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Archive for the ‘thought’ Category

Russian Novels and Humanity or What I like about Dostoevsky & Tolstoy.

08 Jun

One thing I appreciate about Russian novels (and I’m thinking here of Tolstoy & Dostoevsky) is that they are real. They present realistic portraits of people, not one-dimensional flat characters. They take situations that people experience and make them understandable. Let me explain.

We often say to ourselves, upon hearing of something someone has done (usually horrific), “I can’t believe they did that!” by which we mean, “I don’t understand that person and I would never do that!” It seems that in order to understand them we have to either have a similar experience, or know the person so intimately that we can “experience” it ourselves.

Tolstoy and Dostoevsky have a way of making option two come to life for their readers. They force us to understand how people get to the point in their lives where they do the things they do (horrific or otherwise). By allowing the reader to experience this they can relate to other people better. In fact, the reader can, if they are open enough, begin to see how they themselves are not that far off from doing the same things they once said they did not understand and could not do.

Have you read these guys? What do you think? Here’s a few of their most popular works, each highly recommended.

 
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C.S. Lewis, Myth, and Historical Fact

03 Mar

Having explained Lewis’s notion of myth (albeit a concise explanation), we next explore its relation to historical fact. Understanding this relation is important because the familiar use of the word “myth” implies something imaginary, made-up, or fictitious – and therefore not real. However, Lewis argues that a myth is in some sense more real than historical fact.

To understand this a little further we’ve got to go back to Plato. Yes, him. (In one way or another, everything philosophical goes back to him it seems.) I’ll keep it real brief, one-sentence brief. Plato taught that there are two planes of existence; in the one exists the abstract ideas of which the other holds concrete instances.

Lewis, in this way, sees myth as a “transposition” of an idea in the one plane to an instance in another. In other words, a myth is a concrete expression of an idea (in the Platonic sense). It is more real because the idea flows to the one experiencing the myth as reality without the need for an historical occurrence. In this way truth is communicated not as an abstract idea, but as concrete reality (in the experience of a myth).

So, that a myth is true is not dependent upon any historical occurrence; and at the same time it does not exclude the possibility of historical occurrence. Lewis is attempting to disconnect myth from historical fact, while at the same time connect myth with truth.

So What?

Again it boils down to this question. Why does this matter? Well, you may have begun to quickly perceive the connection that is here with regards to the Bible. Religious writings are always connected in one way or another to some notion of myth. And truth-seekers often consult various religious writings. Lewis’s notion of myth has implications for our understanding of the Bible. My next post will explore some of those implications.

This post is part of a series of posts on C.S. Lewis and his idea of Myth

 

Books I Directly Used (they go into more depth):

 
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Posted in philosophy, theology, thought

 

C.S. Lewis and Myth

02 Mar

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about C.S. Lewis’s idea of myth.  You might be asking yourself, why would you do that?  Well, its complicated to trace my own path to thinking about this, but there’s a couple reasons one might want to think about it.

  • In reading his work it’s important to have his understanding in mind.
  • The use of “myth” has been used widely in discussions of theology and scriptures
  • It has implications for our understanding of fact, truth, and even Christ.

Since we’re talking about C.S. Lewis’s idea, it should be clear that it is not what you would find in a dictionary under the word “myth” (although since he used that term it bears relation).  Lewis himself considered coining a new term for what he was suggesting, but felt that it would be better to use the term myth in a different sense.

So what does it mean?

We find some help in understanding what Lewis means from J.R.R. Tolkien.  In a discussion on the term, he suggested to Lewis that as speech is to objects, myth is to truth.  For instance, the word “tree” is not itself a tree, but rather something we use to refer to a tree.  Similarly, myth is something we use to refer to truth.  Lewis later suggested in his article, “Myth become Fact” that myths allow us to concretely experience that which is only otherwise known as an abstraction.  So, a great myth gives concrete expression to a truth that is an abstract concept.  But what comes to you in experiencing a great myth is not truth, but reality (because truth is about something of which is reality).

