tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39818466481777238162012-02-11T07:41:43.698-05:00Reconstructing my beliefs from scratch, now that they've gone missing <br> -- OR --<br> The improbability of reflective equilibriumGTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.comBlogger971100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-92193323330299797812012-01-20T02:59:00.011-05:002012-02-11T03:01:56.452-05:00

"An eye for an eye, for an eye, for an eye ... ends in making everybody blind."-- Mohandas K Ghandi Famously re-stated: "The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding..."-- Martin Luther King Jr

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-59251346583489915472012-01-01T10:31:00.004-05:002012-01-01T10:43:11.884-05:00

   Happy New Year from the land of the sparkling turquoise sky  Rose Bowl Float - January 2, 2012 http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/tv-den/2011/dec/31/new-years-day-tv-schedule-rose-parade-college-bowl/ .

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-59620225363119721722011-12-28T07:39:00.018-05:002012-01-12T08:07:09.958-05:00

Rarely remarked, but important: In a democracy every citizen is a moral agent — an independent shaper of the moral life of the state. That core fact constitutes the moral justification of democracy as a practice. Elevation to agency within the public sphere recognizes the moral standing of every citizen, justifies mutual responsibilities between individual and state, and legitimizes the right of

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-89178400255438573472011-12-21T18:42:00.004-05:002011-12-22T07:11:29.816-05:00

It drives people nuts sometimes, but anyone who spends much time here at The_Moxie_Files notices eventually that I cannot leave my posts as-is. I edit almost obsessively. That is the case with my February 14 post on Sam Harris' The Moral Landscape, which was itself a rewrite. As I reread it recently, I got the sense that I had not focused the argument well enough. So I invite anyone who's still

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-90150887579649662092011-12-21T11:23:00.019-05:002011-12-22T18:59:03.079-05:00

Today there's a new link on the Moxie_Files blog roll: Corey Robin. I was so intrigued by this post, I added the site. The post has won an award from the editors of the leftwardly estimable 3quarksdaily blog (a tavern I've stumbled into a few times before, sipped a few shots of, declined the menu and left). It will take awhile to absorb Robin's site and body of work. My first take is that the

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-61400596213723318022011-12-14T11:36:00.008-05:002011-12-14T19:14:31.120-05:00

"The Protester" is Time magazine's Person of the Year 2011 Notice the common theme across the world: corruption. gc "My son set himself on fire for dignity," Mannoubia Bouazizi told me when I visited her.  "In Tunisia," added her 16-year-old daughter Basma, "dignity is more important than bread." -- From the Time article by Kurt Andersen Dec 14, 2011 http://www.time.com/time/

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-38584345842414914982011-12-14T00:12:00.007-05:002011-12-14T09:13:16.395-05:00

Thou shalt act in thine own self-interest only. Thou shalt mercilessly destroy thine enemies.  Thou shalt seek power and dominion over others.  Thou shalt not change thy mind.  Thou shalt not give up property to others, without something in return.  Thou shalt seek God only in the temple, in the tutelage of priests.  Thou shalt abstain from all pleasures of the flesh.  Thou shalt consider thine

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-44890131519121890132011-10-05T20:16:00.005-04:002011-12-15T01:17:48.177-05:00

[Rev 12/11/2011 -- abridged] The world is not the same without Steve Jobs. .

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-2946050215885260562011-10-02T12:58:00.020-04:002011-12-11T09:10:19.977-05:00

[Rev 12/11/2011 -- abridged] There's a lot of hand-wringing in the media about the US "assassination" of Anwar al-Awlaki, who was born in the USA.  Some think the administration has set a precedent it should not have done, ignoring Awlaki's constitutional rights. In the world he conspired to establish, there would be no such rights. Awlaki was a sworn enemy of the US,  its people, and the

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-52272673209723044662011-09-18T07:54:00.027-04:002011-12-11T09:27:14.205-05:00

Sometimes I wonder whether I am the most liberal conservative I know, or the most conservative liberal I know.  I belong to a radical center that does not exist. Corruption is the scourge of the modern age. Although I have discovered it is actually difficult to define, I am certain it is never justifiable in any moral system. It may be more useful to meditate on what corruption does, than

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-73018493016464830302011-08-31T04:25:00.001-04:002011-08-31T04:26:07.488-04:00

"Is it ever alright to lie?" the young one asked. Tung Chu said, "Only to reduce suffering, and if it does not cause other suffering." "It is said that truth can hurt, Tung Chu." "Distinguish between pain and suffering."

