In The Dawn of Day: Thoughts on The Prejudices of Morality, Nietzsche writes: With regard to knowledge the most useful accomplishment is perhaps: that the belief in the immortality of the soul has been abandoned. Now humanity is allowed to wait; now it no longer needs to rush headlong into things and choke down half-examinedContinue reading “Nietzsche On The Relief Of Mortality”
Tag Archives: religion
Acknowledging Prayers Offered On Our Behalf
On 30th July, I hiked up to Corbet High Camp–operated by Jackson Hole Mountain Guides–in Wyoming’s Teton range in the Grand Teton National Park–to begin an attempt to scale the Grand Teton on August 1st. There, at high camp, my climbing partner and I met another pair of climbers, young lads from Louisiana, headed upContinue reading “Acknowledging Prayers Offered On Our Behalf”
Science And The Provision Of Existential Comfort
Stephen Asma offers a well-worn and reasonable defense of religious belief in The Stone–but ironically enough, in a plea for more tolerance, strikes a rather dogmatic note himself. The defense of religious belief and ritual is a familiar one: religion may be an opiate but it is an effective painkiller as a result. Asma offersContinue reading “Science And The Provision Of Existential Comfort”
A Conversation On Religious Experience
A couple of summers ago, a friend and I waited at a parking lot by Cottonwood Pass in Colorado for a ride back to Buena Vista. Bad weather had forced us off the Colorado Trail, and we now needed transportation to the nearest lodging venue. A pair of daytrippers, a middle-aged couple, appeared, walking backContinue reading “A Conversation On Religious Experience”
The Supposed Heritability Of Religion And Nationality
I am, supposedly, ‘Hindu’; my wife is similarly ‘Muslim.’ The scare quotes are there because we both regard our supposed ‘religious identities’ as ambiguous; we are not observant, but we were born into Hindu and Muslim families, and thus raised and acculturated into certain norms and cultural rites of passage–and their associated loyalties. (Such looseContinue reading “The Supposed Heritability Of Religion And Nationality”
No, Shmuel Rosner, Jews Should Not Keep Their Politics Out Of Passover
Shmuel Rosner suggests we should keep Passover apolitical and disdains the new Seders that reconfigure the Haggadah: In some ways, new readings of the Haggadah are a blessing. They take an ancient text and make it relevant. They make it easier for disconnected Jews to find meaning in the Passover Seder. They enable a contemporaryContinue reading “No, Shmuel Rosner, Jews Should Not Keep Their Politics Out Of Passover”
Richard Dawkins’ Inconsistent Reliance On Pragmatism
A very popular video on YouTube featuring Richard Dawkins is titled ‘Science Works, Bitches.’ It periodically makes the rounds on social media; as it does, Dawkins acolytes–in the video and on social media–applaud him as he ‘smacks down’ a questioner who inquires into the ‘justification’ for the scientific method. (A familiar enough question; for instance,Continue reading “Richard Dawkins’ Inconsistent Reliance On Pragmatism”
‘Silence’ And Shūsaku Endō’s Christianity
Shūsaku Endō‘s Silence is a remarkable religious novel, one whose close reading and discussion in a philosophy classroom pays rich dividends. This week marks the concluding sessions of my Philosophical Issues in Literature class’ discussion of Endō’s novel; I can enthusiastically recommend it–in whole or in part–for use in classes on epistemology and philosophy of religion.Continue reading “‘Silence’ And Shūsaku Endō’s Christianity”
The Supposed Sacral Status Of ‘National’ Symbols
Yesterday, a Facebook friend–in the course of a discussion stemming from my post criticizing David Brooks‘ claim that protests by high school football players a la Colin Kaepernick were ‘counterproductive’–pointed me to the following quote by Saul Alinsky: Even the most elementary grasp of the fundamental idea that one communicates within the experience of hisContinue reading “The Supposed Sacral Status Of ‘National’ Symbols”
Bertrand Russell On Deterrence By Making ‘Freedom More Pleasant’
In ‘What I Believe,’ an essay whose content–selectively quoted–was instrumental in him having his appointment at the City College of New York revoked¹, Bertrand Russell wrote: One other respect in which our society suffers from the theological conception of ‘sin’ is the treatment of criminals. The view that criminals are ‘wicked’ and ‘deserve’ punishment isContinue reading “Bertrand Russell On Deterrence By Making ‘Freedom More Pleasant’”
Samir Chopra 