Sermonette V – Schopenhauer

A reading taken from the works of Arthur Schopenhauer:

A quick test of the assertion that enjoyment outweighs pain in this world, or that they are at any rate balanced, would be to compare the feelings of an animal engaged in eating another with those of the animal being eaten.

– Arthur Schopenhauer.
On the Suffering of the World
(London: Penguin, 2004), p. 4.

On Kripke’s ‘Wittgenstein’

Care of Long Sunday, a picture of something that I’ve felt like doing on numerous occasions this year (Dare I say RB and SD have felt the same?) …

Brief Thought On Capitalism.

“This city is haunted by a spectre … the spectre of capitalism.” – I scribbled this down, on the back page of a paperback since it was the most conveniently placed piece of paper, one recent night and have been meaning to post it since.

It conjured the image of capitalism, as a fog that nuzzles against window-panes, hanging in the air, and spilling into open spaces.

It also pointed to a fundamental truth; capitalism is only a spectre.

Philosophy Conferences And Calls For Papers - Philoblog Review.

Philosophy Conferences And Calls For Papers – a compendia of conference notices and calls for papers, maintained by a grad-student. A useful reasource. [Hat tip – T.A.R.]

Sermonette IV – Christmas Psalms From Rent And Seussical

Being Christmas Eve, sources outside the philosophical canon have been chosen for the sermonette and to embrace the spirit of the season psalms have been selected.

Firstly, a psalm from Jonathan Larson’s Rent:

Christmas bells are ringing
Christmas bells are ringing
Christmas bells are ringing
How time flies
When compassion dies …

- Jonathan Larson,
‘Finale’,
Rent.

Secondly, a psalm from Ahrens and Flaherty’s Seussical The Musical:

– And the Grinch, with his feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling: ”How could it be so?”
– “It came without ribbons”
– “It came without tags”
– “It came without packages, boxes or bags!”
– “Maybe Christmas”, he thought, “doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more”

- Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty,
‘Into The Whos’ Christmas Pageant’,
Seussical The Musical.

I’m aware that the first is from a show that SD has no great regard for, but seems apt presently. The second has been haunting my sleep for nigh on nine months now, for various reasons, and I thought to share it.

Joyeux noël.

Diderot on Wealth

"In any country where talent and virtue produce no advancement, money will be the national god. Its inhabitants will either have to possess money or make others believe that they do. Wealth will be the highest virtue, poverty the greatest vice. Those who have money will display it in every imaginable way. If their ostentation does not exceed their fortune, all will be well. But if their ostentation does exceed their fortune they will ruin themselves. In such a country, the greatest fortunes will vanish in the twinkling of an eye. Those who don't have money will ruin themselves with vain efforts to conceal their poverty. That is one kind of affluence: the outward sign of wealth for a small number, the mask of poverty for the majority, and a source of corruption for all." - Attributed to Denis Diderot by Wikiquote (amongst others).

To me it is strangely evocative of our current situation. I wonder how long it will be before our ostentation completely outstrips our wealth? (If it has not already).

On ‘thought experiments’

Long Sunday is running a discussion of the following thought experiment:

“Imagine the following: Someone is driving through Pennsylvania and all the lights are out. This person pulls into a gas station to buy some gas and some gum, but here, too, the kind of darkness that points to a power failure. The gas pumps don't work. Hoping to get some gum, the driver walks into the appropriately small mini-mart. It is dark but the door is open. The customer sees that all electricity has been cut. By chance, the guy running the cash register -- the only person working there this late at night -- has fallen dead of a heart attack. He died before he could close the cash register. Many hundreds of dollars do now spill out the cash register. The customer is reasonably convinced that no surveillance cameras are operating. In addition to the gum, it would be riskless to stuff one's pockets with many hundreds of dollars.

Two questions: First, what should the customer do? Second question: What do we predict the customer will do?”

- The questions are being discussed in the context of what would individuals of various philosophical persuasions do in this situation? I.e. How would a Platonist or a Rawlsian act, and how should they act?

