1. What on deB's view poses the greatest risk to our chances of flourishing?
2. Who are some of deB's secular saints?
3. What is the point of higher education, according to J.S. Mill?
4. Who pioneered walking meditation?
5. What are some questions posed by religion that should intrigue atheists?
6. Why don't atheists like the Marian cult?
DQ
- Does Mill's harm principle imply that "the foibles of citizens are placed beyond comment or criticism"? At what point does comment or criticism threaten to infringe personal liberty?
- Has "an abhorrence of crude moralism banished talk of morality from the public sphere" (except, maybe deB would amend, in American presidential politics)? Should it?
- Have you known any parents who did not "spontaneously favor moralistic intervention over neutrality" or hover intrusively over most aspects of their children's lives? How did that work out?
- Do you agree that your conduct is not simply your own business? 78 Are you gratified to be "nudged" by friends to be a better person?
- Do atheists have to believe that God wasn't always dead, in order to be "shaken" by Nietzsche's infamous slogan? 79 Do we, or did we ever, really have to "pretend that morality came from the heavens"? Have we evolved sufficiently to "recognize ourselves as the authors of our own moral commandments"? 80
- Do you find Original Sin charming or unifying? 82-3
- Is commercial advertizing more objectionable on libertarian (or other) grounds than the kind of homiletic reminders deB advocates? 89
- Do you esteem any secular saints? (Or role models?)
- How much of your higher education has reflected "the best that has been said and thought in the world"? 101 How well has it prepared you to value and continue pursuing such learning after graduation? Have you been disappointed by college, in its contribution to the development of your own emotional and ethical life skills? 105 Do you think educators still think about "the social value of the college-bred"?
- Is the modern university's mission contradictory? 106
- Can culture replace scripture in its "ability to guide, humanize, and console"? 106 Can literature "save our souls and heal the State"? 108 Do you agree that "the very qualities that the religious locate in their holy texts can often just as well be discovered in works of culture"? (See A.C. Grayling's Good Book...)
- "Why are atheists not able to draw on culture with the same spontaneity and rigour which the religious apply to their holy texts"? 109
- Do you have to believe in a dualistic eternal soul, to endorse soul-building and the inculcation of so-called godly virtues (faith, hope, charity, love)? 115
- Do secularists need parables?
- Why in the world should universities consider "doing away with fields like history and literature"? 121 What departments would you add or subtract to the university? How would you revise the curriculum? 161 Shouldn't philosophy and other presently-configured departments be capable of covering relationships, dying, self-knowledge (etc.)?
- Are university professors as lacking in the skills of sophistry, rhetoric, and charisma as deB says? Shall we try a little call-and-response in class? Or maybe you musicians can bring your instruments...
Senator Ted Cruz fired his communications director on Monday after the aide acknowledged spreading a false news story that purported to show his rival Senator Marco Rubio questioning the answers that the Bible provides...
Mr. Tyler was fired after he had posted a story on Facebook with a video of Mr. Rubio containing a subtitle claiming to show the Florida senator saying there are “not many answers” in the Bible. In fact, Mr. Rubio had said it has “all the answers.”
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/22/play-nice-how-the-internet-is-trying-to-design-out-toxic-behaviour
ReplyDeletePosting this here because reminds me of deB's arguments about the clash between individual rights and community-scrutinized behaviours. The issue of online harassment has been compounded by people who insist harassment is protected as free speech, and I like that the system introduced by Bogdanoff tries to solve this issue through extra layers of scrutiny.
DQ?
ReplyDeleteDo you believe that we are bad (sinners), as the Judeo-Christian belief says, good, as the thinkers of the Enlightenment believed, or just nothing at all/neutral?
I suppose the best of the three choices given is 'neutral,' though I don't think that captures the essence of the situation. I think, ultimately, that I would resist the idea of classifying all of us as inherently good, bad, or neither in general and instead place humanity on a wide-ranging spectrum of 'goodness.' Ideally, most or all of us would be somewhere to the good side of the spectrum, and I think that this probably has to be the case in order for anything approximating civilization to exist, but it certainly doesn't preclude someone inhabiting the other side of the spectrum.
DeleteDQ answer:
ReplyDeleteHow much of your higher education has reflected "the best that has been said and thought in the world"? 101 How well has it prepared you to value and continue pursuing such learning after graduation? Have you been disappointed by college, in its contribution to the development of your own emotional and ethical life skills? 105 Do you think educators still think about "the social value of the college-bred"?
Honestly, I have had a great educational experience so far in college. This may be because of my choice of majors (I was an English major for a year and a half, then I switched to Psychology), as both English and Psychology encourage learning for the sake of learning, and questioning conventional beliefs and practices. The things that I have written and read in English classes, as well as the concepts and practices I have explored in Psychology, have caused me to reevaluate my beliefs and values. I have encountered so many interesting things that my love of learning has only increased tenfold. I think that part of the reason why many students get burned out in college and lose (or fail to gain in the first place) the desire to learn and broaden their minds is because they fail to find a field that truly interests them. I think that educators think about the "social value of the college-bred" because in addition to the fact that education has always been a mark of belonging to a "higher society," in our generation a "good" career really cannot be found without a college education (and a good career is another mark of belonging to high society).
I definitely agree that people need to major in something that they are actually interested in, but I think a lot of people are just scared of failure in a field they are interested in, so it just stays a hobby, and they don't pursue education in the field.
DeleteHow much of your higher education has reflected "the best that has been said and thought in the world"? 101 How well has it prepared you to value and continue pursuing such learning after graduation? Have you been disappointed by college, in its contribution to the development of your own emotional and ethical life skills? 105 Do you think educators still think about "the social value of the college-bred"
ReplyDeleteI would not trade my college education for anything in this world. For who I am at this very moment as a college student, solely reflects on the classes that I have chosen to take. My mind has grown, vastly. Being constantly surrounded by like-minded individuals who enjoy learning about the world they live in and strive to always know more is an adrenaline rush for me. Especially taking many philosophy/religion/and psy courses. Getting to conversate with different people from many world views is enlightening. Learning is something I believe all humanity should always be striving to retain.. because every day and every moment we are learning. As long as we are aware.
Quiz question:
ReplyDeletedeB likens miniatures of saints to what childhood toy?
"Do you find Original Sin charming or unifying?"
ReplyDeleteNot particularly, no. I can see why it would be unifying, in an "all in this together" frame of reference, though. Some might point to that as evidence that no one is all that different from anybody else. I prefer, myself, to regard more naturalistic similarities in order to feel unified with others. I am not so different from anybody else because we have a shared humanity, not because of the idea that the first people on earth made a mistake after listening to temptation as commonly embodied by a serpent.