Comments for Step by Step

Comment on About Robert Winter by Michele Rodiquez

Michele Rodiquez — Sat, 19 May 2012 06:13:29 +0000

Great information

Comment on What’s so interesting… by Kayli

Kayli — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:46:09 +0000

egXLvw Kudos! What a neat way of tkhinnig about it.

Comment on Old Soldiers Never Die by Cayle

Cayle — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:02:37 +0000

FPAheo Very true! Makes a canhge to see someone spell it out like that.

Comment on ‘God is dead’ by JamesN

JamesN — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:44:28 +0000

Amazing, Hawking’s work leads me to believe that ‘deformities’ are really an evolutionary stage; our brains developed because we were once physically impaired apes, mainly in our jaws which allowed more room for our brains to grow and in turn allowed us to think about more than just about the necessities such as food, water, shelter and sex.
Hawking’s’, deformed as he is thinks beyond the chains society has placed upon us. The majority of people will look at a person with a larger head, 12 fingers, 2 mouths or 3 eyes as a freak instead of seeing the benefits of such a ‘deformity’. These deformities lead people like Hawking’s to quote in his book ‘The Grand Design’:
“One can’t prove that God doesn’t exist, but science makes God unnecessary.”
A quote in which I cannot say I agree nor deny, as it places a shady area upon physics which is a subject I always believed to black or white.
Yes ‘the more you know the less you know’; Hawking’s, in his supposed infinite wisdom says that ‘One can’t prove that God doesn’t exist…’ but when we inverse his statement we see that one can prove that God exists and science makes his existence necessary, many inferior minds who claim on their lives that they have seen or spoken to God will attempt to use science to prove his existence and unintentionally push themselves further away from society but bind the rest of us closer together as we endeavour to find the true meaning of life which we conclude cannot be taught to us but learnt through our own experiences in life which have brought us to this exact point in time and when we get a moment of peace and clarity we look back on those experiences that have led us here and use God to justify the good and bad to determine whether or not exists, dead or alive.

Comment on ‘God is dead’ by Jayne

Jayne — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 11:23:31 +0000

I liked your essay, which got me thinking. Marx rejected philosophy (as represented in Hegel) because its underlying rationality just reinforced the existing social structure. Philosophy also presumed the entire universe was rational, because everything was underwritten by God. So Marx could not call himself a philosopher, even if he was doing analysis and critique which by ancient Greek standards is probably the definition of philosophy.

Today is different. Since the 18th century, God has competed with science, and for the relevant, specific questions under dispute, science ends up as the winner. But science is not directly concerned with questions of justice, aesthetics and what constitutes a good life. Yet according modern Marxists such as Adorno and the Frankfurt School, our conditioning as a result of the scientific method, still indirectly corrupts these non-science questions. So it is now the case that we judge what is rational, solely by its instrumental value. Perhaps then, the psychological usefulness of religious experience becomes a sufficient explanation for the rationality of God. Or we think we are having a good life if we are aligned with the rational aims of economic growth and consumerism.

Your conclusion about the meaning of life seems like something the post-Nietzschean existentialists would agree to. And so do I, but I also think the question ought to be further asked in the collective sense. So it’s not just about asking what is the meaning of life, but also asking what is the meaning of history and what is the meaning of progress. Adorno did this when he was referring to the modern ‘totally administered society’ in his critical theory. We are all so rational and reasonable, but we’ve somehow just missed the point. Later, Habermas developed his own critical theory and explained the importance of philosophy as a mode of communication, especially within the public sphere. I really liked Habermas’ work when I studied him last semester because he was not an over the top pessimist and seems more connected with today’s reality (although Adorno could be forgiven for his pessimism just after WW2). As usual, the more you know the less you know, but Habermas is worth the effort if you are interested in this kind of stuff.

Comment on Truth and Beauty by Craig Schubert

Craig Schubert — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 02:33:41 +0000

Delightfully put!

I came across a quote once that I liked (and wish I could remember its origin) that went along the line of:

Data is not information.
Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.

(I think it should be ‘Not all data is information’ etc but I can’t remember it in its original form…)

The quest for truth is certainly worth pursuing and as I do my Dip.Ed. I wonder how best to lead student to the truth, or even give them a hunger for it instead of just regurgitating information of dubious quality…

Comment on Is this what Warhol meant? by Craig Schubert

Craig Schubert — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 02:08:11 +0000

Hmm, fair point…
But I think if you wanted to be taken more seriously in this chosen channel of exploitation, then you would reveal each and every little detail of your life – especially those bits that might make you (or others) cringe.
Only then could we believe that you have chosen the path of claiming your 15 minutes with gusto and not just be picked up and skimmed into the ocean.

(If you couldn’t quite read the humour in which that was written, maybe it was due to the narrowness of this channel not allowing tone of voice to be conveyed easily… I agree with you that we should never demand more information about people where it makes no difference – like the details of actors lives. But do you think it makes a difference for people like politicians, who are elected to govern some aspects of our lifes – can we ask more of them??)

Comment on Madmen Raging Against the Sacred by Dane

Dane — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 04:30:52 +0000

Interesting reading my friend… glad you’ve found something to keep you busy, in an already ridiculously busy schedule.

Comment on Truth and Beauty by James Blackmore

James Blackmore — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:43:39 +0000

Nothing since January… What’s going on with your blog??? I’m looking forward to the next installment.

Comment on What’s so interesting… by Yliander

Yliander — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:37:05 +0000

I find it very distancing when friends I am with seem preoccupied with facebook/twitter etc on their phones. I’m finding that I find the times when I am unable to access online networking stuff very releasing.

although I love the way that I am able to easily keep up with friends around the world but dislike it as a replacement for a phone call