Valerie's UH300 Blog

Are 'RELIGIOUS FAITH' & 'HUMANITIES' separate or overlapping terms?

2008-12-05T18:38:00.000-08:00

After reading McClay’s article, I do agree that the functional role of the Humanities is actually to save us from losing our humanity, but find it crucial and un-ignorable that religious beliefs have the exact same capacity and purpose.

It was important that McClay initially addressed the issue of the humanities as being viewed as ‘fluffy’ ‘pretty ideas’. This oversimplified view of frilly uselessness is quite widespread. As a science major, I had little grasp on the meaning of the ‘Humanities.’ I admittedly wondered; What meaningful and useful place in this world- besides in the university setting- could a History or English major possibly fall into, other than “devoted secondary-school teachers” (38)? I felt that McClay’s explanation did a great job of dispelling the idea that the humanities are ‘intellectual finger-painting’ (36).

McClay’s article ended up focusing a lot of urgency on our world moving “closer to the technologies of a posthuman future” (36). While reading this article, I identified with the concern over the distinction between human and animal in the progression of scientific knowledge. However, McClay seemed to think concern with that distinction is already old news and what the humanities will be most concerned with is science taking us to a place where we will eventually not even be truly human.

The article left me agreeing that the humanities is the area of knowledge that will need to rise up and assert its stand to protect human beings from the ravaging amoral expansion of scientific technology and knowledge. It left me with a newfound acceptance of the necessity of the humanities, for surely I don’t want science to steal away what makes us human.

But it also left me largely confused with what the role of religion is in all of this. Do religious beliefs fall into the term ‘humanities’? I find that in several instances of the article, sincere religious faith would perfectly do everything that McClay said was the purpose and role of the humanities.

McClay does address religion. He points out that foundations of the humanities took much shape during the times of the Early Church. He mentions the developing humanities having characteristics that were both secular and religious.

McClay mentions Matthew Arnold, who showed that the humanities were viewed as a “substitute for religion in the formation, education, and refinement of humanity’s sentiments and moral sensibilities” (40). I certainly agree that both religion and the humanities are concerned with “the general harmonious expansion of those gifts of thought and feeling which make the peculiar dignity, wealth, and happiness of human nature” (40).

Therefore, I do not understand the usefulness of the humanities to a person who faithfully and wholeheartedly finds the meaning of human life in non-secular, out-of-this-world places.

The Little Mermaid

2008-11-26T18:05:00.001-08:00

I found myself wondering why Andersen had to always use color for descriptions. It’s not even as though he branched off to use more specific and fanciful color names, like magenta, cerulean, ivory, chartreuse, amber, or aquamarine. Yet somehow his descriptions paint just as powerful and fanciful images in the mind. In certain parts of the story, Andersen’s focus turns away from storytelling to painting a picture and capturing a majestic image. Using color so frequently may be part of the reason that this story has been so successful across nations and languages. Colors- especially those of the visible spectrum along with black and white- provide a means of describing that transcends culture and is universally useful.

“Just because the little mermaid couldn’t go up there, she longed for all this the most” (37). This shows that her longings were often rooted in wanting what she could not at that time have. The human world seemed “far bigger than hers” (44). This also shows her dissatisfaction with life in the sea and her longing for what was beyond her apparently constraining and uninteresting world under the sea. Her plot in the garden shows that the little mermaid longs for life higher than the sea and she seems to embody this longing in the symbol of the sun and the love and companionship of a handsome male.

Once the little mermaid’s grandmother told her about the immortal soul of humans, winning an immortal soul was something she longed for deeply. She was not satisfied with having the loveliest voice or living 300 years in the sea. She gave up her voice and agreed to live in excruciating pain in order to have the chance to win what she so desperately longed for. Her longing and love was too great to kill the prince, plus this alternative still would not bring immortal life.

