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Post by MartinT on Aug 15, 2014 7:16:07 GMT
Iain M. Banks - Surface Detail
A wonderful final Culture novel with an incredibly action-packed finale. Big picture because I'm still mourning his passing.
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Post by dvh on Aug 15, 2014 9:30:32 GMT
I'm currently reading 'Prejudices' by H L Mencken, plus shedloads of books about Keats, Byron, Shelley, Wordsworth, Coleridge and Blake.
Mencken is great. Here he is on philosopy:
'What reduces all philosophers to incoherence and folly, soon or late, is the lure of the absolute. […] Now and then, when they forget it transiently, they grow relatively rational and ingratiating, but in the long run they always resume their chase of it, and that chase leads them ievitably into the intellectual Bad Lands. For the absolute reality is, of course, a mere banshee, a concept without substance or reality … There is in fact no idea in any man that may be found certainly in all men. Only the philosophers seem to cling to the doctrine that there is'.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2014 9:40:43 GMT
I'm currently reading 'Prejudices' by H L Mencken, plus shedloads of books about Keats, Byron, Shelley, Wordsworth, Coleridge and Blake. Mencken is great. Here he is on philosopy: 'What reduces all philosophers to incoherence and folly, soon or late, is the lure of the absolute. […] Now and then, when they forget it transiently, they grow relatively rational and ingratiating, but in the long run they always resume their chase of it, and that chase leads them ievitably into the intellectual Bad Lands. For the absolute reality is, of course, a mere banshee, a concept without substance or reality … There is in fact no idea in any man that may be found certainly in all men. Only the philosophers seem to cling to the doctrine that there is'. So killing babies for kicks is OK in your view? Personally, I think there are a few absolutes.
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Post by dvh on Aug 15, 2014 9:52:59 GMT
I'm currently reading 'Prejudices' by H L Mencken, plus shedloads of books about Keats, Byron, Shelley, Wordsworth, Coleridge and Blake. Mencken is great. Here he is on philosopy: 'What reduces all philosophers to incoherence and folly, soon or late, is the lure of the absolute. […] Now and then, when they forget it transiently, they grow relatively rational and ingratiating, but in the long run they always resume their chase of it, and that chase leads them ievitably into the intellectual Bad Lands. For the absolute reality is, of course, a mere banshee, a concept without substance or reality … There is in fact no idea in any man that may be found certainly in all men. Only the philosophers seem to cling to the doctrine that there is'. So killing babies for kicks is OK in your view? Personally, I think there are a few absolutes. Well, I don't think it's OK, but clearly some people do. The example Mencken gives is a wish for immortality. Philosophers claim this is a universal wish, but Mencken comments: 'I know scores of such men in whom no such yearning is apparent … I have seen such men die, and they passed into what they held to be oblivion without the slightest sign of wishing that it was something else'.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2014 10:12:08 GMT
So killing babies for kicks is OK in your view? Personally, I think there are a few absolutes. Well, I don't think it's OK, but clearly some people do. The example Mencken gives is a wish for immortality. Philosophers claim this is a universal wish, but Mencken comments: 'I know scores of such men in whom no such yearning is apparent … I have seen such men die, and they passed into what they held to be oblivion without the slightest sign of wishing that it was something else'. I'm not sure, I tend to think that if you offered immortality to me I would probably say yes, it's an interesting thought however. There's a long-running dispute in moral philosophy between generalism and particularism. A generalist thinks there are moral principles that are always true, whereas a particularist thinks that at best there are rules of thumb and the truth of any moral statement always depends on the circumstances. I think that we have evolved to have certain gut instincts and preferences that are shared by almost everybody, and that there are some moral rules that a universally true to help protect us against some of these instincts. Framing those rule is extremely difficult because the particularist can usually point to a set of circumstances where they don't apply.
