ever done so. Their doubt ran well ahead of their ability to reason.
My own experience has been that the clearer your thinking the less certain you are of most things.
I also wonder if the disbelief doesn't come from having thought about something for the first time. I knew kids in Catholic grade school who started having doubts about their faith as if they were the only people who had ever done so. Their doubt ran well ahead of their ability to reason.
My own experience has been that the clearer your thinking the less certain you are of most things.
Not the same …
… The Claremont Institute - Science and Scientism. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
In fact, [Feyerabend] argues, science is predicated on the denial of experience, on squeezing the rich variety of the world as we know it in everyday life into a kind of desiccated Procrustean bed. For whatever doesn't fit the picture of reality as made up of meaningless, mathematically definable elements is simply not allowed to count as real or "objective," but is relegated to the realm of illusory appearances. With this Feyerabend has no quarrel as long as it is understood to be merely one approach to understanding the world among others, with its own strengths and limitations. The trouble is with the pretense that this scientific picture of the world is the only legitimate one, and gives an exhaustive account of reality. For one thing, this pretense is incoherent. For if, like Gnostics, those beholden to scientism claim that the world of commonsense experience is illusory, then they can hardly appeal to experience as an evidential basis for science.
Thought for the day …
1.The world is rational.
2.Human reason can, in principle, be developed more highly (through certain techniques).
3.There are systematic methods for the solution of all problems (also art, etc.).
4.There are other worlds and rational beings of a different and higher kind.
5.The world in which we live is not the only one in which we shall live or have lived.
6.There is incomparably more knowable a priori than is currently known.
7.The development of human thought since the Renaissance is thoroughly intelligible (durchaus einsichtige).
8.Reason in mankind will be developed in every direction.
9.Formal rights comprise a real science.
10.Materialism is false.
11.The higher beings are connected to the others by analogy, not by composition.
12.Concepts have an objective existence.
13.There is a scientific (exact) philosophy and theology, which deals with concepts of the highest abstractness; and this is also most highly fruitful for science.
14.Religions are, for the most part, bad but religion is not.
— Kurt Gödel, born on this date in 1906
Friday, April 27, 2012
Uniting, not dividing …
… PJ Media — 8 Reasons Why Today’s Occupiers Are Tomorrow’s Tea Partiers.
I sure hope the girl with the sign indicating that having a doctorate doesn't equal having a job doesn't have a doctorate, because it's Ph.D., not P.H.D.
I sure hope the girl with the sign indicating that having a doctorate doesn't equal having a job doesn't have a doctorate, because it's Ph.D., not P.H.D.
A reminder …
… prove you're human.
I plan to be there. Luckily for me, I don't have to prove to Katie than I'm human: I was her editor. You don't get more human than that.
I plan to be there. Luckily for me, I don't have to prove to Katie than I'm human: I was her editor. You don't get more human than that.
And the winner is …
… An Edgar for Michael Dirda - The Barnes and Noble Review. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Here we go again …
… Now everyone is connected, is this the death of conversation? | Simon Jenkins | Comment is free | The Guardian. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
If you want to see real intolerance, Simon, say something deemed politically incorrect by the people in your set and check out the reaction. What an ass.
Likewise, the lack of tolerance in American Christianity can be as frightening as it can in Islam. When I once professed support for IVF, a man glared across the table, tight-jawed, and asked: "What does it feel like to be a mass murderer?" With such people there is no conversation, only a tiptoeing from the room.
If you want to see real intolerance, Simon, say something deemed politically incorrect by the people in your set and check out the reaction. What an ass.
Playing hermit …
… Flavorwire — There’s Going To Be A Henry David Thoreau Video Game. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Pushing back …
… Anti-Technology Activists Are The Real Slime - Forbes.
… if we insist on having any meat at all the activists seem to want us to eat only New York strip steaks and filet mignon from organic, grass-fed, free-range cattle that were raised listening to Peter, Paul and Mary protest songs.
It's the sanctimony that grates, to say nothing of the ignorance, since "if human intervention to induce genetic improvement of plants is 'unnatural,' we’ve been unnatural for 10,000 years; with the exception of wild berries and wild mushrooms, virtually all the grains, fruits and vegetables in our diets have been genetically modified in some way."
Hit man …
… RealClearBooks - Are Republicans Genetically Inferior?
Mooney is not a scientist, and hence, he can conduct scientific malpractice with impunity. As a journalist who has mastered the dark art of framing, he distorts science in order to fit a preconceived narrative that he wants to tell.
"A research laboratory …
… for world destruction": Philosophy, lit, etc.: Old Vienna.
