North Western Winds

I have been told that I'm hard on Naturalists and their ethics. Perhaps that's because I was one once, and perhaps it's because I'm trying to be rigorous in my approach (not that I am claiming success). At any rate, I'm heartened to find another soul taking what looks like very much the same approach. The following is from an entry on W.V. Quine (although the part I've excerpted has nothing too much to do with him) by Edward C. Feser. It was posted to The Conservative Philosopher : I also think that it is no accident that naturalistic philosophers tend toward unconservative positions in ethics and politics. Naturalists have a tendency to suppose that the methods of the natural sciences are the right models to apply to the study of the human world. Since the history of natural science has often been a history of proving common sense wrong where matters far removed from everyday human life are concerned, the expectation understandably forms that common sense is li...

This link from Chrenkoff leaves me speechless.

Blogger Russ Kuykendall at Burkean Canuck has an interesting post up about Church and State , and it's very relevant given that parliament will examine SSM beginning this week, and that rockin' dude Peierre Pettigrew (the little sychophant) told Catholics to bug off since they have no right to even speak to the issue. One commenter on the post chillingly hints at where we are going: "we appear to be going back to a Roman concept of the state, where it becomes the arbiter for all things, and to cross its "Canadian values" is an act of immorality." I have no doubt that there are people in the Federal Liberal party who are that daft (and some who are not). I still have faith in my fellow Canadians, however. We still value dissent, don't we? I also want to point out how clever Paul Martin has been. He had told his party that they will be allowed a free vote on the issue - unless they are in cabinet, in which case they must support it. Basically, he...

Johnny Dee quotes from one of his texbooks in a philosophy of mind course, written by one John Searle : it is very hard even in the present era to come right out and say, "No human being has ever been conscious." Rather, the sophisticated philosopher gives the view that people are sometimes conscious a name, for example, "Cartesian Intuition," [and] then he or she sets about challenging, questioning, denying something described as "the Cartesian Intuition." Rhetorically speaking, the idea is to make you, the skeptical reader, feel that if you don't believe the view being advanced, you are playing Cardinal Bellarmine to the author's Galileo. Other favorites are phlogiston and vital spirits , and again the idea is to bully the reader into supposing that if he or she doubts, for example, that computers are actually thinking, it can only be because the reader believes in something as unscientific as phlogiston or vital spirits. ... The ultim...

Somebody's finally come up with another way of graphing political / moral tendencies. The Moral Matrix is like other political quizzes that place you on a four quadrant graph according to your views on social and economic issues. This one uses 1) how important you think morality is and 2) how much of your sense of morality is rules based to create the four quadrants . My results did not surprise me, except when it came to John Kerry being a closer match than George Bush. How should I put this? um.... no.... The following items best match your score: Moderate Conservatism is the variation of Conservatism that balances Conformance and Independence . People in this category will tend to have balanced opinions about enforcing the moral order (religious conformance, strict family values, lesser freedom of expression, stricter laws...) and about favoring individual initiatives (lower taxes, less corporate and environmental regulations, ...). System: Conservati...

Engaging the Culture of Death “They are not moral monsters. They are not Nazis or hatemongers. They are our colleagues and very often our friends. Many of them are doing their level best to think through the moral issues at the heart of our cultural struggle and arrive at conclusions that are right and just. They view themselves as partisans of a culture of freedom. In most cases, they carefully and honestly argue for those choices for death (as Dworkin himself calls them) whose moral worthiness they proclaim and whose legal permission and constitutional protection they defend. As a matter of reciprocity, it is, in my view, incumbent upon us, as their opponents, to engage them in debate, to answer their arguments, and to say why they are wrong. While we must oppose them with resolution and, indeed, determination to win, we cannot content ourselves merely to denounce them, as we would rightly denounce the moral monsters who created a different culture of death on the European continen...

Francis Poretto at Eternity Road (one of my favourite blogs) has a provocative series of essays up that he calls The Convergence of the Death Cults . His inspiration was from one of his readers, Pascal, who wrote: I believe that we can tie much of what appears to be illogical to this desire to limit human population by a few, and by the many who are misled into believing that either God or nature -- including human nature's drive to overcome any adversity -- will be insufficient. You know: those who are convinced that Malthus has just got to be eventually correct. Poretto's essays are here: Are We Good for Us? Part One Are We Good for Us? Part Two The Convergence of the Death Cults The Advance of the Death Cults Good stuff. I mean, if you're not doing anything else... do you ever wonder why the left finds death so sexy? Abortion, birth control, suicide bombing, euthenasia, criticsizing efforts at self defense, choking production through environmental reg...

