"Chastity is the most unpopular of the Christian virtues. There is no getting away from it: the Christian rule is, 'Either marriage, with complete faithfulness to your partner or else total abstinence.' Now this is so difficult and so contrary to our instincts, that obviously either Christianity is wrong or our sexual instinct, as it now is, has ( Read more... )

i was really moved upon hearing the story of the olympic torch being extinguished. i haven't been keeping up with the story very well because i... well i don't keep up with news stories very well in general, but i think it's one of those really awe-inspiring sorts of things that doesn't happen very often. the way i understand it, as it was ( Read more... )

i made "trendo" official:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=trendo&defid=0

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/05/another_christian_science_fair.php

teehee

"The Costly Fraud that is Organic Food: Its main contribution will be to sustain poverty and malnutrition ( Read more... )

"Dread is the fear of Being-in-the-world as such. What is dreadful is the utter meaninglessness of human life, the lack of given directions, given standards and values, and a given conception of oneself. It is to escape this nothingness that Dasein (man) tends to retreat into inauthenticity. Dread makes everything insignificant, for it sees that ( Read more... )

jonny greenwood is balllllllin outta control:

http://www.mahalo.com/Popcorn_Superhet_Receiver

alright, i concede. heidegger is not so bad; i still think his philosophy is sterile, wordy and free of any logical base but it hangs together like a junk sculpture. you can't help but admire the craftsmanship involved and how all the pieces are fused together. believe it or not, this was the turning point for me in appreciating heidegger's work:

( Read more... )

http://www.newsweek.com/id/123484?GT1=43002

a great article about the "look at me generation", and how exhibitionist and reality tv shows are ruining high school and college students' sense of self and personality. this is right on the money, in my opinion

the purpose of philosophy is "to learn how to reason more carefully, to identify and guard against common fallacies. To check ourselves for consistency. To find plausible beliefs and correct, or at least improve on, them. To combat false and harmful doctrines that people are suffering from. False beliefs are a hazard, knowledge, on the other hand, ( Read more... )