Ghost in the machine is a phrase coined by the Oxford philosopher Gilbert Ryle in Concept of Mind (1949) to pejoratively describe René Descartes‘ (1596-1650) dualistic view of the mind-body relationship. The phrase has been used by Arthur Koester in his 1967 book The Ghost in the Machine and also by the pop band The Police… Read More “Ghost in the Machine” – A famous phrase that never went away
Religion Genesis (Hebrew Bereshit = “In the beginning”) is the first book of the Bible, containing the two different versions of the Jewish and Christian creation story. Among other things, Genesis tells the primeval tales of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah’s Ark, the Tower of Babel, and God’s involvement with the apparently chosen… Read More Genesis – ‘In the beginning’ to today
In the broadest sense, the word historicity refers to “the fact, quality, or character of being situated in history.”¹ This could include so-called ‘prehistoric’ cave art, such as we find at Perito Moreno, Argentina, or Lascaux in southwestern France. The more common meaning of the term refers to questioning the historical account or existence… Read More Historicity, Cosmology and Time
Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek demigod and incredibly strong Heracles. He is the son of Jupiter (in Greece, Zeus) and the mortal Alcmene. Generally regarded as a ‘divine hero,’ he was born a destroyer par excellence. Hercules vanquished two snakes while still in the cradle and as a boy killed a lion.… Read More Hercules – The Roman counterpart to Heracles
“To prevent future mass school shootings, we need to begin to focus on the cultural and social drivers of these types of events, such as the romanticization of guns and gun violence, rather than on individual predictors.” Source: Mental illness is not the cause of mass school shootings, study finds Opinion: A murderer kills a… Read More Mental illness is not the cause of mass school shootings, study finds | Opinion
Based on https://epages.wordpress.com/2022/08/10/does-the-soul-exist-we-defend-the-soul-against-false-scientific-assumptions-opinion/ where you can find relevant links and a video about scientism.
Here’s an interesting if a little dense look at authoritarian personalities. After enduring and overcoming a traumatizing experience with an authoritarian personality in academia, I have come to feel that there must be some neurological, psychological, sociological and perhaps even spiritual (as in evil) reason for authoritarianism and its ugly sibling, psychopathy. What do you… Read More The Authoritarian Personality by Erich Fromm 1957 | Opinion
Last night I was reading an introduction to an abridged The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Edward Gibbon, the man, apparently dabbled in Catholicism before his irate father arranged for him to be guided by a Protestant minister. For a while, Gibbon was totally sold on Catholicism which for him was rational and… Read More Opinion | Three articles about scientism
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and man of letters whose legacy in the humanities is second only, perhaps, to that of Sigmund Freud. Freud is routinely cited in textbooks and dictionaries of society and culture while Jung is only occasionally mentioned. That’s probably because Freud, with all his limitations, was the first… Read More Carl Gustav Jung – Not a god or a guru but a clever guy who saw through some of the cracks of conventionality
The IOC is worried about the ageing television audience for the Games, as well as the legacy of Olympism – its promotion of sports as a key to a balanced lifestyle and harmonious development. Source: As young people tune out, can Olympics vault over the generation gap? | South China Morning Post Opinion: The Olympics,… Read More As young people tune out, can Olympics vault over the generation gap? | South China Morning Post | Opinion
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