Myth is a story that allows one to experience as concrete reality that which when examined is only an abstraction.

Looking Forward

This idea is something that needs to be chewed on like a good meal – long, slowly, and carefully.  In the future, I’ll post some of my thoughts on how this connects with things such as Historical Fact, Scripture, Truth (the absolute kind), and Christ.

This post is part of a series of posts on C.S. Lewis and his idea of Myth

 

Books I Directly Used (they go into more depth):

 
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Time, Time, Where Have You Gone?

22 Apr

So how in the world do so many people have so much time to sit and blog about all sorts of things (let alone tweet on twitter and do whatever it is you do on facebook and all those other social networking sites)?? I can barely keep all the balls I’m juggling in the air, let alone write a post (present post excluded :) )!! So where does time go? It flies away from you and before you know it you find you’re getting grey-haired and find it takes longer to do everything! (Okay, so I’m not that old yet, but it feels like it somedays). I’d like a couple more hours in my day please… guess it doesn’t work that way. They say you can’t find the time, you have to make the time. I say you can’t find it and you can’t make it, you have to portion out the time you have… each day, month, and year. There are a few constants in life: one of them is a 24 hour day – the sun is going to rise and it is going to set – so you can portion out the right amount to each thing that demands your attention. The trick is to portion out the right amount to the right things (for me that means blogging gets a very small, almost non-existent portion right now). 

To quote someone wiser than myself: “Time is slipping away, slip slip slipin’ away.” Let’s be wise with how we portion it out.

 
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Ethics, Torture, and the 24 Way

15 Apr

Is torture acceptable if a greater good is possible? This is the question that is faced routinely in the fictious television show 24. Jack Bauer inevitibly will decide that it is necessary to torture someone in order to get the information necessary in order to stop some sort of catastrophe, usually threatening the president of the United States or a large number of people. The show presents Bauer as the person who does what everybody “knows” is necessary, but is unable to do. Others have already demonstrated the show is getting tirelessly repitive and forces the issue, yet the series recognizes the tension that is felt in the wider culture over the question of whether or not these practices are actually acceptable. So then we are back to our question, is torture acceptable if a greater good is possible?

The Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg argues that torture is never acceptable, citing the former Israeli Supreme Court justice Aharon Barak. She stated that she is persuaded by the argument that to torture is to give our enemies the victory by becoming like them. The New York Times article discusses her reasons for allowing foreign courts affect her reasoning in decision-making. Should the United States allow foreign court decisions to have an impact on its own decisions. How one answers this question is most likely determined by their system of ethics.

Is there a right answer to the question we have here raised? A ethical relativist would argue that each society determines whether or not it is right to torture for the greater good. If this is true, then what basis does judge Ginsburg have for listening to an Israeli court? If each society determines its ethics, then Ginsburg is completely out of line in listening to someone outside the United States. That leaves Ginsburg with only her own society to determine what is right or wrong. But to what society does Ginsburg belong? The United States? Washington D.C.? The legal system? The Supreme Court bench? If we were to poll those who watch 24 (society?) what answer would we get? What if we asked the former society of those at Guantanamo Bay? My guess is we would get different answers… which constitutes the society in which Ginsburg makes her decision? Further, what basis is there for anyone to reform our notion of torture if reformation is necessary? In other words, if what we are currently doing is wrong, how would we ever know?

Should Ginsburg listen to others? She argues that if we want to be listened to ourselves, then we must first start to listen to others. She is correct here, but if each society decides for themselves what is right or wrong, then why do we want to be listened to? Why do we think we are right and worthy of being considered by other societies?

I suggest that maybe there is some larger notion of right and wrong that transcends (did I use that word?) all societal beliefs. Maybe we can make an absolute claim about torturing. I would not want to live in a world where torture can be considered ethically right for the greater good when it is considered the greater good to eliminate my particular race, color, or creed, do you?

 
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Posted in ethics, philosophy, thought

 
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