Some people think music a primitive art because it has only a few notes and rhythms. But it is only simple on the surface; its substance on the other hand, which makes it possible to interpret this manifest content, has all the infinite complexity that’s suggested in the external forms of other arts and that music conceals. Continue reading
Author Archives: 2
Book. Schaeffer: How Should We Then Live? Part 2.
We have considered Schaeffer the philosopher in part 1, now we will consider Schaeffer the historian. Continue reading
Book. Schaeffer: How Should We Then Live?
C.S. Lewis once said that marking good essays and bad essays is easy, it is the those that fall in between Continue reading
Byron, Frisbianity, Leibniz’s Law, and Propositional Attitudes
Let us suppose that the following identity statement is true Continue reading
Comments on Lewis’s Perelandra
After writing a response to a question under another post, Continue reading
Attitudes on Quantifying In
The following is the first installment of an article on the philosophy of Gottlob Frege. Students of philosophy may find here something of interest.
A Brief Critique of Non-Cognitivism (Ayer’s Version)
A. J. Ayer’s view of ethical judgments, often dubbed “emotivism,” is that ethical statements are neither true nor false and therefore are without significance. Behind this stance is his empiricism. In order for a statement to be meaningful, it must lend itself to some sort of verification. Without any possible means of verification statements fail to have to express anything. But Ayer does distinguish ethical judgment from other meaningless talk such that of speculative metaphysics or theology in that the former have at least a semblance of meaning since they display the attitude of the speaker toward certain types of actions. When one says, for example, “treason is wicked,” he is, on Ayers view, not uttering a statement with any cognitive content, but is, displaying his strong disapproval of treasonous behavior. Continue reading
Wittgenstein: the Agrarian Philosopher
Perhaps the title is something of a stretch, but Wittgenstein does make numerous comments that fit within an agrarian outlook. Along with his distrust of science, his attitude towards culture, aesthetics, tradition, religion and life share much in common with Virgil, the Old South, the Inklings, the Vanderbilt agrarians, and to a certain extent, Jefferson. Continue reading
Ten Monsters of English History
Since the previous post on “monsters” (The Ten Worst Monsters of American History) proved diversionary for some, I thought a similar treatment of our cousins across the Atlantic would be of interest. Continue reading
(DVD) Stalingrad, 2003
Not to be confused with another movie with the same title, this is a documentary about the Battle of Stalingrad which was fought between the German and Soviet armies during the fall and winter of 1942-43. Before making a few comments, a little background about the battle may be helpful. Continue reading
Stereotypes
Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies
One of the few benefits of living in an era of insanity is that it makes the peddlers of the most prosaic and obvious truths appear like sages. The banality I will defend here is that almost every stereotype you have ever heard is true. Continue reading
Mill’s Refutation of Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is famous for its many flaws (e.g. committing the naturalistic fallacy, positing a simplistic psychological theory, failing to come to terms with ethical distinctions). All these, and more, have been dealt with extensively elsewhere. Here I merely wish to show that if one of J. S. Mill’s arguments succeeds, then Utilitarianism fails. Continue reading
The Ten Worst Monsters of American History
In a recent article, Gary North enlists the aid of his readers to come up with the worst monsters in American history. I immediately went to work, but soon realized that my criteria were not the same as North’s. For one thing, North put on the stricture that the monster had to use other people’s money. Though this requirement is met in most of the monsters I came up with, it did not include all. So rather than contributing to his list, I offer my own. Below is the fruit of my effort. Continue reading
Global Warming Denial
In a The Boston Globe op-ed piece, an hysteric woman named Ellen Goodman makes a remarkable assertion: Continue reading
Conspiracy Theories
Like a few recent commentators, I too believe that there is a good deal more to history than what the court historians report. Like the poor, conspirators will always be with us. Augustine reminds us that history is to understood as a battle between two cities. One uses the power of the Word and Spirit to advance its kingdom, the other is apt to cheat, steal, rape, kill and blunder. But the City of Man’s main method of warfare is not force, but dissimulation and secrecy. Christendom seems to have forgotten that our enemy is the deceiver of the nations. Continue reading
Basics of Christian Just War Theory
In the comments section to a previous post, somebody asked if Continue reading
The Pulling Down of Strongholds: The Power of Presuppositional Apologetics
The following article is from the current edition of Faith for all of Life, the bi-monthly publication of Continue reading
I’ll take mine rare
It’s official. Hillary Clinton has announced that she will be running for the Office of President of the United States of America. Her handlers are already packaging her as Thatcher redivivus. Continue reading
The Ring: A brief survey of performances and works
For those interested, I have put together a brief Continue reading
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Over the next several months (perhaps years, we’ll see) I plan Continue reading
Die Walküre, Act I synopsis
The orchestra opens with the strings furiously Continue reading
Particular Redemption
The following is an letter I wrote to a friend who had questions about the reformed doctrine of “limited Continue reading
I Pledge Allegiance?
For a long while, the Pledge of Allegiance has struck me as being wrong on several Continue reading
National Anthems
Most of us know our own national anthem and possibly even Canada’s (“O Canada”). Like most familiar things, though, we often fail to reflect on the meaning of the words. But it is worth doing. For national anthems provide a picture into the heart Continue reading
A Refutation of the Framework Hypothesis’ “Ordinary Providence Argument”
The following article was part of the Minority Report of the Committee to Study the Framework Hypothesis for the Presbytery of Southern California of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, October 15-16, 1999. It is also found in Kenneth L. Gentry and Michael R. Butler, Yea Hath God Said: The Framework Hypothesis/Six-Day Creation Debate (Eugene Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2002). Continue reading
Election 2006 – Predictions
Today is election day, the day all of us can take part in the great sacrament Continue reading
Does God Lie?
Although Christian theologians have debated whether it is ever permissible to lie, there has always been universal assent to the proposition that God himself does not lie – at least until Continue reading
Movie. The Sound of Music, 1965
This, the greatest of our Hollywood musicals, needs no commendation. Most have seen it several times and are familiar with the story. For the few that have not, you have something to look forward to.
Reviews of “The Sound of Music” are legion so I will not bother with another. A few words about the music, though, may be helpful in appreciating the movie. For, as the title suggests, it is the music that is the soul of the film. Continue reading
Baseball was very, very good to me.
I grew up in the golden era of baseball. At least it was golden for me. The L.A. Dodgers and N.Y. Yankees met in three out of five World Series (1977, 1978, and 1981). My team, the Dodgers, beat the Yanks only once, but just getting there was a thrill.
In college I gradually drifted away from following baseball except in 1988 when the Dodgers were in the Series once again. They beat the A’s in five. But the Series really ended after the first game. That was when Kirk Gibson “the gimp” (he had pulled both hamstrings, hurt both knees and could barely walk) Continue reading
The Bill of Rights, RIP
With the current Republican pedophile scandal and cover-up dominating the headlines, you may have missed what happened last week. On Thursday, September 28, Congress passed a law that effectively destroyed the Bill of Rights. The name of the bill that killed it sounds benign enough, “The Military Commissions Act of 2006.” But with its passage the last vestiges of our constitutional republic disappeared. Continue reading