That's nothing. Try diagnosing Norman Lear.
Wow, good find. Bump.
Scientists Hope to Treat Blindness, Adult Stem Cell Research Already Has
Carbon trade scheme 'is failing' / Biofuels 'will push up oil price'
NASA's Griffin Regrets Remarks on Global Warming
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Quite engaging; a real “think” piece. I may have to read it once or twice more, even.
PING to a few UT lit buffs...
We cannot sit through Lear and conclude that vice and virtue are the same, or that all men and women are equally good
I think in the age of moral relativism and the prime importance placed on feeling, the only thing that we can be certain is how we feel. The mind is usually second guessing what is really true, whereas the feelings are usually direct and powerful. If they are not then they wait on judgment. But the strength of feelings is not always enough. We also need to create our own justifications, sometimes rational and sometimes not. Anthony is wrestling with Lear over medical definitions: can medicine determine why we feel what we feel. I don't think he knows for sure. But his point is that we have a choice with our feelings if we use our mind and will. Our feelings and actions are not all equal — there is good and bad. We have choices and are responsible for our decisions and can’t just say if we do something bad that we were overpowered by feelings — temporary insanity notwithstanding. Anthony's fear is medicine is deterministic in its outlook and that lets us off the hook for our choices. But we are not just physical bodies determined by natural laws. We have a consciousness and a soul. Lear at some point gave up on that distinction and was prone to whatever black currents welled up within him. I suspect that the daughters were also weak like him — the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree — with the exception of Cordelia.
Anthony doesn’t talk about the fool who is intelligent and sees the truth. I wonder what he would think about people who see the truth today? Are they the fool? And in a world like Lears if you are good like Cordelia -- save your soul by not compromising with evil -- what a miserable tragic life you may possibly end up living.
bttt
Well, for one thing, wasn’t he every inch a King?
AARGH! I was going to post this article today!
Doesn’t Anthony Daniels (Theodore Dalrymple) write well?
Anthony Daniels spent his career in medicine with the UK’s NHS. Because he was such a prolific writer, he needed a nom de plume. The NHS can be as petty and vindictive as any governmental agency in the world. So...here’s Theodore Dalrymple!
'Anti-social SamsonEric Altschuler from the University of California at San Diego and his colleagues say that Samson showed signs of no fewer than six of the seven behaviours associated with antisocial personality disorder. Samson routinely got into fights, and once killed 1000 Philistines single-handedly and then gloated over it, showing no remorse. He also showed a reckless disregard for his own safety when he told Delilah, a woman who'd tried to kill him three times before, the secret of his strength. The researchers note that Samson also burned Philistine fields, which showed both his impulsivity and his inability to conform to social norms. He was deceitful, not telling his parents, for instance, that he got honey from the carcass of a lion. And like many people with ASPD, Samson behaved badly as a child: setting things on fire, torturing animals, stealing, and bullying other children. A whole chapter is devoted to Samson's mother being warned by angels not to drink while she's pregnant.
by Alison Motluk
Bump for an eminently deserving post.