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Monthly Archives: November 2009
The Dalai Lama on Obama
There has been much hand-wringing about Obama’s lack of results in China. As Stephen Walt explained, this was the fruits of years of folly. Yet despite delivering on the one issue that really really mattered (and the one could be realistically advanced)–a shared approach to sustaining the global environment–the New York Times, while demonstrating it [...]
Posted in topical Tagged Buddhism, Dalai Lama, diplomacy, ethics, global warming, patience, philosophy, politics, rationalism Leave a comment
Blogging Notes
1. The tone and content of my previous Fisking Sullivan post might lead people to believe that the whole was an attack on Sullivan.
[Fisk] might well be hated by the war-mongering, empire-addicted elements of the right because his skilful and widely recognised reporting of the ‘reality’ that they despise so much.
But yesterday Sullivan in a [...]
Fisking Sullivan
I have been watching the Palin obsession on Andrew Sullivan’s blog with a kind of fascinated horror. The blog was suspended to digest the almost content-free Palin book, but from the resumption notice it is clear that others have been raising their concerns.
No doubt It is part of the theatre, one of the many reasons, [...]
Posted in topical Tagged Afghanistan, blogging, ethics, peace, philosophy, Robert Fisk, war 1 Comment
I am baaack!
Sorry for the interruption–normal-ish service will be resumed. I will be flying south from Brighton for the winter to spend some time with my father in Spain and need to attend to some projects. The departure date is set for Thursday 26th. Until then I hope to post lighter pieces that I can combine with [...]
What Price Philosophy?
A further issue that came out of the Calvin and Servetus thread was what value should we put on the public understanding of Right Religion and Philosophy in any of its various manifestations. Can we put a price on it or should we try?
For the sake of this discussion I am assuming that various long-standing [...]
Posted in topical Tagged Calvin, climate change, Enlightenment, ethics, philosophy, public understanding, rationalism, religion, secularism Leave a comment
Moral Relativism
In one of the comments to my post on Calvin and Servetus the spectre of moral relativism was raised. Maybe some people might get offended at this, but I was pleased. I not pleased because I had merely provoked a reaction but because I was pushing a pretty contrarian position so that I could see [...]
Posted in topical Tagged Calvin, ethics, moral relativism, philosophy, rationalism, religious pluralism, tolerance 1 Comment
Our Great Passion for War
The confluence of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the taking down of the Berlin Wall, Obama’s ongoing deliberations on whether or not to escalate in Afghanistan and Remembrance Day, with the passing of the last of the Great War veterans, has made for an unusually rich reflection on the value and/or futility or [...]
Posted in topical Tagged Afghanistan, foreign policy realism, Karl Eikenberry, military spending, rationalism, Robert Fisk, Scott Ritter, sentimentalism, war 2 Comments
Realistic Optimists and That David Brooks Column
Tyler Cowen has a great TEDxMidAtlantic talk on the seductive power of stories to distort our view of the world. We compulsive structure our understanding with narratives–there is no point in fighting this–but we can take a light, sceptical approach to these narratives, continually probing them for weaknesses. (Does anyone else see common thread with [...]
Posted in topical Tagged David Brooks, ethics, Islam, Jane Austen, Matthew Yglesias, peace, philosophy, radicalism, terrorism, Tyler Cowen Leave a comment
Calvin and Servetus
Paul helm has been running a old and erudite series on Calvin at The Guardian. This week he looks at Calvin’s part in the Geneva authorities’ execution of Michael Servetus, concluding with an ambivalent defence that doesn’t seem quite right to me.
The plain fact is that the civil authorities in Geneva, with the support of [...]
Posted in topical Tagged Calvin, Calvinism, capital punishment, Christianity, cultural relativism, ethics, irrationalism, pacifism, philosophy, rationalism, sentimentalism, theology 5 Comments
The Horror
The opening of the New York Times editorial on Saturday made little sense.
It is always a shock — and a cause for deep sadness — when a gunman fires malevolently at crowds of innocent people. We have seen it far too often: at Columbine High School in Colorado a decade ago; on the campus of [...]
Posted in topical Tagged Afganistan, ethics, massacre, New York Times, peace, philosophy, war Leave a comment
Blog News
Mansfield Park Essay Completed
The Mansfield Park essay is now completed and I have placed a full table of contents at the head of each post. Originally I had intended to just expand on an earlier sketch of my views on the novel, and the Introduction and Method sections were written in this frame of mind. [...]
