Saturday, October 03, 2009
Is God bound by rationality?
In my work at HMS and HSPH, I do a fair amount of research into previously-published work. In the course of joining ResearchGATE (the ResearchGATE Scientific Network), I bumped into a discussion on this (above-stated) topic, "Is God bound by rationality?" You can follow the preceding philosophy discussion, to which I appended my own comment:
If there's room for ontological reflection here (e.g. Anselm: God is greater than that which can be conceived, traditionally, "God IS that than which nothing greater can be conceived), mortal rationality (in any species, not merely our own speciesist species is derivative (according to theological conceptions) and, despite periodic (weekly?) times of reflection (to which some give themselves full-time or intermittently), mortal rationality is best (in the spirit of religious liberalism, but quite consistent with the canons of more 'orthodox' schools of Christian thinking) dedicated to making life better here (in the mortal domain) for everyone, beginning with our own individual and shared responsibilities.
Perhaps the question should be reframed as:
If there's room for ontological reflection here (e.g. Anselm: God is greater than that which can be conceived, traditionally, "God IS that than which nothing greater can be conceived), mortal rationality (in any species, not merely our own speciesist species is derivative (according to theological conceptions) and, despite periodic (weekly?) times of reflection (to which some give themselves full-time or intermittently), mortal rationality is best (in the spirit of religious liberalism, but quite consistent with the canons of more 'orthodox' schools of Christian thinking) dedicated to making life better here (in the mortal domain) for everyone, beginning with our own individual and shared responsibilities.
Perhaps the question should be reframed as:
Do soul-searching humans have an obligation to bind themselves to rationality of intention and behavior?
Indeed, in that kind of care, healthcare and other costs likely would plummet and the strategic obstacles to realizing the better world for everyone could be expected to diminish significantly.
Labels: faith, metaphysics, philosophy, rationality, religious, social medicine, social science, society, sustainability
Would YOU like to teach the world to sing?
Making connections for plant-based diets: teaching the world to sing vegetarian songs
In the process of making connections for plant-based diets, which I've been doing actively since 1993, when I started the Vegetarian Resource Center, I'm seeking vegan musicians who compose and either perform or sing pro-vegan pro-animal lyrics about what we and all others can do right - that are wholesome lyrics, not hateful, and help enable the good side of the general public in making the switch towards plant-based diets and vegan values.
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/VRC-Vegetarian-Music/
The TEXT on that VRC-Vegetarian-Music group list at YahooGroups.com (which is VRC's official discussion list for this very project) is:
The VRC-Vegetarian-Music e-mail discussion list is for volunteers of the Vegetarian Resource Center working in projects of developing vegetarian-supporting music.
Think about every value you hold dear to yourself. Wasn't that communicated through relationship, image, deed, song, and poetry?
Yes!
The 1960's movement for nonviolence throughout Europe, North America, and the rest of the world was spread through music and song. But though there IS an extensive body of lore and song which COULD do the job, vegetarians have never collected that set of resources into one site, nor have many modern vegetarians deliberated on the task and worked intently at creating a modern body of lyric and song, poem and prose, which effectively communicate poignantly, pithily, and powerfully the vegetarian message, and deep as it is in all its lifechanging dimensions.
And if you already HAVE such music already (or know of it), share it with us so that we can get a better idea of what we're doing.
And we're happy at present with commercial produce and condiment jingles.
Let's teach vegetarians to sing!
No, let's write the songs the WHOLE world sings!
We're all interested, too, in developing and collecting literature, music, art, and other resources for vegetarian families.
But in all our months, years, or decades, we've found precious little written BY vegetarians FOR vegetarians.
What do you think YOU can develop, collect, or inspire OTHERS to develop or collect?
Once you join this list, we'd like you to hold up, not only YOUR end of the conversation among all these volunteers, about our respective portions of this culture-building project, but THEIR ends of the conversation, also.
Your contributions to improving our rationale, our social marketing, and/or our persuasiveness in motivating the skilled pro-vegans for this project is sought.
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/VRC-Vegetarian-Music/
The TEXT on that VRC-Vegetarian-Music group list at YahooGroups.com (which is VRC's official discussion list for this very project) is:
The VRC-Vegetarian-Music e-mail discussion list is for volunteers of the Vegetarian Resource Center working in projects of developing vegetarian-supporting music.
Think about every value you hold dear to yourself. Wasn't that communicated through relationship, image, deed, song, and poetry?
Yes!
The 1960's movement for nonviolence throughout Europe, North America, and the rest of the world was spread through music and song. But though there IS an extensive body of lore and song which COULD do the job, vegetarians have never collected that set of resources into one site, nor have many modern vegetarians deliberated on the task and worked intently at creating a modern body of lyric and song, poem and prose, which effectively communicate poignantly, pithily, and powerfully the vegetarian message, and deep as it is in all its lifechanging dimensions.
And if you already HAVE such music already (or know of it), share it with us so that we can get a better idea of what we're doing.
And we're happy at present with commercial produce and condiment jingles.
Let's teach vegetarians to sing!
No, let's write the songs the WHOLE world sings!
We're all interested, too, in developing and collecting literature, music, art, and other resources for vegetarian families.
But in all our months, years, or decades, we've found precious little written BY vegetarians FOR vegetarians.
What do you think YOU can develop, collect, or inspire OTHERS to develop or collect?
Once you join this list, we'd like you to hold up, not only YOUR end of the conversation among all these volunteers, about our respective portions of this culture-building project, but THEIR ends of the conversation, also.
Your contributions to improving our rationale, our social marketing, and/or our persuasiveness in motivating the skilled pro-vegans for this project is sought.
Labels: animal-rights, children, happiness, health, music, society, vegan, vegetarian, Vegetarian Resource Center, VRC
Monday, August 24, 2009
Social Science and the Moral Life
pp. 137-150
Subject Headings:
Labels: ethics, inner life, morality, social science, society
