A Myth in Creation: Awais Aftab's Blog

A Vocabulary of Delights

2012-01-28T00:40:00.000+05:00

A young monk, with little exposure to the company of women, finds himself aroused and seduced by a peasant girl:

"What did I feel? What did I see? I remember only that the emotions of the first moment were bereft of any expression, because my tongue and my mind had not been instructed in how to name sensations of that sort. Until I recalled other inner words, heard in another time and in other places, spoken certainly for other ends, but which seemed wondrously in keeping with my joy in that moment, as if they had been born consubstantially to express it. Words pressed into the caverns of my memory rose to the (dumb) surface of my lips, and I forget that they had served in Scripture or in the pages of the saints to express quite different, more radiant realities. But was there truly a difference between the delights of which the saints had spoken and those that my agitated spirit was feeling at that moment?" [Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose]

Unacquainted with the vocabulary of love, this young man caught in the moment of passion finds himself helplessly uttering words from the scripture.

We may also imagine its converse, a more familiar example: devoid of a proper vocabulary, a mystic caught in divine ecstasy finds himself helplessly uttering words of passion, love and desire.

Annie Oakley Heart Target

2012-01-28T00:22:00.003+05:00

Annie Oakley’s heart target

Source: The New York Times

Freud on Homosexuality

2012-01-25T23:46:00.001+05:00

Sigmund Freud's letter to a mother who had contacted him to treat her son's homosexuality.

A Little of It

2012-01-23T14:16:00.001+05:00

"And when the grace and protection of the Divine Mother are with you, what is there that can touch you or whom need you fear? A little of it even will carry you through all difficulties, obstacles, dangers..."

Sri Aurobindo

Winter Park: A Minimalist Reproduction

2012-01-21T14:40:00.003+05:00

A minimalist reproduction of:

Uzzle Burk, Winter Park, Central Park, New York, 2000

Source: A la recherche du temps perdu

Philosophy of Cosmology

2012-01-21T14:10:00.005+05:00

What Happened Before the Big Bang? The New Philosophy of Cosmology

What existed before the big bang? What is the nature of time? Is our universe one of many? On the big questions science cannot (yet?) answer, a new crop of philosophers are trying to provide answers.

Read this brilliant interview of Tim Maudlin. He approaches the interaction of philosophy and physics with a lot more rigour and understanding than what we find in Hawking and Krauss.

The One Electron Universe

2012-01-21T14:06:00.002+05:00

"There's an idea that suggests all the universe's electrons are actually one particle forever traveling backwards and forwards in time. It's a simple, elegant idea that solves some of physics's biggest mysteries. There's only one tiny problem....

This is the story of that bizarre thought experiment and John Archibald Wheeler, the brilliant, largely unsung physicist who came up with it."

Philosopher T-shirts

2012-01-21T13:56:00.000+05:00

Somebody make my girlfriend wear this... please?

This is so totally mine.

For these and more of other awesome philosopher t-shirts, check out tresnormale.

Revelation 2012, Corps et Ames

2012-01-19T22:33:00.000+05:00

The Academy of Caesar and Chaumet presents the true revelations of 2012

bodies and souls

look at me
at this instance, naked, free of the body and spirit

in understanding all the (extraneous) stimuli, I submit only to my impressions
(because) I am truly free of body and soul
(being naked and not covered)

again a virgin

I return to the disorder

and the last wing falls (or the last paper will tell) that I will return to this dance

and I will help me by myself

I will dream rich dreams

I will free my emotions

I will no longer live in subtitles of others
but only with the fruits of my tongue

I will be complete
I will comprehend your suffering

I will also laugh and we'll see the light

I will embrace your craziness
your impossibilities

your inevitabilities, your inviolabilities.

there are so many uncertain roads, I may rest cold., abandoned

I believe I plunge

at this moment so free
of body and spirit

free

revelations.

beautifully translated into English for this blog by Sharmeen A. Khan ©
(follow her on twitter at @sharmeenalikhan )

note: translation is more impression than verbatim. brackets are translator's additions.

Understand

2012-01-19T00:04:00.004+05:00

In order to truly understand God's mysterious ways, one must, in essence, become God.

Steinbeck on Love

2012-01-16T01:10:00.004+05:00

"There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you -- of kindness and consideration and respect -- not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn't know you had."