Perhaps that is why the end of Der Rosenkavalier seems more farewell to an age than parting of lovers … or maybe that's the same thing.
Perhaps that is why the end of Der Rosenkavalier seems more farewell to an age than parting of lovers … or maybe that's the same thing.
Thought for the day …
Hero-worship is strongest where there is least regard for human freedom.
— Herbert Spencer, born on this date in 1820
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Me, too …
… zmkc: Words and Phrases that Annoy Me.
"Capitalism" has probably never existed, except in the minds of Karl Marx and his adherents. Capital, on the other hand, will be around in some way, shape, or form as long as we don't to return to barter. Capital is simply the use of tokens to represent value. More and more, of course, we are doing value transactions electronically. The people who should be worried about this are thieves. Increasingly, the will be less and less cash in anybody's wallet.
Begging to differ …
… Ross Douthat's "Bad Religion: A Response" | The New Republic. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
And that is why the Pope is more reliable on matters of faith and morals than on matters of political economy. Regarding the latter, he shares the characteristic European "subject" mentality.
It’s true, as Winters notes, that I do not quote from Caritatis in Veritate, the pope’s most recent encyclical on this subject. But that’s because I have a quotation in which Pope Benedict remarks that “democratic socialism was and is close to Catholic social doctrine,” which seemed to me to cover his point even more explicitly.
And that is why the Pope is more reliable on matters of faith and morals than on matters of political economy. Regarding the latter, he shares the characteristic European "subject" mentality.
Measure for measure …
… Book Review: Psychology's Ghosts - WSJ.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Mr. Kagan's latest effort, "Psychology's Ghosts," might be called "Four Seductive Ideas," since it consists of his assessment of four problems in psychological theory and clinical practice. The first problem is laid out in the chapter "Missing Contexts": the fact that many researchers fail to consider that their measurements of brains, behavior and self-reported experience are profoundly influenced by their subjects' culture, class and experience, as well as by the situation in which the research is conducted. This is not a new concern, but it takes on a special urgency in this era of high-tech inspired biological reductionism.
Subtle and spooky …
… Metrophagy - Tools Ideas Environment - Whole Earth Catalog. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
More than protozoa …
… John Gray: The Knowns And The Unknowns | The New Republic. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
… Haidt’s attempt to apply evolutionary psychology is yet one more example of the failures of scientism. There is no line of evolutionary development that connects our hominid ancestors with the emergence of the Tea Party. Human beings are not amoebae that have somehow managed to turn themselves into clever primates. They are animals with a history, part of which consists of creating cultures that are widely divergent. Using evolutionary psychology to explain current political conflicts represents local and ephemeral differences as perennial divisions in the human mind. It is hard to think of a more stultifying exercise in intellectual parochialism.
Some serious questions …
… posed by Glenn Reynolds: MORE RESULTS FROM OUR POLITICO-MEDIA LEADERS’ CAMPAIGN OF RACIAL INCITEMENT.
See also this from Reuters: George Zimmerman: Prelude to a shooting.
This case has turned out to be a major embarrassment for journalism.
See also this from Reuters: George Zimmerman: Prelude to a shooting.
This case has turned out to be a major embarrassment for journalism.
Storm clouds …
… Is Psychology About to Come Undone? — Percolator — The Chronicle of Higher Education. (Hat tip, Joseph Chovanes.)
Suppose it turns out that a lot of stuff in other scientific journals can't be duplicated, either. Then the way in which science is being practiced will fall into question as well. Stay tuned.
If it turns out that a sizable percentage (a quarter? half?) of the results published in these three top psychology journals can’t be replicated, it’s not going to reflect well on the field or on the researchers whose papers didn’t pass the test. In the long run, coming to grips with the scope of the problem is almost certainly beneficial for everyone. In the short run, it might get ugly.
Suppose it turns out that a lot of stuff in other scientific journals can't be duplicated, either. Then the way in which science is being practiced will fall into question as well. Stay tuned.
Ayatollahs and onanism..
...The Ayatollah Under the Bed(sheets)
Khamenei's vast collection of writings and speeches makes clear that the weapons of mass destruction he fears most are cultural -- more Kim Kardashian and Lady Gaga than bunker busters and aircraft carriers. In other words, Tehran is threatened not only by what America does, but by what America is: a depraved, postmodern colonial power bent on achieving global cultural hegemony. America's "strategic policy," Khamenei has said, "is seeking female promiscuity."
Need some help with words?
… This guy comes with my very recommendation: Home - Jim Remsen.