She turned to foam, but she became one of the “daughters of the air” who can create an immortal soul for themselves by striving to do good deeds for three hundred years. The ending is actually not a sad one, but a hopeful one, because an immortal soul is really what the mermaid longed for, and now she has a chance to earn one. The end also seems to tag on a moral aspect to the story that would encourage a young reader to be a ‘good child’ not a ‘naughty and nasty child.’

Dale Chihuly's "Wrapped in Tradition" at the WSU Museum of Art

2008-11-26T15:56:00.000-08:00

This collection is historical in that the technique was important for trade in the Northwest. American blanket manufacturers brought change and new materials by adapting American Indian designs into trade blankets. These were eagerly bought by the American Indian market. The manufacturers were first inspired by American Indians, and the Natives that purchased them were inspired by the blankets to create new objects. The artwork created a cycle of inspiration and innovation.

Initially, I was trying to find generalized themes or elements that I could apply to the whole collection. However, the diversity and uniqueness of the collection made it difficult to try to find a way to briefly encompass the entirety of the exhibit.

The first thing I noticed about the blankets was intricate geometrical patterns. Several initially reminded my of the pattern multicolor blocks used in elementary school. There were lots of triangles, trapezoids, parallelograms in combination with diverse color schemes. Even though there were many individual shapes and colors, the patterns that were created had a characteristic of flowing continuity.

Several times the blankets brought to mind images of nature and the environment. I noticed patterns that looked like eyes peering out at me. I also saw blue used in ways that looked like bodies of water. Other patterns evoked images of lightning bolts, flowy waves, sharp grass blades, triangular trees, and manmade structures such as arrows, totem poles, huts, or pyramids. Series of crescents, semicircles, and circles brought to mind the phases of the moon.

I was very intrigued by the way the patterns and colors of the blankets were used functionally to do a variety of things. I saw browns and neutrals used to create layers. I saw a green, yellow, red and black pattern of waves and spikes create lots of motion and energy. Very sharp small serrated lines or similar zigzag patterns created an almost fuzzy, unfocused appearance. Some lines in patterns appeared to resonate, almost like there was sound involved in the pattern. One of my favorite pieces had thin stripes of very bright and neon colors that were interrupted by black stripes. This pattern of colors was very visually stimulating. I also enjoyed the blankets that were very simplistic, such as having one or a few large bold stripes on a brightly colored blanket as opposed to an intricate pattern throughout an entire blanket. What made these unique patterns and colors even more interesting is the combination of very different elements alternating in one blanket, such as brown forest-like tree shapes on top of multicolor stripes.

Connection between song and soul: Analysis of "The Old Guitarist"

2008-11-09T18:37:00.000-08:00

The monochromatically blue color scheme of The Old Guitarist is quite dreary and solemn. The attention to detail in color and lines in the face and neck of the blind guitarist draws our eyes to look upon his grief-stricken state and see him as emotionally and physically worn down.

The forms we see in the image include a guitar held upright by an emaciated white-haired old man. His features are realistic in appearance but the conformation of his body is slightly distorted. He sits cross-legged, but his torso is slightly reclined and his white shoulder is exposed by his torn garment and protrudes far up as his head hangs in a near right angle to his spine. The shadowy depth of the guitarist’s hand on the neck of the guitar allows us to see the expressive movement of the bony musical fingers.

The painting comes from Picasso’s Blue Period, which began after a close friend committed suicide in Paris. This period was also influenced by the desolation, downtrodden misery and poverty he saw working on the outskirts of Paris. Young Picasso himself was also impoverished during 1902.

Picasso certainly expresses the deep sorrow of such conditions and of the tragedy of losing a close friend to suicide. The haggard guitarist sits in destitution, but the symbolic hope and escape of the comparably bright brown guitar shows an outlet of grief, a distraction from reality, a means for expressing the painful depths of one’s soul into the heartfelt strum of a guitar. The guitarist himself embodies hopelessness and despair; he can do nothing but to turn to the guitar.

