I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is.- Albert Camus, born on this date in 1913
Sunday, November 07, 2010
Thought for the day ...
Saturday, November 06, 2010
Wow ...
... Against humanism.
I find it interesting that Richard Dawkins, who has no problem with insulting things other people feel deeply about, being so thin-skinned when someone gives him a taste of his own medicine. What a wuss.
... many of the moral insights we value highly today – for instance, the coherence of the cosmos and the value of the individual soul, as well as the conviction that All is Number – have originally been shaped in religious contexts. If we decide to drop those contexts as obsolete we lose half the meaning of the ideas themselves. ... The wider imaginative conceptions – the more hospitable world-pictures – that it uses must be taken seriously, as they were by the scholars who were called Humanists at the Renaissance, and as they have been ever since in the studies that are called “the humanities”. Much though we may want to ignore institutional religions and other strange beliefs, we cannot brush aside the individual experiences that lie behind them and the thoughts that grow out of them. William James was surely right to start investigating the matter by asking about the varieties of religious experience, confusing though those varieties are. In the whole sweep of our lives the physical sciences play only a marginal part, and the positivist approach that tries to rely only on them is not really workable.
I find it interesting that Richard Dawkins, who has no problem with insulting things other people feel deeply about, being so thin-skinned when someone gives him a taste of his own medicine. What a wuss.
Hmm ...
... Strangers In A Strange Land. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I think there's something to do, but I'm not quite what.
I think there's something to do, but I'm not quite what.
I'm not sure ...
... if it wise to write about comedy. It tends to take the fun out of it: James Wood and the comic novel. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Thought for the day ...
All still lifes are actually paintings of the world on the sixth day of creation, when God and the world were alone together, without man!- Robert Musil, born on this date in 1880
Friday, November 05, 2010
A truly great essay ....
... Joseph Epstein on T.S. Eliot and the Demise of the Literary Culture.
In his criticism, Eliot wrote much that was prophetic of the age in which we now live. As early as the 1920s, he remarked “on the vague jargon of our time, when we have a vocabulary for everything and exact ideas about nothing.” He foresaw the rise of “the half-formed science [of] psychology, [which] conceals from both writer and reader the utter meaninglessness of a statement.” He anticipated the loss of authority of universities in the intellectual life of England and America: “They have too long lost any common fundamental assumption as to what education is for, and they are too big. It might be hoped that they would eventually follow, or else be relegated to preservation as curious architectural remains; but they cannot be expected to lead.”
Thinking carefully ...
... On Smiting One's Political Enemies. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
An argument can be objectively bad for a number of different reasons: it is logically invalid; rests on an empirically false premise; involves a weak analogy; commits an informal fallacy; is so murky and indistinct as to be insusceptible of evaluation, etc. The essence of the pluralistic position is that once all the bad arguments on both sides are set aside, one arrives at a set of 'good' arguments which, however, do not resolve the issue for an impartial observer.
Thought for the day ...
There is a certain way of being human that is my way. I am called upon to live my life in this way, and not in imitation of anyone else's life. But this notion gives a new importance to being true to myself. If I am not, I miss the point of my life; I miss what being human is for me.- Charles Taylor, born on this date in 1931
Thursday, November 04, 2010
Pain and gain ...
... Tim Parks in pain.
... Meditation rescued me from misanthropy.
(Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
... Meditation rescued me from misanthropy.
(Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I like this: "It rose from depths I knew nothing of. And to tap in to it, I hadn't had to surrender my reason to any belief structure." The focus on "belief structures" I think can be an impediment to engagement with God.
But I like this less: "When the atheists take religion to task for its absurd beliefs or for the damage it has done, we have no choice but to agree." Many of the beliefs are not absurd at all once you explore them as you might a poem. I reviewed The God Delusion. Richard Dawkins's understanding of religion isn't even shallow.
I'm confused ...
... Neanderthals really were sex-obsessed thugs.
It is known that the longer the ring finger is compared to the index finger is a mark of how much testosterone exposure there was in the womb.
High levels of the hormones increase the length of the fourth finger in comparison to the second finger, resulting in a low index to ring finger ratio.
The team found that the fossil index fingers of Neanderthals were longer compared with the ring finger than most living humans, which suggests that they had been exposed to higher levels of testosterone.
Am I missing something here? If testosterone causes the fourth finger to be larger and the Neanderthals' index fingers were longer, doesn't that mean they had less exposure to testosterone?
On Higher Education
I know many have already seen this review, but still, it came across my desk again this afternoon and I felt compelled to share...
If it isn't one thing ...
... it's another: Harry Potter threatening India's owls, claims minister. (Hat tip, Dave Lull. And as long as it doesn't threaten the OWL, what's the problem?)