The Truth During her talk yesterday , Dr. Smith said a couple of things that get right to the heart of why leftist (atheist, materialist) thinking is just silly. I'll repeat them here because in my dream world everyone would know them and no leftist could get away with it. Leftist: "There is no such thing as truth." Answer: "Is that true?" Leftist: "Well, there is one truth, and that is that there is no truth." Answer: "If that is true, then there are at least two truths: 1) there is no truth and, 2) that #1 alone is true. But #2 also contradicts itself and #1, since it is a second truth." More left silliness... "You can't legislate morality." Well, every law on the books is a form of coercion and a normative claim but you won't hear them cry about laws sending smokers into the rain or forcing people to wear bike helmets. Why not? They'll say that those are not morals being enforced. They aren't...

Rebecca and I attended an all day seminar held at a neighboring parish today, in a beautiful new church called St Nicolas'. Professor Janet Smith was the guest speaker and the event was sponsored by nearby Pacific Redeemer College . Rebecca and I first saw Dr. Smith speak on EWTN , a Catholic cable channel (you can get it if you have a digital receiver with Shaw, or also on some satellite channels or on the web). While the quality of the broadcasts on EWTN can vary quite a bit, with some shows being very cheap looking and dull, others are refreshing and good. I like EWTN Bookmark quite a bit, for example. Dr. Smith speaks about Ethics and Bioethics especially. She is very good and knows her subject well. When we learned she was coming to speak so close to us, we decided we ought to attend. Although the event lasted all day, it was not overly long, and it was really nice to see what a strong, faithful and bright young student body looks like up close. I was so impressed. Not every...

Bill's Comment's has some good points about being religious and being real .

Vomit the Lukewarm has a short but very observant post up about people who simply cannot fathom or will not acknowledge that human irrationality exists. I personally would add that such people are also very often blind to non rational knowledge. I don't think the world is an irrational place - I just think that humans don't have the mHz, the RAM, or the operating system to get the job done at that high a level. What we do is muddle through as best we can. Both errors stem from not fully taking in the implications of other people's freedom . People who think like this really do think that they can control other people through the way they themselves act. It is a form of narcissism. Vomit writes: Men who are blind in this way will defend their belief as a trust in the dignity an equality of human persons. In truth, however, whenever the blindness is not due simply to ignorance (as might be found in ivory-tower academics who never deal with lazy or willful students...

This personality quiz was pretty good. I think it got me fairly well. Wackiness: 22/100 Rationality: 68/100 Constructiveness: 48/100 Leadership: 44/100 You are a SRDF --Sober Rational Destructive Follower. This makes you a Fountain of Knowledge . You are cool, analytical, intelligent and completely unfunny. Sometimes you slice through conversation with a cutting observation that causes silence and sidelong glances. You make a strong and lasting impression on everyone you meet, the quality of which depends more on their personality than yours. You may feel persecuted, as you can become a target for fun. Still, you are focused enough on your work and secure enough in your abilities not to worry overly. You are productive and invaluable to those you work for. You are loyal, steadfast, and conscientious. Your grooming is impeccable. You are in good shape. You are kind of a tool, but you get things done....

From Cox and Forkum

I have been dutifully maintaining the blogroll to the right, adding new ones when I find something I like (and think people who like NWW might like), deleting inactive blogs, and doing it pretty quietly. There is, however, a new blog that I'm pretty excited about and I want to point it out so no one misses it. Keith Burgess Jackson has started a blog called The Conservative Philosopher , which will be a group blog. The names signing on are impressive - Burgess- Jackson himself, Bill Vacellia, John Kekes, Roger Scruton and more. I also heard a rumor that Jim Ryan (who did Philosoblog a while back but dropped out due to time constraints) is on board too. You might even find my comments on Ryan's old blog. Or even a link to my old pre blogger site. I am taking tonight off and catching up on reading this new entry. The topic of the moment seems to be " what is conservatism? " I doubt anything I put here would be better, so you're invited to check it out. A...

Keith Burgess-Jackson offers a defense of traditional marriage . And John the Mad shares his thoughts on a controversy (one that is right in my back yard) that shows Burgess-Jackson's reasonable defense is falling on some deaf ears.

Russell Kirk's Six Points Continued Three . Conservatives believe in what may be called the principle of prescription . "The wisdom of our ancestors" is one of the more important phrases in the writings of [Edmund] Burke; presumably Burke derived it from Richard Hooker. Conservatives sense that modern men are dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, able to see further than our ancestors only because of the great stature of those who have preceded us in time. Therefore, conservatives very frequently emphasize the importance of " prescription " - that is, of things established by immemorial usage... There exist rights of which the chief sanction is their antiquity... similarly, our morals are prescriptive in great part. Conservatives argue that we are unlikely, we moderns, to make any brave new discoveries in politics or morals or taste. It is perilous to weigh every passing issue on the basis of private judgment and private rationality. "The individual is fooli...

