Katherine and Louise have asked me to post their reading for Friday 30 may - "Why the intelligent design lobby thanks God for Richard Dawkins" by Madeleine Bunting 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/mar/27/religion.schools

Alex Jordan will be presenting on "Selective Obedience: Sin and Compulsion" for the first session of the second half of the course at 3pm on  Friday 16 May. He has suggested folks read the essay "An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish" by Bertrand Russell. A copy can be accessed here ....

http://www.solstice.us/russell/intellectual_rubbish.html

F. S. Collins - The Language of God - 11 April

The review by Sam Harris can be found here
A detailed criticism of how the existence of a moral law (if it exists) provides evidence for the existence of god can be found here
A interview with Collins can be found here

On memes

After class on Friday, I have been thinking about memes, so I thought I would post something about it.

I looked up meme and, sure enough, etymologically the word itself is independent of the 'theme' and 'rheme' I know from linguistics. Memes can have something to do with language, though. According to Wikipedia a meme is:

"A meme consists of any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that gets transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. Examples include thoughts, ideas, theories, practices, habits, songs, dances and moods and terms such as race, culture, and ethnicity. Memes propagate themselves and can move through a "culture" in a manner similar to the behavior of a virus."

I find memes interesting for at least two reasons. First, the idea goes against what I believe is true. I believe that facts and ideas are representations created through interaction (interpersonal interaction and interaction with the physical environment). The seminal book on this is called 'Laboratory Life: the construction of scientific facts" by Latour and Woolgar. It is the first anthropological study of a science lab.

The second reason I find memes intriguing is that the idea of memes downplays the interactions that go into expressing an idea. Memes treat ideas and such as things in themselves and liken the spread of memes to the behaviours of a virus. In other circumstances this would have ruffled my feathers for sure, but in the context of this class, it is food for thought.

One part of the analogy that I can completely accept is that memes (or words in general), like viruses, can affect one's physical body in complex ways. I think 'virus' gives a negative connotation, though. Can the behaviours of a virus benefit the host? If not, then I think I have problems with the analogy, but maybe I am missing something. In the same vein I would want to know if the behaviours of any viruses are integral to being human.

In any case, I agree that talking in particular ways (i.e. propagating memes) can shape the state of one's body and the motions of one's body--as the subject of religion and say, birth control, well demonstrate.

I think memes have a strong potential to be a dangerous idea, though. Not that memes as a subject should not be talked about. On the contrary, I think it is a provocative subject. But the subject of memes encourage the speakers to talk about ideas independently of the people that propagate, create, and modify them. I think this creates the conditions for a potentially dangerous habit. Memes ARE created by, propagated by, and modified by people (or more generally, by beings) as part of their lives. Memes are interesting, but the backdrop of discussion of memes should respect and acknowledge the complexity of the movements involved in propagating them. It is a complexity involved in what it means to be human (or alive), to be seen as an individual but also as a member of a group. We know very little about this complexity, though we believe it is possible to study it and know more.

The interface of memes and the body would be interesting. I will have to look up more about this. But that is all for now.

Theresa

D.C. Dennett - Breaking the Spell - 4 April

Reviews in the New York Times, American Scientist, Science and The New Yorker

Philosophy, spirituality and the self

From ABC's The Philosopher's Zone:

Charles Taylor, the distinguished Canadian philosopher, has just been awarded the Templeton Prize, the world's most highly endowed award for intellectual achievement. This week on The Philosopher's Zone, he talks to ABC Radio National's Tom Morton, about how we are intellectually and how we got to where we are.

MP3: Part 1 and Part 2 / Transcript: Part 1 and Part 2

Unleashed

Peter Banks sent a link to the following opinion piece that appeared on the ABC website:

Evolution is one of the greatest ideas anyone has ever had. It is simple, the evidence for it is conclusive and it changes the way most of us see the world. Or it should, but too often Darwin gets enlisted to defend simplistic political notions that are complete distortions of the great man's profound insights.

Read more here

Just in case you thought this wasn't a hot topic, have a look at comments as well...

S.J. Gould - Rocks of Ages - 28 March

Links to a number of reviews can be found on the Wikipedia page.