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-69742273291682510362011-08-22T08:09:00.001-04:002011-08-22T08:12:25.601-04:00

One of the sea-change aspects of the "Arab Spring" is that there's a woman in this picture. The same thing happened in Egypt and Tunisia, and  is happening in Syria and Yemen too. Courage knows no gender. http://news.yahoo.com/libyan-rebels-enter-tripoli-without-resistance-wheres-muammar-065000151.html

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-36321545019900022642011-08-10T03:02:00.008-04:002011-12-11T09:16:07.996-05:00

The recent budget/debt limit standoff in the US Congress turned out to be extremely high in drama and exceptionally low in practical results. Following a familiar pattern that is gradually becoming the norm, the solution (or "deal") was mostly to punt the problem: establish whatever few goals a majority could vote for and leave the heavy lifting for later. Also symptomatic of congressional

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-76821407591492082062011-07-29T22:11:00.006-04:002011-07-29T22:19:42.492-04:00

As the idiot herd in Washington proceeds to further diminish the nation, complicating its insipid lack of vision with a complete absence of reasonable dialogue, let us pause to reflect honestly and soberly on the fact that we elected these birdbrains. That's all I'm sayin' ... for now.

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-32764398059993757682011-06-04T11:21:00.005-04:002011-06-04T22:37:06.615-04:00

. Jack Kevorkian is no longer subject to taxation.R.I.P. btw ... in an essay, I once used "kervorkianed" as a verb. --gc

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-17853548586257720052011-05-24T07:37:00.005-04:002011-05-24T07:53:18.720-04:00

May 24 is the birthday of Robert Zimmerman, aka Bob Dylan. Today he turns 70. Happy birthday, Bob, and many happy returns. I have been an admirer and fan of Dylan since I was 10 and he was 20. In many ways, he is my intellectual big brother (which explains a lot about me -- LOL). Here is just one example, showing why: My Back PagesBob Dylan, (c)1964 Crimson flames tied through my ears

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-17777183606437400102011-05-11T04:44:00.013-04:002011-05-13T13:52:22.740-04:00

http://blogs.plos.org/neuroanthropology/2011/05/09/graduate-education-economic-voodoo-with-silver-lining/ Interesting quote from a new book by lit critic William Deresiewicz, a former humanities professor at Yale: When politicians, from Barack Obama all the way down, talk about higher education, they talk almost exclusively about math and science. Indeed, technology creates the future. But it is

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-86194768038540627142011-05-10T20:42:00.002-04:002011-05-24T08:56:02.956-04:00

The trouble with quotes on the internet is:you can't tell if they're genuine. -- Abraham Lincoln .

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-50211538358313368122011-05-08T21:45:00.003-04:002011-05-08T21:49:41.515-04:00

http://blogs.psychcentral.com/relationships/2011/05/julia-ward-howe-and-the-first-mothers-day-proclamation-1870/ Read the first Mothers Day Proclamation, written by Julia Ward Howe in 1870, after the US Civil War. The message is anti-war, exhorting women throughout the world to oppose the practice of making their sons into soldiers.  gc 

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-64077131375342361122011-05-08T11:14:00.004-04:002011-05-08T21:51:14.496-04:00

In the "Arab Spring" uprisings in Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and Libya especially -- but also as a general question applicable to Afghanistan and Pakistan: Why are the victims of government oppression (or in the latter case, Muslim victims of al-Qaeda and the Taliban) not identified, not listed, not pictured, not commemorated? Why are they nameless and faceless? Imagine a list posted to the

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-37505251351530070922011-05-02T06:41:00.013-04:002011-05-08T00:00:06.463-04:00

The death of bin Laden certainly was overdue. I have read some accounts that Europeans (especially) are scratching their heads at the outbreak of euphoria in the American streets. Some think it's unseemly. Discomforting. Maybe even sinister. Primitive. Since noplace else experienced what we experienced when this unholy demagogue physically assaulted us in our home, perhaps noplace else

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-26631745350420478352011-05-01T11:03:00.005-04:002011-05-08T22:02:42.071-04:00

When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir? John Maynard Keynes I consider whether a changed fact is ever more certain than the original. G. T. Christie .