Picasso caught my attention by evoking such a sense of sorrow and despair with The Old Guitarist. I certainly feel that sorrowful feelings and the image of a depressed state are of a universal nature. All people seek to find ways to make it through the hard times. I also feel that musical expression, of varying types, is a universally appreciated way to express feelings, to feed one’s soul, to vent. I relate very emotionally to the songs played at the memorial of a classmate who died in eighth grade, or to the songs I lived by during a confusing breakup, and although I use personal examples from adolescence to illustrate my point, I feel that the deep connection between song and soul is universally felt. Music seems to have the power and the sentiment to sustain, and this is what I see captured in The Old Guitarist.

Eirik's Saga

2008-11-03T12:08:00.000-08:00

This saga reads very differently from the other class materials. We don’t learn of the personality or the actual lives of these people; we are just trailed along this brutal string of events that Eirik has laid throughout the Nordic. However, some similarities to previous class readings do exist. Einar’s speech to Orm about seeking Gudrid’s hand in marriage was very reminiscent of Mr. Collin’s proposal to Lizzy in Pride and Prejudice.

I felt that the literary style of the saga was not always uniform. I enjoy the style of Chapter 11 “The Skrælings attack” much more than Chapter 2 “Eirik explores Greenland.”

Many events happen in Chapter 2 but they are not at all descriptive. The narration is a quick, brief account of what events take place and in what order. The three sentences in the second paragraph of Chapter 2 capture the actions of towns warring with one another, people retaliating against one another for actions that started with Eirik’s slaves starting a landslide. The account does not go into detail about the killings, how they were done, the suffering of the victims, or the strategy of those killing. It just says they killed.

Upon reading through Chapter 2, I thought that such lack of detail and description was probably practical and necessary for an orally sustained story. I assumed that the writing was like this such that it could be passed through oral tradition for long periods of time. However, reading on, I found that this explanation was probably not accurate since detailed descriptions were devoted to other happenings. Chapter 11 captures this in its detailed account of the attack of Karlsefni’s men by the Skrælings, down to the color of the sphere that flew at them, the waving of the sticks in the boats, the vivid imagery of pregnant Freydis’ savage scare, and lovely thought of the land looking like a “huge cake of dung.”

Detailed description is also given in the account of Throbjorg the prophetess. This account shows a moral dilemma which is probably a somewhat universal concept. Gudrid doesn’t want anything to do with sorcery because she is a Christian. Thorkel pressures her and she is forced to sing the Warlock-songs anyway. The experience of having to choose either to stand up against something one believes is morally wrong or conforming to what the public is doing is a common plight, typical of Christianity, but most likely applicable to the threat of compromise to any religious belief or even moral stance.

CHOOSE AN IMAGE: The Old Guitarist (Pablo Picaso, 1903)

2008-11-03T09:32:00.000-08:00

Analyzing "Still I Rise"

2008-10-27T02:37:00.000-07:00

Maya Angelou is a contemporary female black American writer. Much of her poetic expression is tied to this identity. Her poem “Still I Rise” was written in 1978. This poem creates a jazz-like rhythm, with its rhyme scheme, repetition of “I Rise”, words like ‘soulful’ and slang such as ‘‘Cause.’ The smooth, yet hard-hitting rhythm contributes to the air of confidence and invincibility that the words of the poem so clearly display.

Angelou’s imagery helps solidify her assertions. In the first stanza, one can imagine dirt being drove into the ground by a powerful boot, but Angelou shows that she is not packed down by this action, she is amongst the particles of dust that float up and away to freedom from this force. She also uses the “certainty of tides”, moons and suns, to convey the reliability and assuredness of her rising above the odds and the oppression.

Angelou metaphorically walks and laughs and dances as though she’s pumping oil in her living room, digging gold mines in her back yard, and dancing with diamonds between her legs. These images suggest confidence in who she is as a woman. A feministic approach to analysis may be taken in that she is challenging the gender roles that would normally expect her to be demure, gentle, timid, and not publicly express sexuality.

