Anthony Kenny reviews Alister McGrath on C. S. Lewis

Philosopher Anthony Kenny has written a TLS review of Alister McGrath's biography of C. S. Lewis, which discusses, among other things, Lewis' encounter with philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe (it did not go well for Lewis), critiques of his theological arguments, and his influence on contemporary American Christians:

'The final chapter of McGrath’s book, entitled “The Lewis Phenomenon”, charts the writer’s posthumous reputation, particularly in the United States. In the 1960s, Lewis almost vanished from view: by the end of the century he had become a cultural icon. Initially, in America, he was read only by Episcopalians, and was upbraided by Evangelicals as a smoker, a drinker and a liberal. But as barriers between mainstream Protestant denominations began to weaken, the author of Mere Christianity began to be admired across the spectrum. Roman Catholics, too, began to link him with G. K. Chesterton and Tolkien, and to consider him a fellow traveller. Most surprisingly, we are told, Lewis has now become the patron saint of American Evangelicalism. In a centenary article in 1998, its flagship periodical, Christianity Today, declared him “the Aquinas, the Augustine and the Aesop of contemporary evangelicalism”. Polls of American Christians, McGrath tells us, regularly cite Mere Christianity as the most influential religious book of the twentieth century.'

Who needs Augustine and Aquinas when you have Lewis? God help us all.

Towards the end of the review is a brief (and perforce too quick) critique of naturalism by Kenny; his confidence that "indeed there are signs that naturalism is collapsing under its own weight" seems premature, given the recent work of Owen Flanagan and other naturalists. Although Kenny is correct to point out some difficulties faced by naturalists in defending and defining their position, I do not believe there is a single philosophical position which does not face grave difficulties which must be overcome through careful argument.

Michael Ruse on Final Causes

Philosopher of biology Michael Ruse offers a critique of final causes, partially in response to recent work by philosopher Thomas Nagel.

Ruse's argument is not fully developed here but is compelling (he has argued persuasively and at greater length elsewhere in his published work). However, this piece is misleadingly titled, because from the fact there are no final causes it does not fully that life does not have a purpose. There is more than one sense of the word 'purpose'. Life could have a purpose in the sense of there being a reason to live or a source of meaning for living organisms, even if there is no purpose in the sense of a final cause. (I somehow doubt that Ruse himself chose the title for this piece; it may have been the editor of Aeon Magazine.)

Another minor problem with the piece: Ruse may have incorrectly characterized the relation between Plato and Aristotle's views on final causes. Ruse seems to draw a contrast between Aristotle's First Cause and Plato's demiurge, though the correct comparison is between Aristotle's First Cause and Plato's One (or The Good), both of which serve as the metaphysical ground of all other beings, and which do not function as divine craftsmen or designers in the conventional theistic sense.

Other than that, this is a great introduction to the issue for anyone who is still tempted by belief in final causes.

Links

1. Medieval pet names. 

2. Riots in China after teachers attempt to prevent student cheating on exams. "We want fairness. There is no fairness if you do not let us cheat."

3. The decline of the English major amid the persistent value of knowing how to write.

4. Big data in the humanities.

Stephen Fry on Loneliness and Suicide

I have long enjoyed Stephen Fry's acting, and he has impressed me with his knowledge of and appreciation for literature (for example, see his surprisingly astute commentary on Lawrence Stern's Tristram Shandy, in one of the special features on the "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story" DVD). In a recent blog post, he writes poignantly of loneliness and of a recent brush with self-slaughter:

"In the end loneliness is the most terrible and contradictory of my problems. I hate having only myself to come home to. If I have a book to write, it’s fine. I’m up so early in the morning that even I pop out for an early supper I am happy to go straight to bed, eager to be up and writing at dawn the next day. But otherwise…

"It’s not that I want a sexual partner, a long-term partner, someone to share a bed and a snuggle on the sofa with – although perhaps I do and in the past I have had and it has been joyful. But the fact is I value my privacy too. It’s a lose-lose matter. I don’t want to be alone, but I want to be left alone."

Links

1. A discussion of Jonathan Israel's controversial history of the 'radical Enlightenment', which highlights the role of philosopher Baruch Spinoza and a clandestine network of Spinozists in spreading the ideas of monism on the one hand and radical political freedom and equality on the other.

2. Neither barbequed nor grilled: Baltimore pit beef (slow cooked for around 2 hours over coals--less than traditional bbq, more than grilling). Traditionally served with horseradish on a roll.

3. Reading Tocqueville in Beijing. The political subtext: China's political elites seem to fear a revolution against their regime based in part on rising expectations--similar to what overthrew the Old Regime in France, according to Tocqueville's account.

4. Historical mystery solved: the recipe of Roman concrete revealed at last, and it could revolutionize construction and architecture. Roman concrete included lime and volcanic ash, which when combined with seawater produced a chemical reaction that created a powerful mortar.

5. Economist Felix Salmon summarizes some depressing facts about Detroit.

6. NYT review of "Confessions of a Sociopath," which purports to be a memoir of a noncriminal sociopath.

7. Hand-made Guinea-pig armor sells for $24,300.

Links

1. Sports pundits perform worse than a coin flip, and the more successful one's are more confident without being more correct in their predictions. 

2. The Soviet-era commercials of Harry Egipt. 

3. The Norwegian slow-tv movement, as exemplified by a world-record breaking 30 hour continuous interview with crime novelist Hans Olav Lahlum.

4. Join Wall Street to save the world?

5. "Yukio Ohyama has devoted his entire life to photographing Mt. Fuji."

6. The art of book-stacking in Japanese book stores.

7. Ask the Past: advice from old books.

8. New York Times review of Joss Whedon's adaptation of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing"; filmed on a shoestring, it is allegedly a superior effort to Whedon's blockbuster "The Avengers". 

9. Excel spreadsheet artist.

10. The NSA and CIA have been running tests using Watson to sift through the massive reams of communications data which they have been secretly collecting.

11. Erotic goat sculpture from Pompeii.

12. The new field of behavioral epigenetics; it may be possible to inherit traits acquired by one's parents during their life.

John McTaggart

John McTaggart was a 19th century British Hegelian (or at least strongly influenced by Hegel) who, along with other British idealists such as F. H. Bradley, is unfortunately rather neglected in today's philosophy curriculum. I was recently reading the article on McTaggart in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, when I came across this interesting fact about his name:

"John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart was born on the third of September, 1866, in Norfolk Square in London, to Francis Ellis and Susan McTaggart (Rochelle 1991, 16). He was named at birth 'John McTaggart Ellis', but took on the second iteration of 'McTaggart' after his great-uncle, also named 'John McTaggart', died without descendents and willed his money to Francis Ellis on the condition that his family assumed the surname 'McTaggart'. And so John McTaggart Ellis became John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart. (At Cambridge, he was sometimes referred to as 'McT.)" (Kris Daniel, "John M. E. McTaggart," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.)