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-6154588455336231762011-04-27T05:19:00.003-04:002011-05-08T22:05:50.877-04:00

Historic irony: Marx taught capitalism to the Russians. And they learned it. .

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-80176468133873152192011-04-15T10:27:00.021-04:002011-04-25T06:50:37.313-04:00

Today I discovered a eulogy for an old — eminently plunderable — Leftist; someone who eventually transcended both Left and Right in many ways. In that sense he counts among my influences: a writer who informed my skepticism, leading to my alienation from both ends of the political spectrum. He did not move me towards the radical center (a cockeyed notion I relish at times, and have used as a

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-26113913754010136792011-04-14T04:57:00.026-04:002011-04-14T22:22:02.158-04:00

When anyone recommends defunding or reducing an academic humanities department, think this: do you want the future leaders of society educated exclusively in the astringent ways and means of science, absent the corrective counterpoint of the wider history of human ideas? Or do you want something deeper than that? Should the policies of tomorrow grow in the acid soil of reductionism only, where

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-26297050557137147142011-04-09T23:16:00.006-04:002011-04-09T23:42:37.989-04:00

Trawling as I love to do, I discovered this quote on a philosophy blog called Camels With Hammers [Psychologist Jonathan] Haidt argues that whereas Western academics and other liberals seem to consider only questions of justice/equality and care/harm as being morally relevant, that most of... humanity thinks about morality equally in terms of... purity/sanctity, authority/respect, and ingroup/

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-80673564782777778972011-03-31T19:18:00.008-04:002011-03-31T20:03:40.877-04:00

For anyone who appreciates such things, this graphic was pasted into today's post at Ockham's Beard (Tim Dean). The post is great. This is perfect: I fell out laffin ...  click to see full size

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-74212221353359103322011-03-27T23:57:00.011-04:002011-03-28T17:01:31.478-04:00

http://www.juancole.com/2011/03/an-open-letter-to-the-left-on-libya.htmlhttp://robertpaulwolff.blogspot.com/2011/03/must-read.html Sunday Dr. Wolff at The Philosopher's Stone posted a link to an article called "An Open Letter to the Left on Libya" and it prompted some comments, including one from me.   Commenter Chris maintains that the US is acting hypocritically by attacking Libya while

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-80803380702620195622011-03-05T11:08:00.012-05:002011-03-28T18:53:06.530-04:00

How long has it been since the Tunisians and Egyptians began their uprisings? Remember the punditry at first, fretting about the Muslim Brotherhood stepping into power? Consolidating Radical Islam? Iran or Al-Qaeda  spreading chaos from the Persian Gulf all the way to Gibraltar? What a difference a month makes.  Across the region, every people's movement so far has expressed a longing for

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-39706150454698784012011-02-27T16:24:00.014-05:002011-03-02T02:16:15.389-05:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/world/africa/28unrest.html  Libyan Rebels Tighten Ring of Armed Control Near Tripoli Feb 28, 2011 via NYTimes:  "We are really suffering for 42 years, and people are asking here for the same things as other people of the world — they want the real democracy,” said Ahmed El-Hadi Remeh, an engineer standing in the square [in Zawiya, Libya]. He and other residents

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-16678676770388976432011-02-25T04:03:00.031-05:002011-03-27T02:27:17.707-04:00

GC praise & admiration is: heavy metal of honor Jules EvansI am re-iterating admiration and recommendation for "The Politics of Well-Being." Evans makes the cogitators list because he explores (among other things) 1) the nascent restoration of virtue ethics to moral thought and 2) the joys and sorrows of the BRITGOV's new emphasis on "well-being" as a measure of (call it) social progress OR the

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-60857954760339887302011-02-23T10:59:00.032-05:002011-03-04T03:43:00.317-05:00

I toured my personal library last weekend, writing down titles for this post. This is the marked-up, closely read and re-read philosophical bunch -- marked up to a fare-thee-well, stuffed with index cards, and written up in one form or another. Works listed here have changed my thinking at some point (some positively, some negatively). Several books count as influential but are not listed

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-49218710645963133652011-02-23T08:27:00.025-05:002011-02-27T10:26:26.055-05:00