I worked with Jim for years and wrote for him when he was the editor of The Inquirer's Faith Life section. Good man, very good editor.
I worked with Jim for years and wrote for him when he was the editor of The Inquirer's Faith Life section. Good man, very good editor.
Remembering Shakespeare …
… who was baptized on this date in 1564: pete the parrot and shakespeare. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Thought for the day …
Man has to awaken to wonder - and so perhaps do peoples. Science is a way of sending him to sleep again.
— Ludwig Wittgenstein, born on this date in 1889
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
The art of reviewing …
… Esa-Pekka Salonen returns to conduct Philadelphia Orchestra after long absence - Philly.com.
A few weeks ago we attended the Philadelphia Orchestra concert that my friend David Stearns reviewed in this article. I thought Salonen's violin concerto was intriguing, something I wanted to get to know better. As it happens, David had a recording of it and burned me a copy. I have listened to it a number of times since and it confirmed my initial impression. It's an estimable work, and David's review is a model of what a review should be.
Here is more of Salonen and David: Esa-Pekka Salonen unedited (seriously unedited).
Look, listen, and …
… mark your calendar: Laura Spagnoli reads 'Marilyn Looks Back on Her Dazzledent Days': 'I'll have a glass of that'.
Come see Laura Spagnoli read with Jenn McCreary, Jason Baldinger, and Jerome Crooks this Friday, April 27th, at 6:45PM, at Higher Grounds Cafe, 631 North 3rd Street, Philadelphia, hosted by Paul Siegell.
Hmm …
… Fun reads for philosophers? | Logic Matters. (Hat tip, Virginia Kerr.)
I can't say that many of these would be among my choices, but I suppose I have odd tastes in philosophy, preferring people like Berdyaev and Shestov and even E. M. Cioran. I am also, of course, partial to people like Josef Pieper and Gabriel Marcel and Bernard Lonergan.
I can't say that many of these would be among my choices, but I suppose I have odd tastes in philosophy, preferring people like Berdyaev and Shestov and even E. M. Cioran. I am also, of course, partial to people like Josef Pieper and Gabriel Marcel and Bernard Lonergan.
Maybe …
… RealClearReligion - Richard John Neuhaus the Prophet. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
One of the high-points of my tenure as The inquirer's book editor was a long phone conversation I had once with Father Neuhaus. But the problem is not just the judiciary. In fact, that's not the main problem. The main problem lies with Congress, which passes laws that can only be parsed by lawyers. Laws should be simple, clear, and brief … and widely promulgated. Ours no longer are. We also have too damn many of them. After all, the Almighty Himself managed to keep them to 10.
More about truth and fiction …
… The Rumpus Interview With Elif Batuman - The Rumpus.net. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Truth and fiction are, obviously, not opposites, or even contraries. Good fiction conveys truth. But if you claim that your work is strictly factual and it turns out not to be, you can't fall back and say that you were employing some kind of fictional enhancement. Memoir can be ambiguous, since you are only claiming to be writing about what you remember as you remember it (though even there a little verification is useful). But if your claim is documentary, check your facts carefully.
Truth and fiction are, obviously, not opposites, or even contraries. Good fiction conveys truth. But if you claim that your work is strictly factual and it turns out not to be, you can't fall back and say that you were employing some kind of fictional enhancement. Memoir can be ambiguous, since you are only claiming to be writing about what you remember as you remember it (though even there a little verification is useful). But if your claim is documentary, check your facts carefully.
Not the whole story …
… Bad Religion | Books and Culture.
Actually, it has been the wishy-washy forms of faith that have not flourished. The extraordinary form of the Mass that takes place every Sunday at my parish is, I believe, a sign of what is to come.
Again and again in his narrative, Douthat skews the emphasis to fit his thesis rather than dealing with recalcitrant counter-evidence. In his account of the 1960s, he goes on and on about figures such as Bishop Pike while barely mentioning the Catholic charismatic movement and the growing influence of "Spirit-filled" faith in evangelicalism. While the charismatic/Pentecostal surge—like all correctives—came with excesses of its own, this reclaiming of the Holy Spirit redressed the functionally non-Trinitarian practice of many churches.
Actually, it has been the wishy-washy forms of faith that have not flourished. The extraordinary form of the Mass that takes place every Sunday at my parish is, I believe, a sign of what is to come.
Also born today …
… the unforgettable Ella: Ella Fitzgerald Someone To Watch Over Me - YouTube.
Greatest female vocalist ever.
Greatest female vocalist ever.
Thought for the day …
All day long the door of the sub-conscious remains just ajar; we slip through to the other side, and return again, as easily and secretly as a cat.