I haven't ridden a horse in my life and the closest I've come was probably a pony ride at the PNE when I was five, but that doesn't mean I don't groove on the idea... This is a nice tune by George Canyon . He's from Canada, eh? Good Day to Ride Every morning when I wake up I pour coffee in my cup And I look out on the fields Of the land that I call home And if there's no chance of rain And I need to get away I'll grab a saddle And be long, long gone Looks like a good day to ride Underneath this big warm sun Looks like a good day To let this old boy fly Loose on the reins and on the run To a blue and endless sky Looks like a good day to ride There's a world that's in a race For some money and some fame But out here there's nothin' All I need is what I have So when I wanna free my mind From the concrete inside I head for the mountains Back to who I am Rebecca also likes his newer track, " I'll never d...

Dissecting Leftism has a link up to a site called Brookes News , which makes a number of accusations about the MSM's coverage of the Iraq, such as AP cooperates with terrorists , and AP puts terrorists on it's payroll I'm not familiar with Brookes, but these stories seem plausible to me. I think media coverage of Iraq has been horrid from the get go, with everything seen through the prism of Vietnam and "imperialism" and ooooiill. I also think playing video tape of hostages pleading for their lives is reprehensible. While watching the NFL playoffs on the weekend, there was a moment when a fan raced out onto the field. The camera moved off of him almost immediately. This is done to thwart the "fame" such people seek. I have to wonder why, if a sports cast crew can get it right, why can't the western MSM? I'm not saying don't report it, I'm saying try to do so in a way that your are not a pawn for one side. But then in th...

Commitment Adam Spitz wrote on his blog : Our culture tries to make us think that it's a good thing to promise to never change your mind about someone, but I don't think that it is. I think love is more meaningful when you can say to the other person, "I could leave, but I choose not to, because I still want to be with you more than I want to be with anybody else." Once you've promised not to leave, you can't say that anymore. Adam's comments came up in a a lively discussion about SSM at Andrew's Bound by Gravity . The question of commitment is a bit off the topic but it's interesting nevertheless. I'd to put forward an argument why I think Adam's argument, which he admits he hold tenuously, is not a good idea. "I could leave, but I choose not to, because I still want to be with you more than I want to be with anybody else." There are a lot of I's in that sentence. In fact, the whole thing is bound up with what ...

Russell Kirk 1918 - 1994 Ten years after his death, Russell Kirk remains a favourite writer of conservatives. His books include The Conservative Mind , in which he looks at conservative thought from Edmund Burke to T.S. Eliot, and The Roots of American Order . A collection of his essays is available here . A review of Kirk and The Conservative Mind is here . Kirk is known for being a defender of what he called "the Permanent Things." He is also known for what he called The Six Points of Conservatism , which is what I want to look at over a few days. My source is his introduction to The Viking Portable Conservative Reader , which he edited. ***** One : Conservatives generally believe there exists a transcendent moral order, to which we ought to try to conform the ways of society. A divine tactic, dimly seen, is at work in the ways of society. Such convictions may take the form of belief in "natural law" or may assume some other expression; but with few ...

Building a Conservative culture - A look at the tally in the US . Things are not so good here in The Great Wet North. Adam Daifallah offers suggestions for changing that. It's very much like what I've said all along, but he seems, to my eyes, to put too much emphasis on rich white knights coming to our rescue. I say, grab a hammer and saw and let's get this thing built. You and me, right now. Got a blog? Get one. Can't find the time? Comment away. You have friends, right? Learn to talk the talk, and then walk the walk. Got a few bucks? Find an organization and give. If you can organize, so much the better. Recently I was heartened to see a TV ad from a pro life organization that I support. "Hey! I did that..." I don't have a problem with white knights, but I'm not sitting around waiting for one. ***** Canada - More proof that a great many Canadians have no sense of humour whatsoever . Or perhaps they do but they are so blinded by env...

"The role of the prime minister of this country is to protect the rights of minorities, and protecting the rights of the minorities is certainly a question about which the government of Canada will be prepared to go to the people on," Martin said. Paul Martin is just such an ass it is impossible to like him. The job of the Prime Minister is to govern the country in the interest of all of the people and saying otherwise is close to being unfit for the job. It's a balancing act, you idiot.

Pagan Virtue Rebecca and I saw Troy last weekend and enjoyed it a lot. It is a tremendous spectacle, something like a Searching for Private Ryan set in ancient Greece, in which the search is for a pagan princess rather than a US Private. As I was watching it I was struck by how the paganism of the Greeks and the Trojans impacted their actions. Fame, wealth and power are right at the forefront of their thinking, dominating any sense of right they may have had. In the background, however, there is a sense of sadness. A feeling that no matter what they achieve they will always be at risk of dying forever by being forgotten. Remembrance plays very largely, I think, because the concept of Hades is not very appealing and is not held with any great conviction. I did a bit of searching on Paganism before attempting this post and once again G.K. Chesterton comes to my rescue. The quantity and quality of his output really is remarkable. The following comparison is from his book Heretics...