The Cultural View of Ethics - Pensée "... any society could be examined as a philosophy."  -- from The_Moxie_Files May 2010: A Call to Reason - cont'd Now that they're all are dead, it's safe to reveal what I mis-learned from my professors. "Society as philosophy" is an idea I bounced off my first advisor, to which he responded, "No."  Dr. Thomas O. Hall, Jr. Don't go there; keep reading,

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-3736047307165596852011-02-19T08:21:00.032-05:002011-02-22T05:57:57.092-05:00

I've been promising to post better stuff [& this is not it], especially on my cultural moral theory. As I ruminated (procrastinated) on that, the following event stirred my inkwell: http://conservativetendency.blogspot.com/2011/02/social-self-and-human-rights.html At Mark English's Conservative Tendency blog, recent discussion was broadly about the relation of self to society and how "human

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-74737721383168132142011-02-14T09:00:00.160-05:002012-01-12T10:21:27.285-05:00

[Rev 08JAN2012]  http://jetpress.org/v21/blackford3.htm Russell Blackford has published on JET his long-considered review of Sam Harris' The Moral Landscape, plus a more succinct and focused version at the ABC Religion and Ethics portal.  Dr. Blackford takes the granular approach, addressing Harris' most controversial points in detail, analyzing specific arguments as philosophers

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-89969422115426669262011-02-01T00:02:00.045-05:002011-02-27T11:12:43.740-05:00

Today I am more aware how different one day is, from another.  Before you laugh, I'll explain: I mean how much my mind differs from one day to another.  For instance, one day I breeze through crossword puzzles, the next day I cannot. My mental strengths, attention span, perspicacity -- not just my "moods" -- differ over time. Usually I'm not very aware of these differences, either. Today I am. As

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-84546225914959640452011-01-31T21:30:00.003-05:002011-02-07T20:36:42.965-05:00

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GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-49180861076596512052011-01-31T21:25:00.013-05:002011-02-07T20:41:14.476-05:00

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GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-78732354882482798772011-01-31T21:24:00.009-05:002011-02-08T08:36:22.416-05:00

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GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-26760061807385000092011-01-27T12:05:00.029-05:002011-01-30T08:20:43.277-05:00

The following exchange developed last summer on The_Moxie_Files. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.  I'm posting it here for a couple of reasons. First, some people might suppose I am hostile to science because I criticize it sometimes. As a philosopher, in some circles I am suspect on science ipso facto anyhow. My criticisms are moral criticisms to boot, which tends to rile

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-28221080948237498092011-01-17T10:22:00.212-05:002011-12-17T18:53:55.004-05:00

. [Revised and reposted to 2011FEB14] 

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-34649335976302782702011-01-07T09:27:00.003-05:002011-01-09T10:52:40.253-05:00

Bruce Sterling on Julian Assange and Wikileaks: The Blast Shack This over-long article depicts Assange as a self-promoting cyberpunk ideologue who applies the value-free ethic of "open source" to international politics. Whether this ethic is commendable or not depends, it seems, upon the observer's belief in "transparency" vs. the efficacy of discretion.  Diplomacy, as Sterling points out, is

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-20330293510807963532011-01-02T14:46:00.040-05:002011-01-08T10:54:46.583-05:00

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower  Speech before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 16, 1953 Quoted by Nicholas D. Kristof, 12/25/2010 New York Times I like to believe that people in the long run are

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-5532447713315998522010-12-25T07:06:00.062-05:002011-03-15T16:06:37.975-04:00

In comments on the previous post, Mark English and I tossed out an exchange on the (in)famous "is/ought" problem. This came up because I had suggested that "life" might be an "is" (ie, a fact) that philosophers might use to support an "ought." Roughly, the form of the statement would be "if life is good, then we should honor and respect it."[More formally it must be established first that Life

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-76674335252484633522010-12-21T09:16:00.025-05:002010-12-22T02:36:26.605-05:00

I get a kick out of the names of old TV soap operas. As the World Turns, the classic, seems like a one-line poem of existential ennui. Edge of Night is a brooding line, convinced that cockroaches cover the kitchen after dark. The Young and the Restless sounds like narcissism glorified. My favorite title is Search for Tomorrow: a gutsy message, realism tempered with hopes and dreams. "Search"