A wonderful book ...
... The 1p Book Review: Sellar and Yeatman – 1066 and All That.
It is certainly one of the funniest books I have ever read, but Brit is right: You do have to know your history in order to get the jokes.
See also: The history boys.
It is certainly one of the funniest books I have ever read, but Brit is right: You do have to know your history in order to get the jokes.
See also: The history boys.
Here's a thought ...
... Time to make cuts, let’s start with the Department of Education.
I don't think there is much evidence that the Department of Education has actually made much of contribution to education.
I don't think there is much evidence that the Department of Education has actually made much of contribution to education.
Interesting thought ...
... Is Muriel Spark too funny to get the respect she’s due? (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
The video is fascinating.
The video is fascinating.
Thought for the day ...
A man travels the world in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.- G.E. Moore, born on this date in 1873
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
My view ...
People, I have found, tend to misunderstand my politics, thinking I am, for instance, a conservative. I am much worse. Here is pretty much what I think: Tea Party: now for the Presidency.
Exactly right. (I should have added that it's the quote I identify with, not the Tea Parties -- though I have nothing against them; I'm just not a joiner.)
If you are against Big Government, you are for liberty. If you are for liberty you are also for free citizens’ right to choose whether or not they get out of their trees on cannabis, or indeed whether or not they have the freedom to terminate unwanted pregnancies or never, ever, go to church and in fact worship Satan instead.
Exactly right. (I should have added that it's the quote I identify with, not the Tea Parties -- though I have nothing against them; I'm just not a joiner.)
Indeed ...
... It gets worse: More from Salman Rushdie.
We’ve come to a strange point when we have to explain the need to defend fundamental freedoms, such as non-violent freedom of expression. Free speech begins where you offend me.Precisely.
Thought for the day ...
When man faces destiny, destiny ends and man comes into his own.- André Malraux, born on this date in 1901
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
What think you ...
... Sincerity: The endangered artistic ingredient.
My own sense is that if you're conscious of it, it's not sincere. I also share the late Robert Palmer's view that if you think you're doing something important, you should dress up for it.
And they're off ...
... Cup Day.
Have I ever mentioned that, once upon a time, I did the daily racing charts for The Inquirer? I still visit the track a couple of times a year to watch the ponies run -- and of course to bet.
Have I ever mentioned that, once upon a time, I did the daily racing charts for The Inquirer? I still visit the track a couple of times a year to watch the ponies run -- and of course to bet.
Something to look forward to ...
... Let's make an(other) opera! (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
I'd love to attend, but Gwen is going to be in town with her husband, Chris, and we have a dinner date.
I'd love to attend, but Gwen is going to be in town with her husband, Chris, and we have a dinner date.
This week's batch ...
... of TLS Letters: Bernard Faÿ and Alfred Fabre-Luce, Heidegger, Whose Method?, and more!
Good idea ...
... Reading Thomas Browne for Halloween. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Browne was ... a person of faith of an easygoing sort (honest, eclectic), and he writes with a transparency that brings to mind his great fellow essayist, Montaigne.
In defense of languages ...
... Thriller writer John Le Carré attacks Swansea University’s modern language cuts. (Hat tip, Paul Davis.)
Inquirer review ...
... An ocean of captivating lore about the Atlantic. (Simon Winchester will appear at the Library tonight.)
... Into Siberia, of his own free, curious, and captivating will.
... Into Siberia, of his own free, curious, and captivating will.
Thought for the day ...
Although ... the Chief Magistrate must almost of necessity be chosen by a party and stand pledged to its principles and measures, yet in his official action he should not be the President of a party only, but of the whole people of the United States.- James K. Polk, born on this date in 1795
Monday, November 01, 2010
Oh, baby ...
... it's a wild world: Salman Rushdie speaks out: The troubling case of Cat Stevens (a.k.a. Yusuf Islam). (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Hard to get by just upon a smile.
Hard to get by just upon a smile.
Hmm ...
... William James, part 3: On original sin.
The Catholic view of original sin is that it did not corrupt the nature of man, but left him subject to temptation (and deprived him of certain preternatural gifts, e.g., immortality). The widespread notion that man took a wrong turn somehow somewhere seems sound to me. But I don't think it's wise to become too preoccupied with that. Best to remind ourselves that God is more interested in helping us than punishing us. Of course, mine is an optimistic temperament.
Pedestrian haven ...
... L.A. Constitutional. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
Interesting. Queenan and I both went to St. Joe's, and he didn't learn to drive until he was 51. I didn't learn until I was 54, and I soon gave it up. Just didn't like it.
Thought for the day ...
Writing comes more easily if you have something to say.- Sholem Asch, born on this date in 1880
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