On a level of contingency, it is apparent that Angelou’s poem is referencing oppression towards African Americans in the United States, especially focused on both women and slavery. “Out of the huts of history’s shame”, “Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and hope of the slave.” The adversity is illustrated to us so that we know what grave depths she is rising out of. Surely meaning and emotion can be found in this poem within the context of the oppression of colored people in America.

The poem may fit appropriately into the context of black American history, but many elements give this poem relation to universal experiences that contribute to its widespread popularity. The concept of rising up against adversity in any situation- no matter the hardships, no matter the pain or struggle- is something that transcends time. Throughout history we have seen oppressed peoples carry on with strength throughout difficult times. Humans endure hardships to varying degrees, but all can relate to a time of uncertainty, fear, and struggling. The poem is inspiring and powerful in that it shows confidence in the worst of times. Angelou inspires this unabashed confidence and overcoming spirit into her audience.

SELECTED POEM: Still I Rise

2008-10-20T08:33:00.000-07:00

Still I Rise

by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

The Individual vs. The Collective in Laterna Magica

2008-10-20T05:47:00.000-07:00

The selection of short stories from the compilation Laterna Magica, by William Heinesen, explores an array of connections between the situations of an individual and the experiences of collective humanity. In providing examples portraying such a relationship, Heinesen is addressing our notions of contingency vs. universality. Heinesen does a great job of taking the tiny, seemingly unimportant, little town in the Faroe Islands and creating it into something bigger than life, bigger than understanding, full of wonder and meaning that applies worldwide, not just in Torshavn.

Most can relate to a blissful, free time in our young lives when dinner and bedtime were calling, and we felt the ‘infinite pleasure’ of ‘screaming and howling’, not quite ready to face losing this perfect time to the confinement of darkness and rest. Although this in itself is a common childhood experience, in the context of the interweaving short stories of Laterna Magica, we may see that Heinesen is discussing the coming of death. At the end of our lives, when we hear the call to come back in, it is then we will most desire to scream and shout in childlike wonder and freedom. Darkness will come, “something has to come to an end.” As one grows older and nearer to this imminent departure, he lets go of everything the world holds as important and normal and prepares to fly out of the window and out of this life.

You may not have broken your leg in two places like Miss Urd, and you may not play the violin like Master Jakob does, but like Jakob, so many of us have sought to pacify our loneliness and need for comfort through music, drinking alcohol, or pursuing romantic relationships. He is not disliked, not isolated from society, but Jakob is still empty. He is well-educated and has spent much effort collecting literature of all sorts, yet he still has “just managed to keep body and soul together.” As the other stories play out, happiness in life depends on perspective, on your boldness to step outside of the conformity of society around you and live for something greater than the expected, greater than rules and ritual.

An Enemy of the People

2008-10-13T04:03:00.000-07:00

The situation being unfolded in “An Enemy of the People” caused me to think about the control of the oil companies on, well, our whole planet. I have often thought about the massive power of major oil companies. The leaders of this gold-mine of an industry possess the power to disallow any new, cheaper, more efficient fuel technology to ever become widespread out of fear of seeing their profits be made worthless by some new-fangled technology. After pondering this connection, I strongly feel that Miller succeeded in his “wish to demonstrate that Ibsen is really pertinent today” (8).

Newfound scientific knowledge based around fresh technology, such as finding microscopic evidence of contaminated water in the 1950’s, or discovering a fuel alternative that could revolutionize civilization in the 21st century, may have the potential to stir up change that is unwanted by the powers that be.

Peter Stockmann, the town’s mayor and Dr. Stockmann’s brother, does not take the threat of infectious bacteria seriously as his brother expects everyone will. Peter talks his way around the original issue because his motives are political, not scientific. He refuses to let the economic foundation of the town be pulled out from under him because of an intangible health threat. Power is much more important to him than that, and he utilizes his power to the extreme throughout the play. Peter cunningly yet easily turns the entire town against his brother, making him out to be the ‘enemy of the people’, who is out to ruin the town (96-97).