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-80079936709441576822010-11-22T10:03:00.059-05:002011-06-17T05:30:36.413-04:00

George Will's Statecraft as Soulcraft (1983) discusses the struggle for the American economic soul at the end of the 18th century in which the Federalists set the stage for today's economy. As Will points out, the US economic system was, unlike any before it, rationally debated and consciously chosen by the nation's founders. In the 1780s, Madison in particular created a set of arguments in

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-30395231570404103652010-10-15T03:43:00.003-04:002010-12-16T10:26:21.818-05:00

Dr. Wolff is conducting a multi-part series on the study of society -- ie, how we study it, what are our pre-conceptions, etc. It is a bit rambling, but nontheless enjoyable. He's up to Part Eleven now, so it may take all day to follow through, if you must start at the beginning. At the end of Part Eleven, in the comments, I found this exchange. It's absolutely the funniest thing I've read in at

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-46846820419228417582010-10-07T09:14:00.006-04:002010-10-07T21:36:24.186-04:00

Preparing a response to a friendly challenge from Dr. R. P. Wolff to discuss my views on science -- especially its revolutionary impact on history -- I have been re-reading several of my sources. In the decade or so after WWII, a raft of books and articles appeared concerning this impact, largely inspired by the sudden appearance of nuclear weapons on the world stage -- a scientific development

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-59842495212735956222010-10-03T23:23:00.004-04:002010-10-03T23:31:08.630-04:00

There is a revolution brewing in the country, and it is not just on the right wing but in the radical center.  --Thomas Friedman: "Third Party Rising," New York Times October 2, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/opinion/03friedman.html Radical center.  I don't know what it means exactly, but ... I like the sound. .

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-73667826903396586532010-09-19T01:49:00.017-04:002011-03-05T10:44:54.648-05:00

Recently analyzing Dr. Wolff's dialog about the sorry state of contemporary political debate, I rejected the idea that amnesia is to blame.  The root assumptions of political liberalism and conservatism are rhetorically alive and well. They are hashed and rehashed daily and it appears everyone still understands what they mean well enough to brandish them in battle.  That is not the problem, I

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-79342357617149468432010-09-15T19:46:00.002-04:002010-09-15T19:56:44.229-04:00

I would like to welcome a new member to our eclectic circle here: he registered as "Tikno," and his blog is called Love Ely. I have read a bit of that, and so far I like his instincts. Unless I'm mistaken, he likes the "middle way" in his thinking. Hopefully that won't be ruined by some of the stuff I say around here. LOL. Tikno's current post opines (as some of us have done) on the Terry Jones

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-29328452587808859192010-09-12T02:43:00.101-04:002011-05-27T23:59:03.076-04:00

[REPOST] BULLETIN: As I expected, eventually Dr. Wolff would find The Moxie Files.Here it is.  As they used to say in the Old West movies, "Give him a fair trial! Then we'll hang him!" Robert Paul Wolff's "conversation" about the sorry quality of current political debate continues. As noted before, Wolff believes that both liberals and conservatives have lost contact with their root

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-87133641162258863682010-08-30T23:23:00.015-04:002011-04-27T05:52:10.765-04:00

NYTimes article Mark English has been epistemologizing lately.  This past week  a couple of his posts ignited an impromptu weekend thinktank session at Conservative Tendency, discussing theories of "mind" and "self" (roughly: the "I" in "I think, therefore I am"). Sunday a.m. on Mark's blog, after I prattled excessively at length my exceedingly few quasi-valid comments (aka opinions) on "self"

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-26652749050411286242010-08-26T02:03:00.025-04:002011-05-27T23:37:54.095-04:00

Marx was clearly right in calling capitalism the most revolutionary force in the history of human experience. Private ownership of the means of production, production for profit rather than for use, the reduction of yeoman farmers and peasants to wage laborers, and unfettered competition in a market freed of traditional and legal restraints on the pursuit of profit have, taken together,

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-2503660440777495532010-08-17T08:28:00.031-04:002010-08-19T07:34:03.648-04:00

  Our sudden debate about an Islamic mosque rising next to Ground Zero is essentially a conflict between two equally valid impulses: First, to remain true to our civic ideals (here constitutional freedom of religion). Second, to respect the feelings of those who lost relatives and friends in the attacks of 9/11. The question might be restated as follows. Which shall we value more if they