From The Angel's Blackboard: The Best of Fulton J. Sheen : The repeated use of the word crisis in reference to morals is interesting, for it reveals a tendency on the part of many modern writers to blame the abstract when the concrete is really at fault. They speak, for example, of the problem of crime, rather than the criminal; of the problem of poverty, rather than the poor; and of the crisis in morals, when really it is a crisis among people who are not living morally. The crisis is not in ethics but in the unethical. The failure is not in the law, but in the law breakers... There are ultimately only two possible adjustments in life: one is to suit our lives to our principals; the other is to suit our principals to our lives. "If we do not live as we think, we soon begin to think as we live"... Many a budding liberal mathematician cannot crush the urge to say that three times three equals six... This kind of philosophy would never have permitted the Prodigal Son ( ...

You Are 31 Years Old 31 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax. What Age Do You Act? Yip: Siris Jonah Goldberg on how people my age are getting older very quickly due to technology.

The Curt Jester writes one of the funniest Catholic blogs around. His conversion story is here . Julie at Happy Catholic writes one of the best family oriented Catholic blogs that I have seen. Yes, it's a regular stop. Her story is here .

Timmy and some others have been debating the merits of my post on the recent Bishop Henry kerfufle. Timmy the G left a comment that has puzzled me and which I will try to tease some meaning from. He wrote: First, the bishop is exhorting his parishioners to pressure the public government to impose these beliefs on all Canadians, who represent many different faiths. So what of it? I belong to a union the routinely tells me how evil I vote and that I am basically a dirty slime mold for thinking the way I do. I throw all of their publications out and ignore everything they say. Especially when it comes to the ballot box. If they told me to cross the road on green, I'd step out on red. Here's the thing though. I have no choice in this matter, unless I want to change jobs and put my family through serious strain. Those publications I toss are paid for from my dues. I can't refuse to pay for them or direct my fees in any way. Catholics are not obliged to vote a certain way. T...

There are a hoard of bloggers jumping all over Bishop Henry of Calgary for a letter he sent out on the subject of Same Sex Marriage. They include Timmy the G and Treehugger at Heart of the Matter , both of whom say they are Catholic, and also The Upper Canadian . To my fresh Catholic eyes, it seems that Timmy and Teresa do not seem to have understood what the good Bishop wrote. The Upper Canadian is on a high hobby horse of his own. How else am I to understand Timmy's question at The Upper Canadian: "Why must a gay Catholic couple accept the fact that their relationship will never be consecrated the same way another couple's will be? What's left for them in their faith if they are told God considers them evil?" One can understand how someone coming from outside could ask that. Does Tim own a copy of the Catechism ? Has he ever opened it? It's on the web too, so no excuses. I'll cut him some slack since he admits not being a regular church goer, and...

When North Western Winds passed 1,000 hits back in the fall (NWW has been around only since August of last year), I did a short little post thanking regular readers and thinking aloud about the blog as I saw it evolving. On the weekend, NWW passed 5,000 hits and I feel another such reflection is due. The weekend also saw the closing of the Canadian Blog Awards , in which NWW was nominated for "Best Conservative blog." I don't know who nominated me, but a big hearty thanks for that. Mike Brock, at Brock: on the Attack won that category and I freely acknowledge that he has a fine blog over there. It was instructive to see the list of blogs that were nominated for the CBA . I have tried to carve out a niche for NWW, to position it so that it might fill a purpose that, to the best of my knowledge, is wide open in the Canadian blogosphere. NWW is undoubtedly and very intentionally a Conservative blog. What is different is that NWW is unapologetically Conservative on both ...

Introducing The Fox Blocker ! I think this thing has to be a joke. How does it know which channel Fox News is on in each area? In any case, I'm posting this for Timmy the G , who really wants one of these. I want one that'll do the same thing for the BBC and the CBC. However, since I'm cheap, and a conservative (coincidence?), I'll think I'll just change the channel. When I decide to change other people's minds I'll rely on my own freedom of speech.

Faith as an Inside Job A post by Dallas Willard has kicked off a most interesting project and if you are so inclined, you can contribute. The project? Jesus the Logician . Writes Willard: One is not logical by chance, any more than one just happens to be moral. And, indeed, logical consistency is a significant factor in moral character. That is part of the reason why in an age that attacks morality, as ours does, the logical will also be demoted or set aside--as it now is. Not only does Jesus not concentrate on logical theory, but he also does not spell out all the details of the logical structures he employs on particular occasions. His use of logic is always enthymemic , as is common to ordinary life and conversation. His points are, with respect to logical explicitness, understated and underdeveloped. The significance of the enthymeme is that it enlists the mind of the hearer or hearers from the inside, in a way that full and explicit statement of argument cannot do. Its rhetor...