John Steinbeck

[hat-tip: 3 Quarks Daily]

Yesterday's Dreams

2012-01-13T20:14:00.004+05:00

Jack Vettriano, Yesterday's Dreams

Jack Vettriano's is "a cool, sharp world of edgy romance and sexual tension. He has the ability to make you feel nostalgic for things you never actually experienced in the first place." Sir Tim Ric

60-Second Adventures in Thought

2012-01-13T20:10:00.000+05:00

Here are 6 brilliant short videos (combined in a single one) by the Open University explaining 6 famous thoughts experiments in a fun and easy to understand manner, and that too in mere 60 seconds. Enjoy!

1. Zeno's The Paradox of the Tortoise and Achilles
2. The Grandfather Paradox
3. Searle's Chinese Room
4. Hilbert’s paradox of the Grand Hotel
5. The Twin Paradox
6. Schrödinger’s Cat

[hat-tip: Brain Pickings]

#TS113

2012-01-11T02:30:00.000+05:00

#TS113 prompts: palmistry, a small death, raconteur

She foretold that little by little the stories within him would die, so he slept with her and set them all free with a petite mort #TS113

On Diaries and Death

2012-01-08T22:22:00.001+05:00

@AfiaAslam raised a question on twitter whether it is ethical to preserve diaries after the death of their writers. Here are my thoughts on the matter:

While some may say that a diary is, by default, meant to be for author's eyes only, the situation is not entirely so clear in real life, where people attach different degrees of privacy to their diaries. Some may wish to guard them obsessively, others may not be so averse to their being read, especially after they are dead. In situations where the wishes of the author are not known, and in the absence of any clues that may indicate what the author would have preferred, or if such a desire is not evident through the contents of the diary, and the material in the diary is not of a personal and sensitive nature, then I do not see any reason why it should constitute a moral violation.

If the writer had expressed a desire that the contents of the diary be kept private and/or the material in the diary is of a personal and sensitive nature, then the ethical thing would be to honor that wish.

However, if the contents of the diary are of potentially great literary worth (such as Kafka's or Plath's) then it would put the custodian in a utilitarian dilemma, where he would have to weigh respecting the wishes of the deceased against benefitting humanity with the work of a literary genius. If the work is sufficiently valuable, one may treat the wishes of the author as we treat their self-destructive tendencies while they are alive — that is, just as we think it morally justified to attempt to save a man from killing himself, we may consider it morally justified to save a literary masterpiece from destruction.

Subconscient Patriarchal Heritage

2012-01-06T14:49:00.000+05:00

“Patriarchy does not just influence people through socialization, but also through our collective subconscient heritage, which is a kind of cultural infrastructure into which we are born.”

kmlgl

Quantum Ethics

2012-01-06T14:44:00.002+05:00

Emanuel Derman in his post 'To me you’re a wave, but to myself I’m sometimes a particle' compares moral behavior with the wave/particle duality in Quantum Mechanics. Just as behavior of matter can simultaneously be viewed as being a wave or a particle, he says that behavior of humans can simultaneously be viewed as having responsibility for their actions and as not having free will.

He writes:

'Example:

When I do something GOOD, I like to say I acted freely, and I experience it that way.

When I do something hurtful or BAD, I sometimes excuse myself by saying I couldn’t help it (meaning I experience the cause as compulsion, provocation, reaction, environment, upbringing, parents, circumstances …)

But, when you do something GOOD OR BAD, I tend to praise OR respectively blame you as though you acted freely, in either case.

People can be simultaneously responsible for their actions, and yet not exercising free will. Or vice versa.

Quantum ethics.'

As far as descriptive ethics goes, I think it is pretty accurate, and I'd say that the switch between holding a person responsible and viewing them as devoid of free will is governed by Strawson's Reactive Attitudes.

Freedom

2012-01-05T14:21:00.000+05:00

Every inch of freedom hijabees gain in this patriarchal culture comes at the expense of the freedom of non-hijabees.

My comment on this blogpost.

Guilt and Resentment

2012-01-01T23:49:00.000+05:00

Our tendency to be guilt-ridden shows the moral capacity that we possess, and our tendency to transform that guilt into resentment shows the limitedness of that moral capacity.

What Matters

2011-12-26T20:59:00.000+05:00

'I am far more concerned about whether someone is pluralistic in their worldview-- if they oppose totalitarianism and believe people of different religious and nonreligious identities should be free to live as they choose and cooperate around shared values-- than I am about whether someone believes in God or not.'