— Walter de la Mare, born on this date in 1873
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Hmm …
… What is Philosophy? An Omnibus of Definitions from Prominent Philosophers | Brain Pickings. (Hat tip, Christopher Guerin.)
The emphasis throughout this definitions is on thinking, in the sense of arriving an intellectual grasp of reality. But the word philosophy means "love of wisdom." It involves more than knowledge, more than logic. It means a engagement of the entire personality with reality in order to arrive at an thorough-going experience of it. Wisdom may incorporate knowledge but there is more to it than that.
The emphasis throughout this definitions is on thinking, in the sense of arriving an intellectual grasp of reality. But the word philosophy means "love of wisdom." It involves more than knowledge, more than logic. It means a engagement of the entire personality with reality in order to arrive at an thorough-going experience of it. Wisdom may incorporate knowledge but there is more to it than that.
Let the poems be …
… Maryann Corbett on Thomas Lynch | berfrois. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
… I want to register my sadness that poetry can’t simply be poetry, and that for its own survival a press must busily exploit every associated market. The Sin-Eater has apparently been sped to press to draw on every possible audience. It will be marketed to those who already like Lynch’s work and may not realize they’re buying poems they already have.
Just a thought …
Perhaps the reason mystery novels are so popular has something to do with how nearly the essential notes of a mystery novel mirror those of the predicament of being. Something is going on, that’s evident, but what exactly, and how and why … none of that is evident at all. There seem to be some clues, but where they lead, how they fit together, and what others are lying about is hard to say.
There is a logic at work here, but it is the logic of collage — how one piece goes with another and what others fit the pattern. The logic of collage, of course, is the logic of intuition — using the word in its Aristotelian sense of an immediate grasp of something. It is not, in other words, the logic of ratiocination, though that may play a part from time to time, and in the end as well.
The detective’s mastery derives from his superior intuition, presumably a result of both talent and training. He is the one east surprised when he has discerned what the pieces are and how they fit together to revel what has actually happened and who is responsible.
That “who” is key: Mystery novels have little to do with causation and everything to do with motive. Therein lies their metaphysical dimension and the basis of their appeal. We do not experience our lives in terms of causation (except when we’re looking for excuses). Our sense of being is that something is obviously going on, we’re not sure what exactly … and that there’s somebody behind it.
Why not?
… Will Self: Use Fancy Words - Ideas Market - WSJ. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I think what Swift said — "the proper words in their proper places" — covers it all.
I think what Swift said — "the proper words in their proper places" — covers it all.
Charles and Will …
… What the Dickens would have become of Birthplace? | Stratford Observer. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
A must read...
...The mother of all mistakes
To put matters into context, one of India's most respected newspapers, The Indian Express, carried a story last month on a coup that the Army Chief had planned in Delhi this January. Obviously the story was false, but in the days after its publishing, caused a huge uproar.
Here, the editorial chief of Outlook, an Indian news magazine, excoriates the Indian Express editor for not coming out with an apology for the error of carrying the coup story.
He also touches upon other issues concerning the media.
To put matters into context, one of India's most respected newspapers, The Indian Express, carried a story last month on a coup that the Army Chief had planned in Delhi this January. Obviously the story was false, but in the days after its publishing, caused a huge uproar.
Here, the editorial chief of Outlook, an Indian news magazine, excoriates the Indian Express editor for not coming out with an apology for the error of carrying the coup story.
He also touches upon other issues concerning the media.
Monday, April 23, 2012
More freebies …
… Happy World Book Night! Free books on offer all over - latimes.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Never too late …
… Joan Crawford Protests: A Short History of 'New Yorker' Corrections | The Awl. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Well, good for him …
… it proves he's an honest man: James ‘Gaia’ Lovelock reverses on climate; Admits alarmism was error | JunkScience.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I have to say I am impressed. I hope I can remain as honest throughout my life as Lovelock has demonstrated he is. He will, of course, have to face the recriminations, as Freeman Dyson has had to. I am sure he is up to the task.
I suppose …
… Tomgram: Lewis Lapham, Machine-Made News | TomDispatch. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I suppose it would be unfair to regard this as just another jeremiad. The good side: Thanks to technology more information is available to more people in a convenient manner than ever before. The bad side: This does not mean that anybody is any smarter than ever before. Smart people will take the opportunity provided and make use of it in a smart way. The rest will either not avail themselves of it at all or use it in a way that is not so good or even deplorable. Smart people will, as usual, be a minority.