Posted in announcements Tagged blogging, ethics, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, philosophy Leave a comment
Diminutive Greatness and Fanny Price
This post is the final part of an essay on Mansfield Park, being posted in instalments.
Mansfield Park
Preface
Introduction
Method
Critiques
The Moral Law Within
Fanny and Edmund
The Crawfords
Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram
Mrs Norris
The Quiet Thing
Enlightenment
Kantian Deontology
King Lear
Romanticism
The Satirical Inheritance
Conclusion
Epilogue: Diminutive Greatness & Fanny Price
Epilogue: Diminutive Greatness & Fanny Price
We have re-read them all four times; or rather, to speak more [...]
Posted in Mansfield Park Tagged Enlightenment, ethics, irrationalism, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, philosophy, rationalism, Romanticism, sentimentalism Leave a comment
Mansfield Park: Conclusion
This post is part of an essay on Mansfield Park, being posted in instalments.
Mansfield Park
Preface
Introduction
Method
Critiques
The Moral Law Within
Fanny and Edmund
The Crawfords
Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram
Mrs Norris
The Quiet Thing
Enlightenment
Kantian Deontology
King Lear
Romanticism
The Satirical Inheritance
Conclusion
Epilogue: Diminutive Greatness & Fanny Price
5. Conclusion
Though etymologically “morality” means something like social custom, as we use it it means the desire to govern [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Leave a comment
Kant on Newton and Rousseau
[In preparation for the conclusion of the Mansfield Park essay, I am posing this short note on a famous Kant's note where he explains Newton's and Rousseau's impact on his ethical thought. Here I reproduce J. B. Schneewind's translation and notes.]
[W]e can see one of the most frequently quoted of Kant’s notes as showing a [...]
The Rise of the Novel
[While writing the conclusion for the Mansfield Park essay (which I am about to post) I realised that it relies on an assumption that may not be widely shared--that the rise of the realistic novel in the 18th century was a significant factor in the development of modern thought--so I will discuss it here first.]
The [...]
Posted in literary history Tagged Defoe, Enlightenment, ethics, Ian Watt, Jane Austen, journalism, literary history, philosophy, printing, rationalism, religion, Romanticism, Rousseau Leave a comment
Scott on Emma
This post is part of my series of posts looking at the impact of the novel on Enlightenment ethics. It follows the previous post giving Johnson’s view of the realistic novel set out in The Rambler No 4.
The publisher of Emma, John Murray, asked Walter Scott to review the novel, which appeared anonymously in the [...]
Posted in literary history Tagged Enlightenment, ethics, Jane Austen, novel, philosophy, rationalism, Romanticism, sentimentalism, Walter Scott Leave a comment
Johnson on the Realistic Novel
As part of my enquiries in into the impact of the modern realistic novel on Enlightenment (in preparation for the conclusion of the Mansfield Park essay) I am reproducing the text of Samuel Johnson’s Rambler No. 4 (31st March 1750, taken from here). It is widely assumed to be a response to the publication of [...]
Posted in literary history Tagged ethics, Jane Austen, modern realistic novel, moraliser, moralist, philosophy, Romanticism, Samuel Johnson Leave a comment
Wallace and Gromit
Bringing up Google’s home page I was greeted by Wallace and Gromit. I have a slightly elevated interest in these Aardman creations, being like the studio, a Bristolian, and my father working in broadcasting and knowing the founders from long before they hit the big time.
The Aardman website is, as you would expect, outstanding. (Quiz: [...]
The Values of Science
Aidan has responded to my Nihilism post with another thoughtful comment, which I recommend everyone read. Obviously I read a fair amount, and some pretty good stuff, but this is right up there. If the true quality of a blog were reflected in the quality of the responses I am being truly flattered. (And, of [...]
Nihilism
Aidan has written a splendid and thoughtful comment on the Blog News post that is really a whole article in itself. I recommend everyone read it. I am particularly grateful for it because while there is much in it I agree with it also essays a very interesting criticism, that goes to the heart of [...]
Posted in topical Tagged economic growth, ethics, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, materialism, philosophy, physicalism, Romanticism 1 Comment
They Just Don’t Get It