On Theology – Intelligent Design And Proof’s Of God’s Existence; Or Two Links For Sam …

The Trial that decided ‘Intelligent Design’ is theology – the (139 page) opinion in Kitzmiller et al versus Dover Area School District et al … The problem is the spotfires of debate are still burning bright, and may yet gain the strength to become a bushfire capable of burning away science …

While on theology, Over Three Hundred Proof’s Of God’s Existence as compiled by the Atheists Of Silicon Valley. [Hat tip – Leiter Reports]

Fragments From A Long Lunch …

May be paraphrased, and not in chronological order (am working from memory … should have jotted down some notes)

1. ‘I’ve been thinking of writing a manifesto …’
‘You’re a manifesto bi-polar. One minute your posting on how you can’t write manifestos any more and the next your trying to write one …’

2. ‘It’s the expansion of the disciplinary gaze … since the disciplinary gaze needs to see everything, the next logical progression – and you can see it in fashion ... look at how clothing –female clothing in particular – is becoming more and more revealing ... you can see more and more – would be towards nudity …’
‘Except for those who shouldn’t be seen naked …’
‘They won’t exist … the normalisation discourses will get rid of them …’
‘In various ways …’
‘Yes … medical normalisation will have a considerable role in this … look at classical Sparta, the closest thing to a proto-typical disciplinary society, nudity and fitness were complementary because of the disciplinary gaze …’

3. ‘[Michel] Houellebecq is all about unrequited desire …’

4. ‘The reason Plato gives the Sophists such a bad reputation is that their relativism disagreed with his absolutism.’

[RB and SD, feel free to add other fragments and edit this one. Let's aim at some level of accuracy]

Unideal Observers - Philoblog Review

Unideal Observers – A new graduate student philoblog dealing with ethics, and authored by the philosophic progeny of those residing in PEA Soup. [Hat tip – Leiter Reports]

Atopian - Philoblog Review

Atopian.org – A philoblog, presently authored by a UK based student, dealing with ethics and political philosophy. [Hat tip – Unideal Observers]

Common Sense Philosophy - Philoblog Review

Common Sense Philosophy – Philoblog dealing with metaphysics, among other topics. [Hat tip – Atopian]

The ABD Club - Philoblog Review

The ABD Club – A graduate blog dealing with political theory and philosophy. [Hat tip – Unideal Observers]

Ratiocination - Philoblog Review

Ratiocination – A philoblog dealing with metaphysics and epistemology. [Hat tip – Common Sense Philosophy]

On The Riots

“These riots are made by an unidentifiable mob—rebellious bodies whose existence is reduced to bare necessity, and who have not found any other language than that of destructive gestures.

Let us not fool ourselves; in everyday life many of this mob are detestable; some are numbed by religion, many alienated by consumerism, or enthusiasts of masculine values, sharing with the masters of society the stupid worship of sport (some riots were suspended during televised football games) … Most of this mob would certainly not be friendly to us.”

These remarks – to a certain extent – could have been made about the incidents in Sydney last weekend. They are taken from '"Warning Lights" A Surrealist Statement on the Recent Riots in France', a statement by the Paris Group of the Surrealist Movement [Hat tip to pas au-dela, who was discussing Zizek at the time, and care of Interactivist Info Exchange]. I thought that the Paris Group was long gone, so it is good to know that they are still ambling along the boulevards …

“Beyond recent infernos presented as the very image of a nightmare, it is time that the dream of concrete utopia is raised anew.” (It is also nice to see that there are still utopians, an endangered spieces I dare say, about.)

Foucault.info - Philoblog Review

Foucault.info – The blog attached to Michel Foucault.info, an information repository on Foucault, it acts as a notification service.

Sermonette III – Schopenhauer

A reading taken from the works of Arthur Schopenhauer:

I therefore know of no greater absurdity than that absurdity which characterizes almost all metaphysical systems: that of explaining evil as something negative. For evil is precisely that which is positive, that which makes itself palpable; and good, on the other hand, i.e. all happiness and all gratification, is that which is negative, the mere abolition of a desire and extinction of a pain.

– Arthur Schopenhauer.
On the Suffering of the World
(London: Penguin, 2004), p. 4.

Brown Feeling - Philoblog Review

Brown Feeling – new philoblog, authored by Mischa Benoit-Lavelle, that appears to be in the Continental (or ‘humanist’, if you’re going to subscribe to this presently vogue ‘re-branding’) vein. [Hat tip – Infinite Thought.]

[There really should be some directory that all philosophy blogs register with at their inception, would make the process of keeping track of them easier …]

The University of Winnipeg Department of Philosophy Blog - Philoblog Review

The University of Winnipeg Department of Philosophy Blog – The blog of the University of Winnipeg philosophy department (the name is really self-explanatory), primarily a forum for up-coming events and conference notices. [Hat tip – Dialectic.]

archive : s0metim3s – Blog Review

archive : s0metim3s – a blog, not strictly philosophical though worthy of note, dealing with politics.

