Getting to the point

by

The progressive National Catholic Reporter has an editorial on liturgy that makes their view altogether clear: “Liturgy is the visible expression of the arrangement of power.” They don’t say why that is so, although their whole discussion presumes the point, so it’s worth making the logic explicit: a sacrament is the visible expression of a … More ...

Positive Psychology

by

This is inspired by the recent Houellebecq discussion. In sum, and in further praise of Houellebecq, I believe he is at least aware of the cutting edge of psychological thought, and incorporated it into “The Possiblity of an Island.”

From the book:

“The day’s orator was a very tall, thin, bald guy, impressively serious –when … More ...

Thinking about hatred

by

Here’s a provocative if somewhat odd piece on hatred from Taki’s Top Drawer. A quote:

According to the old, religious “psychology” of hatred, people controlled by this sin are inherently quarrelsome, because they see slights everywhere. Hate-dominated individuals perceive as snubs actions in which others see nothing, for example a glance, a tone of

… More ...

They’ve really thought it through

by

Here’s an example of how ways of thinking play out in daily life that reject the concept of the natural, and therefore common sense, in favor of technological conceptions and controlled rationalized organization: one woman’s account of Catholic parish life post-Scandal. Because of the scandals resulting from episcopal protection of clerical pederasts, a group for … More ...

Juicing and the nature of man

by

A “cultural issue” is one people have strong views on but don’t know how to discuss. That makes for discussions that are sometimes interesting but sometimes repetitive and aside the point. People come up with odd and inventive arguments to back up gut reactions, repeat them again and again, and ignore everyone else.

Here’s a … More ...

No closure on materialism?

by

In my last entry I suggested that materialist science can’t deal with all realities, even all important realities. It can’t give an adequate account of “importance,” for example, and if you can’t sort out what is more and less important you can’t deal with anything at all. In other words, materialist science can’t even make … More ...

Atoms, the void, and the rest of it

by

An obvious problem with a materialist understanding of the world is that we have subjective experience and can’t begin to imagine what a materialist explanation for subjective experience would look like. What do atoms and the void have to do with our sensation of redness, as opposed to redness as a wavelength of light, type … More ...

Moral points of view

by

Here’s an interesting graph showing how liberals (blue), conservatives (red), and one self-described libertarian (green) test on a survey of “moral foundations”:

Basically, liberals emphasize “harm” and “fairness” and don’t care so much about “loyalty,” “authority” or “purity,” while conservatives give more equal weight to all five dimensions. (The libertarian can speak for himself.)… More ...