thoughts in and out of season
Plato suggests mathematics and love of beauty as doors to the transcendent. Most mathematicians are Platonists, I think—they believe mathematical objects exist independently of human thought and action and even physical reality—but mathematics today is too closely connected to measurement, analysis and prediction of natural phenomena, and the tendency to resolve it into arbitrary axioms … More ...
Liberal society says it leaves the question of ultimate goods up to its members. That’s not possible, since every choice implicitly defines what is worth choosing and thus what is good. Every society, like every human being, thus accepts a definition of the good that is as specific and comprehensive as its system of habitual … More ...
We dropped by a market this evening to pick up some milk, and my wife noticed a blurb on boxes of Diet Coke:
Who knew soft drinks could be hydrating?
Who knew that “hydration” was supposed to be so special? Or that “self-involved airhead” is now a major market demographic?
Continuing disputes over homosexuality and what to do about it have prompted me to tidy up and organize various short things I’ve written on the topic and add a provocatively-titled introduction. Anyone interested is urged to read and comment.
Today’s quote:
… More ...“Minorities often behave the way majorities want them to. America’s German and Sephardic Jews in the nineteenth century tried to model themselves on WASP high society, believing that they had to do so to move up socially and professionally. Today Jews who spew hate on gentiles also move up, because they are
Or at least something called by that name:
The modern viewpoint tries to do away with obfuscation, so it tells us that reason has to do with things that are clear, distinct and verifiable. To know is to know such things, and everything else is fantasy that is not to be trusted. That view is often presented quite forcefully, and it’s led to … More ...
I can’t say these are good ideas:
The actions of the German nanny state can speak for … More ...
Turning to another side of Iranian life, I just watched a pleasant and rather well-made movie from over there, Children of Heaven. It’s about a young boy who loses his little sister’s shoes and their attempts to get them back or replace them, in the mean time keeping it a secret and getting by … More ...
A book by longtime Iranian leader Rafsanjani has apparently been suppressed, or at least withdrawn for fact-checking, because influential Iranians are outraged by its claim that Khomeini wanted at one point to drop “Death to America” as a slogan.
I can somewhat understand the “Marg bar Shah” slogan, ugly though it was, because there … More ...