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Post by dvh on Aug 15, 2014 11:35:28 GMT
Well, I don't think it's OK, but clearly some people do. The example Mencken gives is a wish for immortality. Philosophers claim this is a universal wish, but Mencken comments: 'I know scores of such men in whom no such yearning is apparent … I have seen such men die, and they passed into what they held to be oblivion without the slightest sign of wishing that it was something else'. I'm not sure, I tend to think that if you offered immortality to me I would probably say yes, it's an interesting thought however. There's a long-running dispute in moral philosophy between generalism and particularism. A generalist thinks there are moral principles that are always true, whereas a particularist thinks that at best there are rules of thumb and the truth of any moral statement always depends on the circumstances. I think that we have evolved to have certain gut instincts and preferences that are shared by almost everybody, and that there are some moral rules that a universally true to help protect us against some of these instincts. Framing those rule is extremely difficult because the particularist can usually point to a set of circumstances where they don't apply. Well, yes. The most obvious 'morally true' rule being 'thou shalt not kill', which seems unarguable, until you start thinking about self-defence, or war/civil disorder, or when someone is suffering an incurable illness and wants help in dying, or capital punishment. And fashions in morality change as much as fashions in dress; think about laws and moral codes around homosexuality, which have changed radically during my lifetime.
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Post by Eduardo Wobblechops on Aug 15, 2014 11:44:13 GMT
Iain M. Banks - Surface Detail
A wonderful final Culture novel with an incredibly action-packed finale. Big picture because I'm still mourning his passing.
Wonderful indeed Martin, but not the final Culture novel, that is The Hydrogen Sonata.
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Post by MartinT on Aug 15, 2014 12:06:32 GMT
Oh yes, I forgot that I've read that too!
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Post by dvh on Aug 17, 2014 9:34:02 GMT
Can not remember the last time I read a book or what it was. Nor a paper/magazine Terribly uncultured am I not? Yes. Go out and buy some books NOW!
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Post by ChrisB on Aug 17, 2014 10:22:12 GMT
Possibly better still, support your local library. "Libraries are the bedrock of our society." (Yvonne S. Thornton)
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Post by dvh on Aug 17, 2014 10:33:08 GMT
That too. I'm a member of four libraries myself, which is maybe going a bit too far.
(I can't seem to quote posts at the moment though!)
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Post by ChrisB on Aug 17, 2014 10:36:51 GMT
That too. I'm a member of four libraries myself, which is maybe going a bit too far. (I can't seem to quote posts at the moment though!) Strange - it's seems to be working for me.
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Post by dvh on Aug 17, 2014 10:38:46 GMT
That too. I'm a member of four libraries myself, which is maybe going a bit too far. (I can't seem to quote posts at the moment though!) Strange - it's seems to be working for me.
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Post by dvh on Aug 17, 2014 10:39:20 GMT
Nope, still not working for me. See blank post above.
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Post by ChrisB on Aug 17, 2014 10:41:29 GMT
Nope, still not working for me. See blank post above. That's because you need to click in the right place before you type. Think 'outside the box'!!
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Post by dvh on Aug 17, 2014 10:43:39 GMT
Yes, that's what I do. It looks fine on the screen before I click 'create post', sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Bizarre!
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Post by ChrisB on Aug 17, 2014 10:45:16 GMT
Weird - that's never happened to me.
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Post by dvh on Aug 17, 2014 10:47:25 GMT
Weird - that's never happened to me. OK, let's try again. See - it worked that time! Anyway, back on topic; I'm currently reading 'Poetic Form and British Romanticism' by Stuart Curran; 'The Mirror and the Lamp' by M H Abrams, and 'The Cmbridge Companion to British Romanticism' edited by Stuart Curran.
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Post by ChrisB on Aug 17, 2014 10:49:56 GMT
That's better!
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Post by ChrisB on Aug 17, 2014 11:11:07 GMT
I'm not sure I understand the connection between writing a computer program and reading books? I'm sure it's possible to be someone who can do both!
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