Dr. Stockmann’s rebuttal to the frustrating speeches of his brother at Horster’s house is passionate, intelligent, and convincing. His allusions to Jesus and Galileo are used cleverly in trying to convey the idea that the majority is “never right until it does right” (94-95). However, we learn in this story, that the most convincing presentation of controversial truth is not enough to sway a stubborn majority convinced by the authorities and power that the ‘truth’ is harmful to them. We are left devastated by the lack of justice served in this town, but yet we sense triumph in that our beloved messenger of truth has not given in to the intense pressures he has received to sway from his stand.

Dutton's Critique of Booker

2008-10-05T21:55:00.000-07:00

After giving a limited background of Christopher Booker’s “Seven Basic Plots”, Dennis Dutton launches his argument against Booker, which rudely derails the treatise off any track of validity or acceptability it was ever on.

It is somewhat difficult to critique the viewpoints of both Dutton and Booker, when Booker’s own position is presented not by himself but by his critic, Dutton. Booker categorizes examples of literature into seven broad, echoing story types with the same overall plot and presents these seven plots as applicable for nearly all works of literature, at least that literature which is valid in Booker’s mind.

I found the overview of “The Seven Basic Plots” to seem logical and sensible. I was a little bothered that for some, such as number five and six, Dutton offers no real explanation of what that category means other than offering a title or two of works which I am apparently supposed to be familiar with. It seems as though Dutton is getting bored and impatient of recapping Booker; he wants to hurry up and get to smashing his ideas into the ground, so he continually presents less information of each consecutive plot. It may be for this reason that I feel more in agreement and understanding of Booker’s first four plots, and confused about plot numbers five through seven. However, according to Dutton’s inclinations, it is because Booker simply tagged on the last few to accommodate those outsiders that just wouldn’t fit into his other groups.

Booker believes in Jungian archetypes that can account for symbolism such as that of malevolent characters representing egotism. Dutton, on the other hand, argues that things just are the way they are, and they things just make sense according to human nature, desires and values. In essence he is saying, “Duh! Of course these are basic plots; there are only so many logical alternatives, according to Aristotle, for a story to follow. This doesn’t mean anything significant and it doesn’t make them archetypes, it just means that this is what interests us and this is what makes sense for literature, just as the layout of rooms in a home makes sense for our way of life.”

Dutton presents a convincing argument. He is harsh and direct in diminishing Booker’s decades of work into a seemingly elementary account of what is obvious and naturally evident in literature.

Botticelli's artistic storytelling in "The Birth of Venus"

2008-09-29T05:23:00.000-07:00

Botticelli’s artistic work in “Birth of Venus” tells a story, which can be critically analyzed without necessarily having any notion of contingent background information.

The easily identifiable ‘main character’ is the majesty of a goddess upon a very large seashell. Her ivory skin is flawless, her body is soft and brilliant. Her fiery hair is utilized in her attempt at coverage, which gives note to her natural purity and feminine modesty. Venus’ gaze does not appear to be focused or fixed on one entity. Rather, the warmth and depth of her eyes and face gives the sense that her gaze is all-encompassing and intrinsically passionate.

Venus approaches the shoreline, a boundary which prominently contrasts the features of land and of ocean to highlight the importance of the two settings and indicate that our goddess is in process of transitioning from one into the next. It does not seem such a common occurrence for a forest to lie two feet inland from a shoreline, but in depicting the land this way, Botticelli emphasizes difference between land and water.

The lines depicting water waves are also very indicative. They flow towards land and begin to break at the base of the seashell, informing us that Venus and her shell are washing into shore.

