Philosophy
Ash Wednesday is a good time to think about cultural practices that we engage in without thinking. If we as a society decided to give up something for Lent, what would be a good thing on which to declare a 40-day moratorium? What would we as a culture be better off giving up for 40 days?
- The Origin Of The Celebration Of Lent
Mt Fellow Comedists, I've been doing a lot of research into the history of religion lately as I wind up writing Einstein's Jewish Science, and this is inspired by a comment from good brother Hanno and is almost true: Setting: meeting room in the...
- To Kill A Mockingbiord And Cultural Relativism
This is the 50th anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most important American literary works of the last century. A magnificent piece on many levels, one of the most important philosophical elements is the way it undermines...
- Cultural Relativism
Today is my birthday and that of Tom Lehrer. One of my favorite songs of his is "In Old Mexico" where he sings of a visit to that country. At one point in the narrative, he is waxing poet about a visit to a bullfight in the style of Hemingway, only with...
- The Virtue Of Without
The idea behind Lent is that there is something cleansing, something virtuous about self-deprivation. The question is what? Is it the ability to empathize with the suffering of others? If someone can afford X -- which s/he really enjoys -- and opts to...
- Colbert Celebrates Lent By Giving Up Catholicism
A couple of days ago you may have seen a bunch of people walking around with dirt on their foreheads: they were Catholics and the dirt was really ash in the shape of a cross pressed against their foreheads by someone who's probably implicated, or...
Philosophy
Something Borrowed, Something Lent
Ash Wednesday is a good time to think about cultural practices that we engage in without thinking. If we as a society decided to give up something for Lent, what would be a good thing on which to declare a 40-day moratorium? What would we as a culture be better off giving up for 40 days?
- The Origin Of The Celebration Of Lent
Mt Fellow Comedists, I've been doing a lot of research into the history of religion lately as I wind up writing Einstein's Jewish Science, and this is inspired by a comment from good brother Hanno and is almost true: Setting: meeting room in the...
- To Kill A Mockingbiord And Cultural Relativism
This is the 50th anniversary of the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most important American literary works of the last century. A magnificent piece on many levels, one of the most important philosophical elements is the way it undermines...
- Cultural Relativism
Today is my birthday and that of Tom Lehrer. One of my favorite songs of his is "In Old Mexico" where he sings of a visit to that country. At one point in the narrative, he is waxing poet about a visit to a bullfight in the style of Hemingway, only with...
- The Virtue Of Without
The idea behind Lent is that there is something cleansing, something virtuous about self-deprivation. The question is what? Is it the ability to empathize with the suffering of others? If someone can afford X -- which s/he really enjoys -- and opts to...
- Colbert Celebrates Lent By Giving Up Catholicism
A couple of days ago you may have seen a bunch of people walking around with dirt on their foreheads: they were Catholics and the dirt was really ash in the shape of a cross pressed against their foreheads by someone who's probably implicated, or...