[Yes, there are going to be occasional reviews on non-philoblogs worthy of note, such blogs will not be added to the Directory.]

Notice – ‘Strategies for freedom from the work of Foucault’.

Bill Pascoe, a contributor at Dialectic, has posted a paper – ‘Strategies for freedom from the work of Foucault’ – articulating an account of freedom drawn from the power theory of Michel Foucault.

Question On Love (After 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' and 'Intimacy')

Over at Dialectic, Michael has been posting on the philosophical usefulness of love (among other things) – this is slightly irrelevant to the rest of this post, but why not litter posts with pointless links? Isn’t that the reason for the ‘web’ being web-like?

During my recent reading – trying to make some headway into the small library that has collected over the course of the year – I came across the following question:

“Is it possible that any two human beings can really love each other when they have said practically not a word to one another about any subject at all except copulation?”

It was asked of Cecil Day-Lewis during Regina v. Penguin Books Limited (1960) (See: Rolph, C.H. [Ed.]. Lady Chatterley’s Trial (London: Penguin, 2005), p.37), regarding the characters of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. The question called to mind the Patrice Chéreau film Intimacy (2001), which left open the question of whether two individuals who don’t speak (or communicate, more broadly considered) to each other can be in a relationship that can be labelled philia?

With fleetingly brief reference to Plato (Lysis) and Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics), it does not seem to correct to label purely physical relationships philia ...

Philosopher’s Carnival, No. Twenty Three

The 23rd Philosopher’s Carnival, that venerable institution of the philoblogosphere, is presently being hosted at Right Reason.

The Carnival, this time, has been divided into three categories: ‘free will’, ‘bullshit’, and ‘miscellany’, though creating an entire category for reviews of Frankfurt’s On Bullshit seems a little pointless …

On The Riots In Sydney

While Australia flees accusations of racism, the recent riots in France may assist in making sense of what has been occurring in Sydney. As a result, I point the numerous individuals who are trawling the blogosphere on this topic to 'Some Politically Incorrect Reflections on Violence in France & Related Matters' by Slavoj Zizek (care of Dialectic and Theoria, respectively, and with thanks to Lacan.com).

[There is a power analysis of the riots just waiting to be undertaken … Perhaps a discussion of riots is in order. Any relevant thoughts?]

Long Sunday’s ‘Critique of Violence’ Symposium

Long Sunday’s contributors have been nice enough to compile the links of the various posts that constitute their symposium on Benjamin’s ‘Critique of Violence’. In so doing, they have made this post much easier by reducing the numerous links envisaged to a single one; here is the round-up.

The posts that constitute the symposium make for interesting reading and are worth the time; my copies of them (and Benjamin’s piece that was their inspiration) are well decorated with marginalia at present (which may, or may not, be organised into some coherent thoughts at some point in the near future).

Perhaps it is more events of this kind that will secure the place of the philoblogosphere as a forum for philosophical discussion.

Scottish Nous's 'You Might Be a Fundamentalist Christian If...'

While not trying to commence another battle in the long-running war betwixt the forces of God and the Unbelievers, Scottish Nous has posted that 'You Might Be a Fundamentalist Christian If...' “You define 0.01 percent as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99 percent FAILURE was simply the will of God”, among other points.

S.N. has also made the prediction that “In the near future a well-written but perplexing article will appear in a prestigous [sic] philosophy journal (perhaps by Dennett?) defending the view that qualia, while identical with brain states, are nevertheless epiphenomenal”, as well as challenging Lindsay Beyerstein, Richard Chappell, and Dr. Pretorius to make their own predictions (at time of posting, only Ms Beyestein had not completed the challenge).

Sermonette II - Schopenhauer

A reading taken from the works of Arthur Schopenhauer:

Each individual misfortune, to be sure, seems an exceptional occurrence; but misfortune in general is the rule.

– Arthur Schopenhauer.
On the Suffering of the World
(London: Penguin, 2004), p. 3.

[Apologies for these being out of order, but a page of notes was misplaced prior to posting the initial Sermonette, and has since appeared again.]

The Politics Of Truth

Infinite Thought has posted, extensively, on a recent political theory conference at Birkbeck College. Of interest are the presentations by Slavoj Zizek ('Against the Populist Temptation' – link is to k-punk’s post) and Alain Badiou ('Politics: a Non-Expressive Dialectics' – link is to irrational numbers’ pdf transcript).