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-27428954011483016832010-08-13T23:12:00.010-04:002010-08-14T07:28:37.060-04:00

From AP via Yahoo News: By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer "As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country," Obama said, weighing in for the first time on a controversy that has riven New York City and the nation. "That includes the right to build a [Muslim] place of worship ... on private property

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-7416659304827004782010-08-05T01:10:00.026-04:002011-03-15T22:16:35.156-04:00

Call me a troublemaker. Some things are too good to pass up. For instance, this "conversation" kickoff from R. P. Wolff. Dr. Wolff is a well-known UMass professor, now retired, with a very strong liberal bent. His interest in this "conversation" is such that I can't possibly pass up the opportunity to at least observe the fireworks he's setting off (or should be) by bringing up a discussion

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-42893404528912736882010-08-04T09:02:00.004-04:002011-03-15T16:44:47.601-04:00

On the theory that every culture deserves respect, it's worthwhile also to observe that cultures change and develop over time. Some links to ponder... From Time.com: Later this year, a council of Turkish scholars will publish a re-appraisal of some of Islam's most controversial practices. "There is one tradition which says ladies are religiously and rationally not complete and of lesser mind

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-63346204086765417112010-07-31T07:33:00.029-04:002011-03-27T02:28:38.753-04:00

[moved]

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-60319768094047369992010-07-18T12:24:00.037-04:002010-08-22T04:31:26.242-04:00

rev 07/21/2010 Now for some deeper stuff implied by English's opening question: MacIntyre's thought experiment on moral vocabulary -- ie, imagining what would happen if moral terms lost their meaning -- heavily depends on an assumption that moral principles are constant and that moral concepts and terms properly refer to the principles. For discussion, I call this the classic view of ethics.

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-67187885755597013542010-07-17T00:58:00.020-04:002010-08-22T11:43:39.085-04:00

 From "Remnants of Ethics"In the context of business there is a lot of talk about ethics and social responsibility but much of it can be seen as window-dressing. Are ethics and morality ultimately empty concepts? Is there any point in arguing about ethics anymore? Or have we become a "post-moral" society? One book in my library, now considered a classic, approaches these questions from a

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-46718158038217299992010-07-15T07:53:00.012-04:002010-08-22T04:07:52.206-04:00

I am taking an unusual step today.  Against his will (ie, I didn't ask him first), I am publishing an entire post from Mark English's Conservative Tendency blog, opened earlier this year, which deserves more readers/followers than it currently has. I re-publish the following post because: 1) it brings up several issues I'm interested in2) Mark's point of view is highly compatible with my own3

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-38478465485137686122010-07-04T23:45:00.206-04:002012-01-20T02:39:02.636-05:00

See Part 1: Freedom is Radical Latest rev: 2011OCT07 Objecting to Radical Freedom Nature does not constrain ideas. Thinking is radically free. If freedom is radical — if nature is silent, void of prescription, leaving thought inherently unconstrained — the effect on moral theory is deep and wide. Freedom is natural. Factual. Non-contingent. Universal. Axiomatic. A seismic rumble stirs below

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-70894248990217813392010-07-04T02:04:00.347-04:002012-01-17T21:37:46.204-05:00

Playing with Matches in the Moral Theory Lab What happens to moral theory if, for the sake of inquiry, we consider freedom not as a human idea, nor as a goal or achievement in human thought, but as a characteristic of thought? Or, to put it another way, imagine that human freedom stands beyond ideas. It is non-contingent: not invented by us. It is not a concept. It is not a principle — moral

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-44430810256511813772010-06-22T23:06:00.022-04:002011-03-15T15:54:31.640-04:00

On the theory that every culture deserves respect, it's worthwhile also to observe that cultures change and develop over time. Some links to ponder... From Time.com: Later this year, a council of Turkish scholars will publish a re-appraisal of some of Islam's most controversial practices. "There is one tradition which says ladies are religiously and rationally not complete and of

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-55728223309759910932010-06-18T11:49:00.059-04:002011-02-11T09:55:31.885-05:00

Some scientists believe human immortality is achievable and ought to be pursued. When questioned about this, a few of them claim it is illogical to do otherwise, and that anyone who opposes the idea essentially prefers death over unlimited survival. A common line of argument is that people who don't think immortality is a good idea actually are afraid of living forever. But the desire for human

