I think I’ve noticed a contradiction. My good friend Paul and I were discussing religion recently, and I said that a religion is hardly worthy of the name unless it, and its followers, try to spread it. Paul said no: perhaps you can subscribe to a religion because it’s right for you, with no claim as to its universal applicability. I think Paul has neatly summed up a widespread modern attitude, one that has its foundation in excessively individualistic relativism. And I think it’s easy to show that it’s contradictory.
1. A religion is, or is based on, a set of particular beliefs
2. A belief is a proposition about the universe that is held by the holder of the belief to … read on »
Archive for the ‘ideas’ category…
Brian Rowan's Glaswegian Anthropology
I must record Brian’s apparently original theory as to why Glasgow is more friendly than Edinburgh. But first, some background. I have always enthused romantically and vaguely about Glasgow’s atmosphere, usually contrasting it with Edinburgh’s. I will say, whenever the subject arises, that Glasgow is more friendly, that it has an exciting edgy atmosphere, that the women are more attractive (sorry all you Edinburgeresses), that people talk in the street, that people are approachable and open, and so on. But until recently I had come to wonder if it wasn’t just my western bias: I am from the west coast and had come to know Glasgow much better than Edinburgh. I had also come to realise that it was a … read on »
Musical Snobbery?
The other night we interviewed a prospective flatmate with the help of a good friend of Laura’s, the lovely Kris, an Australian nutritional expert. Our interviewee was Australian himself and fresh off the boat, so perhaps Kris’s Oz-related small-talk put him at his ease. So this guy Daniel – despite having an irrational fear of elevators – turned out to be a great guy, into experimental music from the rock and modern orchestral worlds (though not jazz). In particular we talked about Iannis Xenakis’s Persepolis, a stunning, tectonic piece of work that can barely be described as music at all. Daniel was the first (and last?) person I’ve met who knows about it and so I was delighted to be … read on »
Green Politics: Quintessential Conservatism
I read an article in the Times today by the conservative intellectual Roger Scruton which asserts that environmentalism is truly a conservative, rather than a radical, cause, and that it would be more successful if it were proselytized from this standpoint. In my post from March 3rd I write about Scruton and conservatism, and about this very idea. He is right: conservatives are naturally environmentalist, and leftists are – or traditionally were – believers in technological progress and ambitious action aimed at fundamentally improving the conditions of our species. Conservatism and environmentalism favour the small-scale and local, and promote cautiousness. Socialism is traditionally universalist, internationalist and experimental. Hasn’t politics changed? Incidentally, that’s one reason I don’t subscribe to any political … read on »
For Leonhard: Why Climb Mountains?
In his little piece Mountaineering as a Life Style Danish mountaineer Jan Elleby answers the question why climb mountains? with this:
Curiously enough this question is only posed by people, who have not climbed any mountains themselves. For if you by yourself have experienced the adventures and quality in life that mountaneering may offer you, then you would never be asking this question.
This is unimaginative, clichéd rhetoric. The question has become more gripping for me since I started doing it, which disproves his argument. If there is a rule at all, it’s not this:
But this:
Dreaming Spires
(http://www.koelner-dom.de/)
Most people have wondered what their dreams mean, or if they have any meaning at all. It all comes down to the question why do we dream?
I read an article recently that claimed that the purpose of dreams is to reorder our model of the external world, to tidy it up, assimilating and filing our new experiences.
I don’t know if there’s any evidence for this. Dreaming is integral to being human, but does that mean it evolved for a purpose, or to be more accurate, evolved as a distinct adaptation? My feeling – based on nothing much – is that dreaming is a spandrel, a byproduct of adaptation:
…the space between two arches or between an arch and a rectangular enclosure.…a … read on »
Mountain Dither and Roger Scruton
I’m annoyed. Stu and I blithely assumed that we could tackle Stob Ghabhar (something like Stob Goor) on the Blackmount tomorrow. Got myself some trousers in Black’s at lunchtime but it wasn’t until I was back at work that the need for gaiters hit me, so Ann and I went to Tiso after work. Though I’m a sceptic when it comes to expensive gear, the staff in Tiso are very experienced and knowledgeable: every time I visit the shop I pick up a gem of advice. This time it felt more like a shovelful of shit heaped on my bright fresh fledgling hopes. When I casually mentioned that I didn’t have an ice axe or crampons he immediately wrote off … read on »
Veggie Pathology
© Ken Currie www.nationalgalleries.org
Is there a connection between principled vegetarianism and ghoulishness? An obscure example is the vegan grindcore band Carcass (defunct many moons ago I think). And as an obscure example perhaps it’s inadmissable. But no, I present Carcass here as the apogee of this disposition and the perfect illustration of this idea, the idea that whatever it is that leads people to become principled vegetarians has, for some at least, got something to do with a preoccupation with, or a fear of or fascination with, the macabre and the grisly and the anatomical.
I haven’t thought it through yet, but I’m fairly sure there’s at least a kernel of truth here. It’s certainly true that these vegetarians and … read on »
©2010 Alistair Robinson