Ministers Of Philosophy

With reference to this article (from The Guardian), Spookyblog has called for a ”professional philosopher [to be] appointed to help Cabinet understand the moral dimensions of their decisions rather than merely help them understand what might offend the electorate or press”, a Minister for Philosophy if you will ... Would that mean that there would be a government department of philosophy that would have graduate recruitment programs?

Thesis – On Terrorism

‘Terrorism’ – as an action – is a mechanism that emerges in societies as a ‘release valve’ for otherwise un-utilised force. That is, terrorism allows surplus force that would have accumulated at a specific locus to be expended.

The Pubescent Philosopher - Philoblog Review

The Pubescent Philosopher – philoblog of a young gent (presently attending a United States High School), deals with a precocious range of topics from philosophy of language to political philosophy.

[Reviews, similar to this, will be posted as philoblogs come to our attention and are added to the Directory Of Philosophic Blogs. Suggestions for philoblogs to be added to the Directory are always welcome.]

Brief Note On The Normalisation Of Christanity On Byzantine Art

“The depiction of the male nude had been at the centre of the classical artistic tradition from its beginnings, and the female nude had been similarly elevated from the 4th century BC onwards. But the normalisation of Christianity brought with it a sexual conservatism derived from its roots in Judaism, and the nude was banished from its dominant position in art.” (Wikipedia, 'Byzantine Art') – One gets the feeling that Foucault could provide an intelligent analysis of this particular aesthetic development …

Ruminations on "Multiculturalism" in Germany & Australia

I have just read this post concerning "Multiculturalism" by Jason Stanley on Leiter Reports.
While some Australian readers might think that the events of Peter Schneider's report are rarely paralleled here, I suspect that there are many who would beg to differ. I think many Australians would particularly relate to the "befuddlement about what it meant to live in a genuinely multicultural society", that the author encounters.

When the ideals of tolerance, assimilation and pluralism interact (and not always in a friendly manner) it seems appropriate to ask how democracies (liberal or otherwise) can, and more importantly should cope with this.

Should we do as Naturalism.org suggests? The author of this article recommends that we act as "this-world empiricists when arguing for policy, citing facts potentially available to all parties to the dispute, and using shared canons of logic and evidence." whilst at the same time trying as much as possible to accomodate all views, even if they threaten pluralism and tolerance, "so long as they limit themselves to trying to persuade us." (And of course taking 'coercive' action against those who cross this line.)

Some might argue that this view is itself giving an unreasonably elevated status to a certain worldview and set of ethical norms, and is therefore itself ideologically tainted.

To these detractors I would put forth this challenge: Show me a situation where no worldview, and its associated ethical practices & theory are elevated above others in this way.
I doubt that this condition can be met

It seems then if we are to admit that it is at least possible that we are wrong, and that this goes for most people about most things then the only reasonable course of action is to work towards a situation where the maximum diversity of beliefs can be maintained peacfully, and then defend it. (How we defend it should, as with so many things in an open society, be open to debate. )

This solution would be hard for some groups to accept. In Australia, it would require that Christian groups finally accept that they are just one of a range of views, rather than Christianity being 'The Religion of Australia'. Other groups who might, (for whatever reasons, valid or not), desire the destruction, or radical overhall of current society by extra-legal means, would have to accept that 'liberal-pluralist-democracy' is that which allows them to exist, rather than the thing that holds them back, and to therefore be mindful of what they advocate.

Or is there another solution?

Bail - From 'Notebooks'

Read this earlier:

"The problem of seeing other people. To be forced to listen:
P.H., head bowed, a mixture of Australian no-bullshit and humility;
'I think philosophy is crap.'
'You what?'
'You mightn't think so. I'm just telling what I think. It's my opinion.'" - Murray Bail. Notebooks 1970 - 2003 (London: The Harvel Press, 2005), p. 181.

Discussion Of 'The Death Penalty As A Political Issue'

Have been partaking in a discussion of the Nguyen Tuong Van execution, as part of a broader discussion of 'The Death Penalty As A Political Issue' over at The Pubescent Philosopher - apparently the Australian dispute with Singapore has pricked the international consciousness ...

Sermonette I - Schopenhauer

A reading taken from the works of Arthur Schopenhauer (The link is to his Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry):

everyone desires to achieve old age, that is to say a condition in which one can say: ‘Today it is bad, and day by day it will get worse – until at last the worst of all arrives.’

– Arthur Schopenhauer.
On the Suffering of the World
(London: Penguin, 2004), p. 11.

[The Sermonette will appear weekly - betwix Friday and Sunday, as time allows - and will be extracted from the copious philosophical cannon, with Schopenhauer being the primary source.]