Thursday Poem: Walt Whitman

Facing West From California’s Shores

Facing west, from California’s shores,
Inquiring, tireless, seeking what is yet unfound,
I, a child, very old, over waves, towards the house of maternity, the land of migrations, look afar,
Look off the shores of my Western Sea—the circle almost circled;
For, starting westward from Hindustan, from the vales of Kashmere,
From Asia—from the north—from the God, the sage, and the hero,
From the south—from the flowery peninsulas, and the spice islands;
Long having wander’d since—round the earth having wander’d,
Now I face home again—very pleas’d and joyous;
(But where is what I started for, so long ago? And why it is yet unfound?)

-Walt Whitman

Camille Paglia Still Poking Holes In Feminism

Full article here in Arion.

An interesting article.  Paglia thinks aloud:

…Is feminism intrinsically a movement of the left, or can there be a feminism based on conservative or religious principles?

Susan B. Anthony (wikipedia) was Christian, mind you, and extremely chaste:

“…feminist history has insufficiently acknowledged the degree to which the founders of the woman suffrage movement—that is, the drive to win votes for women—were formed or influenced by religion.”

Agreed…especially when so many feminists have embraced Marxism, pseudo-Marxism and continental philsophy as driving ideas.

..feminist theory has failed to acknowledge how much the emergence of modern feminism owes to capitalism and the industrial revolution”

In reading Paglia, one can see how difficult it is for thoughtful, independent-minded people (men or women) to confront collective anger, ideology, unclear reasoning and groupthink…though I’m not sure her own reasoning is sound.

Speaking for myself, it’s difficult to be sympathetic to a movement that attempts to exclude me by definition and through its actions can threaten many of my freedoms.

Addition: An interesting article from Britain (where socialism is a more powerful force) against feminism’s shortcomings: anti-men bias, the belief that the personal is polical, the consequent state intervention…

Low European Birth Rates In The NY Times: No Babies?

Full article here.

Is there a crisis in Europe?  Maybe, maybe not.  There are low birth-rates, however.  The article suggests one of the reasons in Mediterranean countries is their half-step toward modernization:  More women work and have educational opportunities yet the old Catholic traditions remain in place.  This produces an economic crunch on all parties involved.  

Of course immigration is sometimes offered as a potential solution…though overlooked is the fact that immigration is probably more of a threat to smaller, more stratified European societies that it can be in America.  This might help explain some of the extreme rightist political support lately (where a potentially violent nationalism united with racial identity lurks). 

See Also:  This weekly back-and-forth between Kerry Howley (libertarian) and Kay Hymowitz (social conservative) in the L.A. Times, in which they discuss fertility, the family, American culture, low European birth-rates etc…

On This Site:

-The NY Times On Equal Parenting: When Mom And Dad Share It All

-Kay Hymowitz In The City Journal:  Child-Man In The Promised Land?

Kantian Metaphysics and J.S. Mill’s Utilitarianism

As to the last post on Allan Bloom, if there are potential dangers in a Nietzschean reading on the Greeks, surely there are dangers in mixing Kantian metaphysics with politics?

In part, synthesizing Kantian metaphysics with political science is what Daniel Deudney has done in his book Bounding Power (addressed to Republicans), and he’s come up with some deep moral thinking and practical advice in an arena of global politics where greater depth is always needed.  However, there is also a certain idealism I’m extremely wary of. 

Kant’s metaphysics is successful enough but his political philosophy isn’t that impressive to me, especially in light of the success of our forefathers and British philosophers like John Locke.  The moral imperative doesn’t work so well “on the ground. “

In fact, I’ve suggested some ideas for those of us frustated with the current state of liberal ideas, or at least how they might benefit from a return to Mill and a more classical liberalism/utilitarianism. 

Perhaps it’s wise to keep the two separate: Kant’s metaphysics and a functioning, American utilitarianism. 

Thanks for reading, your comments are welcome.

See Also: What Can LIberalism Be? Much More Than It Is Now

J.S. Mill

A Few Thoughts On Allan Bloom–The Nietzsche Connection

Allan Bloom (wikipedia) wrote the Closing Of The American Mind in 1987.  It is a deep book, and an interesting one.  It is also, I believe, in a vein of thought that continues to affect American life…with mixed results.

There is a direct Nietzschean influence flowing through Martin Heidegger, Leo Strauss (wikipedia), and Allan Bloom…not to mention most 20th century art and existentialism.  In Strauss and in Bloom particularly, it manifests itself as an attempt to recover and reclaim the Greeks within the idea that Christianity is defunct and God is dead.  

If you accept this idea as they did, then there exists a great moral imperative (keep in mind for Nietzsche, there is no morality) to create anew, and this includes the necessity of reading Plato afresh without the centuries developed distorting lenses and layers of Christian doctrine.  (St. Augustine would be a good example of when Christian metaphyics and Greek thinking were conflated in earnest and with genius).   

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Briefly,  I’d just like to point a few things out:

1.  Above the first university in the world, which Plato began, were the words.   “Let no one ignorant of mathematics enter here”    Whole areas of knowledge are left out of the approach mentioned above.

2.  In the world of philosophy, the importance of the works of Immanuel Kant.   If you’re going to do philosophy right, I find the idea important that you attempt to encompass all knowledge.  To my mind, Kant has been one of the few philosophers capable of realizing the inadequecies of metaphysics, yet in their pursuit uncovering truths that may just yet be affecting physics and our relation to the limits of what we can know. 

Kant also provided sound arguments for the impossibility of the existence of transcendant objects (including God)…yet he also may have demonstrated the impossibility of our reason to have certainty in such matters.

Benjamin Jowett’s translation of Plato’s Republic can be found here.

Thanks for reading…your comments are welcome.

Allan Bloom -Photo here from Dr Clifford Brickman

The NYC Waterfalls: Another “World Art” Piece Or Something More?

This is the most favorable angle I’ve seen of the one under the Brooklyn Bridge (there are four):

Apparently, a lot of tourists went to see Christo’s “The Gates” so Bloomberg wants to repeat the success.  For him, it’s a pretty pragmatic decision: bringing in money for the city and giving people something to talk about.  It might not hurt his image either.

Here are some of the artist’s thoughts and ideas (he certainly has a lot…too many?).

There are many reasons to be skeptical (you expect more from art, a few government dollars may have been used, they kind of look like scaffolding with water pouring out).

Will they grow on New Yorkers?

A Monty Python Take On Socialism

Not bad.  They don’t exactly seem like fans of monarchy either.

James Dobson Criticizes Obama’s Speech

More from CNN here.

Obama made a ‘Call To Renewal’ speech that Dobson responds to.

Of course, Dobson is free to believe as he pleases, and to organize others around those beliefs to try and change the legislative process.

Those who insist we all live according to beliefs for which they can’t always provide a reasonable defense are precisely what the system protects against.  Maybe they’re anti partial-birth abortion Christians and maybe they’re global warming true-believers.  Reasonable people can disagree.

A Goya Tour Of Madrid At The NY Times

Full slide show here.

“Fantasy abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters: united with her, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of their marvels.”

See Also:  Goya’s Fight With Cudgels and Goya’s Colossus.  A very good Goya page here.

Some Philosophy Of Science At Bloggingheads

Full video here.

In the comments thread, you’ll find some people wondering at what science can and can’t do.  As to the why questions, science asks them all the time but seems to assert a certain kind of knowledge.  Beyond that…Metaphysics?  Religion? 

You’ve probably seen the Templeton Conversations around, where some interesting thinkers are asked if science makes a belief in God obsolete.