The arched body and visible stream of powerful air shooting from the mouth of one of the angelic beings towards Venus tell us that this has been her method of transportation. We see the wind from these angelic lungs affecting Venus’ hair, the dress of another woman on land who appears to be a goddess as well, and the robe that she will use to enfold the body of the exposed Venus.

Botticelli describes beautifully the transitional event of Venus blowing in from the mysterious sea into the covering of land. Much meaning can be acquired from only looking upon his painting. However, background insight may open a world of fuller understanding. For example, the ‘angelic being’ is actually Zephyr, the god of the west wind (makes sense). Zephyr gave the domain of the flowers to his sister Chloris, whom he also had abducted as a wife, which could possibly explain the pink floating flowers.

Foucault's reading of Las Meninas

2008-09-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

To my own surprise, I really appreciated Foucault’s analysis of Las Meninas. I know little about art, about 17th century painting, or how to interpret it. Upon looking at this painting, I really only saw a room full of people, and had no idea how to see anything else or how there could be a possibility for me to confidently say what is really going on in the painting. Foucault’s reading of the painting definitely has me quite convinced, and much more comfortable and appreciative of the work.

A phrase used more than once by Foucault is ‘pure reciprocity’. I think that the discussion surrounding this phrase is intriguing. We contemplate the infinite relation of the painter and the spectator on page four. On page fourteen we consider the multi-functional mirror, which observes the scene that Diego is looking upon and is observed by us, the spectators, giving revelation to that which we would otherwise be left to speculate.

I enjoy how crucial ‘gaze’ is in Foucault’s reading of Las Meninas. His concept of gaze really aided my understanding and thought process. There are many characters with their own gaze. The first discussed is that of the represented Velazquez, which is described in deep detail. The visitor on the steps, Infanta Margarita, each of her entourage, even the mirror and its subjects all exude a gaze which can give the spectator direction and insight into that which first seemed invisible.

Foucault’s goes into great lengths discussing the surroundings of the painting, the front, back and sides of the room, and also that which is out of view. He spends much time on the large canvas, on the light that is flooding the room from the nearly invisible window, on the mirror on the back wall which so starkly shines out from the paintings that surround it, and on the open door and the figure and space which it reveals. I really found this focus interesting and useful. I would have never realized how useful paying such attention to the surrounding could be. Infanta Margarita is so bright and central to the painting; it was almost hard for me to see that anything else could compare to her figure in giving meaning to the painting.

One thing that did stir up some curiosity when I initially saw the painting was the dog. I found it peculiar and random, and was wondering about its purpose, although I felt unable and unequipped to begin speculation of what it might mean. Because of this curiosity, I was slightly disappointed at the only very brief mention of the animal on page fourteen. However, after dismissing my frustration at a lack of fuller discussion of the dog, I do find myself content and in agreement at Foucault’s brief explanation. It ties back into his important underlying notion of ‘gaze’. The dog does not offer us a gaze. The dog is not moving or looking at anything, so according to Foucault, it is only ‘an object to be seen’. I suppose one could argue against such a prominent and unique figure holding no real meaning in the painting, but I feel it fits well into Foucault’s very convincing reading of Las Meninas.

Joseph Carroll's version of Darwinian literary critique

2008-09-15T08:38:00.000-07:00

I find Joseph Carroll’s model to be a dissatisfactory account of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice and I feel opposed to Darwinistic literary criticism. I am frustrated with this somewhat recent article in that Carroll seems to be saying “Hey, Darwinian literary criticism isn’t quite right, but I’m gonna’ make it right by saying that the human mind is unique and varies widely with culture, point of view, and individual biases.” To me, he is taking a system that he desperately wants to be correct - but sees that it is flawed and too structured and inflexible- and trying to correct it by laying on top of it the notion that it just cannot be inflexible. He wants to broaden the perspective but I really think that his propositions make Darwinism un-Darwinist. He’s proposing to adapt a system, but he needs to recognize that it is just his own separate system that satisfies his personal rationalizations.

