Rethinking the Idea of 'Christian Europe'. Kenan Malik's essay is awarded
3 Quarks Daily's Top Quark for politics & social science by judge
Stephen M. Walt: "Soldiers in today’s culture wars believe 'European civilization' rests on a set of unchanging principles that are perennially under siege—from godless communism, secular humanism, and most recently, radical Islam. For many of these zealots, what makes the 'West' unique are its Judeo-Christian roots. In this calm and elegantly-written reflection on the past two millenia, Malik shows that Christianity is only one of the many sources of 'Western' culture, and that many of the ideas we now think of as 'bedrock' values were in fact borrowed from other cultures. This essay is a potent antidote to those who believe a 'clash of civilizations' is inevitable—if not already underway—and the moral in Malik’s account could not be clearer. Openness to outside influences has been the true source of European prominence; erecting ramparts against others will impoverish and endanger us all."
posted by homunculus
on Dec 19, 2011 -
87 comments
Pandora, Prometheus, and Pessimism. "Pessimism deserves serious consideration in today’s culture of Oprah-quick-fix happiness, Prozac induced euphoria, and unjustified optimism for our species. Unlike Oprah and Prozac, pessimism is not easy to swallow. It is time we consider this tradition in a culture steeped in farcical, puerile conceptions of happiness; an environment where every person who is able to grin on a book-cover can tell us how to achieve happiness now; where angels or god or some other fairy-tale character cares about our actions in this world. Life is not a grand, heroic narrative with a happy ending. It is not a place where we are overcoming obstacles in order to achieve a time in our lives of perfect serenity. In order to combat such serious obstructions to clear-thought, boundaries to reality and gateways to delusion, pessimism can help us shape our thoughts on matters which resonate with all us rational, bipedal apes."
posted by homunculus
on Apr 15, 2010 -
65 comments
Sparks of Life. "That the electric 'spark of life' figured prominently in debates over the nature of life in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries is well known. Less well known is the fact that prior to this period, gunpowder was often identified with the substances that were necessary to life, if not as a vitalistic spirit, then as an essential element in the animation of the body. The idea of a spark of life went back to ancient times, likening living beings to the glowing embers of a fire. In the Old Testament, for example, the wise woman of Tekoah begs for the life of her son, pleading 'they will stamp out my last live ember.' But from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, this vital flame was often equated with gunpowder. There was fire in the blood: not electric, but pyrotechnic fire."
posted by homunculus
on Feb 20, 2009 -
11 comments
First Person Plural. "An evolving approach to the science of pleasure suggests that each of us contains multiple selves—all with different desires, and all fighting for control. If this is right, the pursuit of happiness becomes even trickier. Can one self bind another self if the two want different things? Are you always better off when a Good Self wins? And should outsiders, such as employers and policy makers, get into the fray?"
[Via]
posted by homunculus
on Oct 25, 2008 -
27 comments
You stink, therefore I am. Philosophers and psychologists have been
studying the
science of
disgust, and its proper place in the law. Leon Kass, the chairman of the president's
council on bioethics, cites
"the wisdom of repugnance" in arguing against cloning. More recently,
Martha Nussbaum has written a new book,
"Hiding from Humanity: Disgust, Shame, and the Law," which rejects disgust as a moral guide. She has also written on the role of disgust in the
mutilations of women in Gujarat.
posted by homunculus
on Jul 17, 2004 -
8 comments
polylog: Forum for Intercultural Philosophy. "polylog seeks... an intercultural dialogue among philosophers as well as other interested scholars and members of society – in a philosophical polylogue. The project pursues this aim by providing a virtual platform for the world-wide discussion of topics in intercultural philosophy. Intercultural philosophy is not thereby intended as a new theory, discipline, or school to be established. Rather, the diversity of intentions and approaches should be met with the greatest possible openness as well as academic seriousness – as much as possible in the appropriate form and manner." There are a lot of great articles on this site. [Via
wood s lot, which linked to
Toward a Buddhist Vision of Social Justice, a comparison of Buddhism and the philosophy of John Rawls.]
posted by homunculus
on Jun 11, 2003 -
3 comments
"The study of feelings, once the province of psychology, is now spreading to history, literature, and other fields." Scholarship on
the emotions is a rich field for historians and philosophers.
Martha Nussbaum (previously discussed
here) has written on historical views of the relationship between
morality and emotion, and delves more deeply into it in her recent book,
Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions. Of particular relevance these days may be M.F. Burnyeat's new book,
Restraining Rage: The Ideology of Anger Control in Classical Antiquity, which focuses on Classical views of anger and its proper place in human action. Many today could learn from
Marcus Aurelius: "as grief is a mark of weakness, so is anger, for both have been wounded and have surrendered to the wound." [First link via
Ye Olde Phart.]
posted by homunculus
on Feb 25, 2003 -
17 comments
John Dewey and the Alexander Technique. Anyone with an interest in either the philosophy of John Dewey or the Alexander Technique will find this interesting. Dewey was a devoted student of the Alexander Technique and acknowledged its influence on some of his ideas. This site includes Dewey's writings on the Alexander Technique and other articles about their relationship.
posted by homunculus
on Feb 25, 2002 -
8 comments