Amis - Father and Son
I'm in the middle of London Fields and have been thinking about the Amis clan as a result. Here's an interesting piece from a few years ago. Very a propos...
Bowing to sophistry...
Koran study
Fundamentalists are delighted by the shift in attention away from their ideas to their rights. “Where is religious freedom? Where is your democracy?” demands a spokesman in a video posted on the True Religion website.
In this corner …
… The Millions : Tolstoy or Dostoevsky? 8 Experts on Who’s Greater. (Hat tip, dave Lull.)
Another shameless plug …
… prove you're human. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Katie, of course, blogs here from time to time and reviewed for me when I was The Inquirer's book review editor. She still writes for the paper, in fact. So I will make sure to be there on Saturday and, if you can make it, you should be there, too.
Freebies …
… Do Authors Dream of Electric Books?: Roll Up, Roll Up FREE eBooks. (Hat tip, Lee Lowe.)
But was great anyway …
… The career that didn't go like clockwork - The Irish Times - Mon, Apr 23, 2012. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I entirely concur.
How good was Anthony Burgess? Very good indeed; he possessed rare, unclassifiable genius, originality and a love of language. Above all, he was driven by wayward intellectual energy, a quality rarely welcomed by the lesser, conventional minds of an establishment always eager to classify.
I entirely concur.
Thought for the day …
Like all great rationalists you believed in things that were twice as incredible as theology.
— Halldór Laxness, born on this date in 1902
Sunday, April 22, 2012
In lieu of this year's Pulitzer …
… let's revisit 1962's winner: The other O'Connor. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Regarding the famous final scene …
… Maverick Philosopher: Deserving Immortality.
This may be Christian, but it is not especially Catholic, or at least not especially Thomistic (in my view, it is more Calvinistic than Catholic). God is creating me right now out of nothing. Because it is God wWho is creating me there must be some dimension of my being that partakes of God's eternal being. What we humans have a hard time dealing with is that we are because God loves us — not as humans, members of a species, but as Jack, Jill, and Frank. It is not love that is hard. It is being loved that is hard.
… it is a very important question whether, if there is personal immortality, we can secure it by our own efforts. The Christian answer is in the negative. As a result of the Fall, we are so out of right relation to God that nothing we could do could restore us to right relation.
This may be Christian, but it is not especially Catholic, or at least not especially Thomistic (in my view, it is more Calvinistic than Catholic). God is creating me right now out of nothing. Because it is God wWho is creating me there must be some dimension of my being that partakes of God's eternal being. What we humans have a hard time dealing with is that we are because God loves us — not as humans, members of a species, but as Jack, Jill, and Frank. It is not love that is hard. It is being loved that is hard.
Not dead yet …
… Don't read the last rites for hardbacks just yet | Books | The Observer. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
Hmm …
… The Top of My Todo List. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I don't know about this. I work a lot. Why? I like what I do and, as Henry Miller said, happiness consists in finding a more or less pleasant way of passing the time. And what the hell is life about other than doing stuff? My advice? Don't waste your time pondering regrets.
Our contemporaries …
… Bryan Appleyard — Jacobean Blood. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Declan Donnellan, co-founder of Cheek by Jowl, a company that regularly stages Jacobean drama, argues that our comfortable lives may make the corpse piles necessary. “I’ve got nothing against civilisation, but we pay a terrible price. We are repressed. It’s one of the reasons why murder stories in newspapers sell well, and a good reason why there is a lot of violence, or why we want to gossip about other people’s sex lives. It’s because there are dark places in ourselves that we don’t want to go to. But it actually keeps us sane to go to those places occasionally.”
This sounds like old-fashioned Freudianism to me. And as someone who spent no small part of his adult life doing pretty much what I felt like, including some thing seriously frowned upon in many circles, I can't say that anything especially good comes out of over-indulgence of the self — except, if one survives, a certain fine sense of proportion.
Sad, sad news …
… Robert Bly’s long epilogue with Alzheimer’s Disease | The Book Haven.
Like Cynthia, I also knew Robert Bly before Iron John. I spent a day with him in the '70s and we talked at length about the translation of Rilke he was at work on — and about lots of other things as well. It was one of my life's unforgettable days, and it grieves me to hear this about him. One can only pray in situations like this.
The inquirer honors Poetry Month …
… Philly online poetry magazines: A garden of many delights.
… Scott McVay reads 'Maps': What are maps after all but metaphors?
… Scott McVay reads 'Maps': What are maps after all but metaphors?
Thanks again to Dave Lull for alerting me to the bad link here and on the post linking to Inquirer reviews. It is the one site that takes me longer to link to than any other.
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