On page 78 Carroll expresses ‘fair confidence’ that energetic active research in the near future will do away with the ‘obstructions that have temporarily arisen from the premature consolidation of certain orthodox doctrines’. This statement arouses much discontent in me. I think he is being roundabout and indirect. Such a prediction is arrogant, very weak, and I think farfetched. I don’t think he is wise to make a claim about not yet existent research to do away with long-standing ways of thinking. He is being cowardly non-confrontational yet very critical. He is backwards because he says orthodox doctrines have caused temporary obstructions, but I must assert that the Darwinist theories are much more premature, young, and temporary than the orthodox doctrines. He is very arrogant to think a theory 200 years of age will wipe out a system thousands of years of age.

He attempts to disarm any opponents by claiming that Darwinian analysis applies to EVERY work of literature no matter what. But the support he gives for this claim immediately reveals its fallacy. Carroll says, “If Darwinism gives a true account of the human mind….” I could continue this sentence but upon this conditional I am already decided. He gives an ‘if’ which already weakens his bold assertion about Darwinian analysis applying to all literature. His ‘if’ gives two options; either Darwinism gives a true account of the human mind, or it does not. Darwinism is theory and is therefore not truth, and therefore cannot give a true account of anything, let alone the intricacies of the human mind.

I really dislike how Carroll’s approach reduces Austen’s artistic work to a biological account of animals seeking after resourceful mating partners. He says on page 97 that “men seek to acquire resources and to use them to acquire mates, and women seek mates who are in possession of resources.” I disagree on many levels with this Darwinist view. I believe that love is the proponent of human life. Love is not even really addressed in this animalistic account. I do not believe in animal-human equality and therefore cannot adapt to many of the claims Carroll makes. I do give Carroll credit for attempting to broaden the view with statements of the complexity, unpredictability, and exceptions of the human mind and I do find some of his analysis of the novel to be interesting and accurate, but again, I feel that by trying to change Darwinian critique to be more flexible, he is weakening Darwinism with his own preferences.

(I apologize for the lengthiness of this blog entry).

9/8, Austen & Durant

2008-09-08T07:18:00.000-07:00

The character of Mr. Collins in Pride & Prejudice has surprisingly significance in the story. His character serves not only as great entertainment for the reader, but for purposes of solidifying the characteristics of the plot, of societal conformity at the time, and also for building up and further expressing the characters of other individuals in the book. Austen makes a spectacle of Mr. Collins, and provides some humor for the reader in the awkwardness of his presence.

Mr. Collins’ audacity in Chapter XX to still ignorantly believe that Elizabeth’s repeatedly straightforward refusal of his long winded proposal was actually due to her "bashful modesty and the genuine delicacy of her character" stirs about much frustration in my modern mind. The inability of Mr. Collins to realize that a young woman could have the independence to outright refuse a marriage proposal beneficial to the family represents the general view of society towards such matters. Also the fact that Elizabeth’s intimate friend Charlotte marries Mr. Collins emphasizes the uniqueness of Elizabeth’s character. She was set in her romantic ideals of marriage, and was unwilling to stray from these standards in order to conform to society.

Durant’s preface and introduction to his book The Story of Philosophy professes the necessity of understanding and studying philosophy. In my opinion, Durant views philosophy as vital for the gaining of wisdom and for understanding the meaning and worth of the things we human beings do in our lifetimes. He is very eloquent in convincing us that science does not produce wisdom. Science produces knowledge, but this stand-alone knowledge is useless and incomplete if it cannot be related holistically to purpose and seeking truth. I particularly enjoy his claim that ‘Every science begins as philosophy and ends as art; it arises in hypothesis and flows into achievement.’ He wants the world to know that science and philosophy are not two separate entities forever at war, but that they are interrelated, that one springs up from the other, and that the flow of wisdom and knowledge through the rivers of thought is not separated or distinct. The massive flows of scientific pursuit cannot exist without the numerous streams trickling the beginnings of philosophical thinking.