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-79106056378537246112010-06-17T11:44:00.008-04:002010-06-22T16:42:16.337-04:00

As economic recession continued to intensify in January 2009, the following remarks were delivered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.  Enjoy. [See full text in Wall Street Journal, January 28, 2009.] The world is now facing the first truly global economic crisis.... The current situation is often compared to the Great Depression of the late 1920s and the early 1930s.... The

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-6689710270926171762010-06-08T01:43:00.034-04:002012-01-03T19:50:07.189-05:00

. Afghan Women Fear the Loss of Modest Gains Published: July 30, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/31/world/asia/31women.html [Excerpts] As Afghan and Western governments explore reconciliation with the Taliban, women fear that the peace they long for may come at the price of rights that have improved since the Taliban government was overthrown in 2001. “Women do not want war, but

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-44789590944716771332010-05-31T12:04:00.063-04:002011-08-17T22:57:06.760-04:00

Journalists are taught to eschew the first person pronoun as part of the compositional discipline; to write as objectively as possible; to avoid editorializing while reporting "straight news." My background in journalism is especially deep because my father was a newswriter. He taught me that facts come first. Although he respected my teenage dream to become an aeronautics engineer,

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-58066257854479825152010-04-24T20:12:00.030-04:002012-01-15T06:24:00.846-05:00

I was born during the Cold War and raised in the nuclear republic -- er, I mean the United States of America. My generation was the first one raised from infancy knowing scientifically the world could end within the hour. By 1957, even a first grader could think to ask, newly made aware of the horrific possibilities, "But ... why is there war?" My father's shocking

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-79085897613523234922010-04-24T19:43:00.015-04:002012-01-15T05:38:05.896-05:00

Moral relativism, as commonly argued, cannot justify anything. For anything to be "relative," it must be relative TO something: 1) to something of its own type and 2) to something besides itself. Both conditions must be met. Relativity is a property of objects in a set in which there are at least two objects of the same class. Their "relativity" is demonstrated by

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-34041784576163451432010-04-24T19:42:00.003-04:002010-04-24T19:42:57.620-04:00

. Coming soon ... .

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-79732582922156681502010-04-24T19:42:00.002-04:002010-04-24T19:42:46.024-04:00

. Coming soon ... .

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-49192880177877066552010-04-24T19:42:00.001-04:002010-04-24T19:42:27.537-04:00

. Coming soon ... .

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-72285734306744070272010-04-24T19:42:00.000-04:002010-04-24T19:42:09.820-04:00

. Coming soon ... .

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-20864363169302717282010-04-24T19:41:00.011-04:002012-01-15T06:25:02.379-05:00

We have not solved your problem. In fact, we have more questions than when we started. But we believe we are confused at a higher level, and  about more important things. -- Plaque above entrance to SRI International Inc., Menlo Park CA    (Formerly Stanford Research Institute. History: www.sri.com) If we knew what we were doing, it would not be called research, would

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-61810325066550035532010-04-24T19:41:00.010-04:002010-05-01T08:14:06.318-04:00

. Coming soon ... .

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-74001024631066879152010-04-24T19:41:00.009-04:002010-05-01T08:13:48.245-04:00

. Coming soon ... .

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-58952543448318922582010-04-02T23:23:00.020-04:002012-01-15T06:12:00.265-05:00

A satirical look at an overloaded political brain Everyone has at least a touch of moxie. Most people wish they had more. I have more, and I can tell you: plenty is way too much.Moxie occurs in a part of the human brain called the political mandala (plural -- on MRIs it looks like two mandolins). This area controls many important mental functions: 1. Moral reasoning, social conciousness

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3981846648177723816.post-32443761886615640062010-04-01T00:10:00.122-04:002012-01-19T08:50:26.538-05:00

"So, what brings you to my door?" asked Dr. Frued. My psycho-doc has a fancy office in Tombstone -- fancier than mine, and mine is designed to impress. He has plenty of work from our bunch here in Oracle. Most of us are creative types and some of us have extra dust in our noggins, apparently, so we need a man like Frued. Oracle is well known for its artists and craftspeople. I'm a

GTChristiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390368105725901371noreply@blogger.com0