I think, therefore I am. So runs the one of the few philosophical quotations almost everyone knows. It does not follow that a person who thinks badly has less “being” than a person who thinks well, but experience shows that most beings that think badly end badly. “If we think, therefore we are,” and we think, then surely we should think well! Humans have reason, higher passions, and desires and all of these matter. No “part” of the soul can be... Read more
This weekend HBU won its first football game: ever. Some schools sell t-shirts that say: “Our School Undefeated in Football since Date of Founding” and HBU once could sell such shirts, but can no longer. We were smacked down hard by the defending champs of our conference in our first game, but came back to defeat a local Baptist rival in our second. HBU can say it has won as many games as it has lost, but we are not... Read more
Nobody is a Vulcan, not even Vulcans, if Star Trek canon is to be believed: intelligent beings in bodies have passions and suppressing them in unhealthy. Sadly, so is acting on them thoughtlessly. Sometimes we forget we have passions, sometimes we are controlled by them: a trick to a good life is accept the passions and to control them. Consumer culture celebrates our desires, while a gnostic paganism demonizes them: neither reaction is Christian. How do we know? The only... Read more
Dear Glaucon*, Thank you for questions about vocation. No good person wants to live for money, but all people need to take care of their needs. Curmudgeons of every generation, and I have reached curmudgeon age, tend to believe the fantasy that the “kids” today want it easy. Since every generation since my time has been accused of the same and the Republic has prospered, I am very skeptical of this idea. But let’s be clear, no job is fun... Read more
If he were leading a discussion class on Syria, warfare, and the last twenty years of American policy, I would give Professor Obama high marks. It is impossible for anyone in class to guess his position or views: he has defended many of them. He has eloquently argued for peace in his time, war in another time, and allowed everyone in the class to participate in the dialog. We are arming rebels who use our arms to kill Christians in... Read more
Charles Dickens wrote a most excellent essay against proposed Sabbath laws, Sunday Under Three Heads. Certain puritanical types wanted to close absolutely everything closable all Sunday and ban harmless pursuits, though they were harder on the middle-class and poor than the rich. Dickens would not stand for it. He admitted that a day of rest was needed, but denied that “rest” should be described and entertainment proscribed by government. In fact, Dickens argues that government should encourage wholesome entertainments by opening... Read more
When I like something, such as Disneyland, and it gets criticized on line, if I am not careful my response will be a very testy and defensive: “But I like it!” Somehow, if not very careful, I end up arguing that if I like a thing then “liking” it is a good thing. This would be true if my particular taste were a good measure of what is good, true, or beautiful, but I am skeptical that this is true.... Read more
I am told that there may be as many as twelve million adult males who watch the animated children’s show “My Little Pony.” Really? My first reaction to this news was not, I fear, a charitable one so let me help those cursed with similar feelings out. I could rush to judgment, but too many people are engaged in the activity to be so quickly dismissive. It is charitable to try to understand. First, adults create animation and it is... Read more
How many dead Christians are acceptable in order to teach Assad a lesson? This administration should quantify the suffering so Congress can know what they are authorizing. Chemical weapons are bad and ideally we would have boxed Assad in long ago on these weapons of mass destruction. Sadly, we did not and now the poison is no longer seeping out of badly stored weapons, but has been unleashed on civilians. Assuming he used such weaponry on his own people, then... Read more
Syrian intervention is wrong. God help me I cannot support it. Our President sets our foreign policy and has information citizens do not have. Constitutional government has evolved to give the President broad powers to strike militarily. As a result, patriotic Christians tend to support the President when he requests military action. I have done so with this President. Why? Most Christians are not pacifists. We do not like war, but we know war and violence sometimes are necessary in... Read more
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