Fewtril #115

It is partly a question of political philosophy and partly of good conduct whether one ought to permit oneself a feeling of superiority at the sight of an egalitarian who permits himself the same at the sight of those who have remained vulgarly at odds with those of his opinions which he takes to be enlightened.

Fewtril #114

How much of antirealist philosophy is a rebellion against authority? For reality may be thought of as being that which sits in judgement of our beliefs about it; such that, when the bug of rebellion is rife, even its authority may be rejected as a gross imposition.

A Tall Suggestion

Laban Tall has a suggestion:

Perhaps we should replace [The Last Night of the Proms] with a ‘festival of guilt and atonement’ where weeping Promendaders rend their garments and burn Union Flags, harangued from the rostrum by a succession of Guardian writers, while Salif Keita plays up a storm in the background. [1]

Insofar as this suggestion captures in sarcasm the spirit of the Guardianistas, it speaks to them in earnest of a sight they would doubtless prefer to see.

.....

[1] Comment by Laban Tall, in reply to Philippa Ibbotson, “Jingoists, take your last bow” The Guardian, 17th August 2006.

Lin Yutang on Smoking

“The world today is divided into smokers and non-smokers. It is true that the smokers cause some nuisance to the non-smokers, but the nuisance is physical, while the nuisance that the non-smokers cause the smokers is spiritual.” [1]

.....

“[H]ow could imagination soar on the clipped wings of a drab, non-smoking soul?” [2]

.....

[1] Lin Yutang, “On Smoke and Incense” The Importance of Living (London and Toronto: William Heinemann, 1938), p.236-7.

[2] Ibid., p. 242.

Fewtril #113

Is it not a downright cheek for those philosophers who tell us that we cannot represent things as they actually are to complain when others misrepresent what they actually say?

Fewtril #112

Rare is the intellectual who is not consoled for those errors of his by which his name is widely celebrated.

Fancies and Fallacies

“According to the dictates of logic I have committed fallacy after fallacy”, [1] admits Andrea Nye, in which case she feels compelled to pose a question: “Is logic masculine?” [2] and to find an answer that will save her from blushes: “Logic was made for men by men” [3]. Upon further reflection, she feels that “[l]ogic is not thought at all” [4] and fancies all her fallacies justified.

[1] Andrea Nye, Words of Power: A Feminist Reading of the History of Logic (London: Routledge, 1990), p.174.
[2] Ibid., p.176.
[3] Ibid., p.177.
[4] Ibid., p.179.

Fewtril #111

“All the world’s problems are due to ignorance”, say the fawney-wise commentators; but has it ever crossed their minds — at least as a fleeting nag — that some of the world’s problems might stem from our knowing much and understanding one another only too well?

A Little More Lichtenberg

“That one can convince one’s opponents with printed reasons, I have not believed since the year 1764. It is not for that purpose that I have taken up my pen, but rather merely to annoy them, and to give strength and courage to those on our side, and to make it known to the others that they have not convinced us.”

.....

[“Daß man seine Gegner mit gedruckten Gründen überzeugen kann, habe ich schon seit dem Jahr 1764 nicht mehr geglaubt. Ich habe auch deswegen die Feder gar nicht angesetzt, sondern bloß um sie zu ärgern, und denen von unserer Seite Mut und Stärke zu geben und den andern zu erkennen zu geben, daß sie uns nicht überzeugt haben.”]

.....

G.C. Lichtenberg, Sudelbücher, (Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig: Insel Verlag, 1984), E170 from Sudelbuch E (1775-1776), p. 203.

Non-Jean

Jean Baudrillard is set to appear at the Frieze Art Fair in London on the 14th October of this year [1]. Perhaps the organisers should promote it as a non-event.

[1] Charlotte Higgins, “Baudrillard to appear at London art fair”, The Guardian, 3rd July 2006.

The Howard League for Hazardous Reform

“Locking more men, women and children up for longer cannot be considered a serious, measured response to protecting and reassuring the public”, [1] says a press release from The Howard League for Penal Reform, whose members, having made some efforts to persuade themselves that putting criminals in prison does not protect or reassure the public, are determined to persuade the public itself that this is so.

.....Naturally our reformers are optimists, and are of the opinion that there is no man, however despicable or base in character, who cannot be corrected by the freedom to do good, or, failing that, by bribes; and, insofar as they understand their ideas to be fallible, they feel that, where criminals do not deserve the sanction of prison, the public deserves the risk.

.....I think Chamfort said it best: “Instead of trying to correct the intolerable way some people behave, we’d do better to correct the weakness of character of the people who let them get away with it.” [2]

.....

[1] The Howard League for Penal Reform, “Home Office’s half-baked plans will create more victims of crime” (Press Release), 20th July 2006.

[2] Nicolas-Sébastien Roch de Chamfort, Reflections on Life, Love and Society, tr. & ed. by D. Parmée (London: Short Books, 2003), §47, p.51.

Fewtril #110

A great test of character is whether one can — for the sake of truth or beauty or virtue — forbear originality.

Dogged Aetiology

“The root causes of youth crime and antisocial behaviour need to be tackled first, before we focus on the symptoms and attribute blame,” [1] says Ms Pamela Pollock in a letter to The Guardian. One might wonder whether a lady of her kind would do nothing to remove a dog from her leg until she had first determined the reasons for its randiness.

[1] Pamela Pollock, Letter to The Guardian, 28th July 2006.

Fewtril #109

Nothing is as important as it seems at first — or: complacency wins in the end.

Fewtril #108

One will sometimes hear a feminist opine that she is just one more outraged woman struggling to be heard, but this strikes me as humbug; for, in my experience, an outraged woman need not struggle to this end; it comes naturally.

Von Aufklärung

“We speak much of Enlightenment, and wish for more light. But, my God, what help is light if people either have no eyes or wilfully shut those they have?”

.....

[“Man spricht viel von Aufklärung, und wünscht mehr Licht. Mein Gott was hilft aber alles Licht, wenn die Leute entweder keine Augen haben, oder die, die sie haben, vorsätzlich verschließen?”]

.....

G.C. Lichtenberg, Sudelbücher (Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig: Insel Verlag, 1984), L.469 from Sudelbuch L (1796-1799), p. 505.