Chris Stedman, The Problem With 'Atheist Activism'

My sentiments exactly.

Merit Award: Diarist Blog

2011-12-26T15:58:00.000+05:00

A Myth in Creation won the Merit Award in the Best Diarist category in Pakistan Blog Awards 2011.

My gratitude to all the readers, especially the regulars who have been a source of encouragement over the years, and to all those who voted and commented in my favor.

And like last year, a special note of thanks to Aati, without whom this blog would not be what it is.

The Hermeneutics of Suspicion

2011-12-24T23:23:00.001+05:00

3:AM: You use a striking phrase in one of your essays, “the hermeneutics of suspicion”, to discuss three of your intellectual heroes, Marx, Nietzsche and Freud. Could you say a little about what you were getting at in that phrase and how it is really relevant for the intellectual left today?

BL: The phrase itself derives from the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur, though I take strong issue with how he understands what such a “hermeneutics” - or method of interpretation - involves. But what Ricoeur correctly notices is that Marx, Nietzsche and Freud represent ways of thinking about and analyzing human societies and human behavior that share certain structural similarities. First, they typically suspect that people’s own self-understanding and self-presentation are misleading as to what really explains why they say what they say and do what they do. Second, these thinkers try to show that the real explanation is one that would undermine the credibility of the beliefs and values people affirm.

Take a wonderful Freudian example, that has since been confirmed by experimental work in psychology. A “reaction formation” is a psychological process in which one forms moral views in reaction to desires that one really has - so, e.g., one becomes a vociferous critic of the immorality of homosexuality and gay marriage precisely because one has strong homosexual urges and desires that one finds threatening. A reaction formation is a “defense mechanism,” a way of trying to protect oneself from desires one doesn’t want to act upon. The typical religious or moralistic homophobe will conceive of himself as “defending family values” and “traditional marriage,” when, in reality, he only mouths these moralistic platitudes because deep down he’d like nothing better than to have anal or oral sex with another man. If, in fact, it’s the reaction formation that really explains his moral beliefs, then those beliefs can’t possibly be justified, since they arise from a mechanism, reaction formation, that’s inherently unreliable (that is, it’s not a reliable way to figure out what’s morally right or wrong). This bears emphasizing: if what really explains your moral attitudes is that they are a desperate psychological attempt to restrain your own desire for what those attitudes condemn, then why should anyone else take them seriously?

Leiter Reports. Brian Leiter interviewed by Richard Marshall at 3:AM magazine.

TS97-98

2011-12-24T23:12:00.000+05:00

#TS97 prompts: an empress, a poem and sand

* the empress banished the poets from her court and forbade all poesy; she knew well there are verses that sting like sand in the eyes #TS97

#TS98 prompts are - frankincense; wandering star, farce

* Even tho death renders everything a farce & time burns past away like incense,the aroma is there to stay in the wandering minds of men #TS98

The Burden

2011-12-21T21:26:00.000+05:00

Men take on the burden of patriarchy often when they love a woman and set out to free her... only to realize that patriarchy is more than a system; it is a mindset, and the only one who can free you is yourself.

Monstrosities

2011-12-20T23:17:00.004+05:00

‘It is so,’ says religion. ‘It could not be so,’ says humanity. Eventually, religion yields. When it doesn't, it produces monstrosities.

Authenticity

2011-12-13T22:41:00.000+05:00

"The authentic human being is one of us who instinctively knows what he should not do, and, in addition, he will balk at doing it. He will refuse to do it, even if this brings down dread consequences to him and to those whom he loves. This, to me, is the ultimately heroic trait of ordinary people; they say no to the tyrant and they calmly take the consequences of this resistance. Their deeds may be small, and almost always unnoticed, unmarked by history. Their names are not remembered, nor did these authentic humans expect their names to be remembered. I see their authenticity in an odd way: not in their willingness to perform great heroic deeds but in their quiet refusals. In essence, they cannot be compelled to be what they are not."

Philip K. Dick, How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later

TS86-87

2011-12-13T22:36:00.001+05:00

#TS86 prompts: Non sequitur, Surreal, Quantum.

Every quantum of love received planted a cactus in the surreal landscape of his life; he was a strawman struck wd a non-sequitur amour #TS86

#TS87 prompts: Seven sins, housework, a bond

She had 9 lives; 7 of them she spent in sin, 8th in virtue as a housewife, & 9th beyond good & evil, seeking the ethereal bond of love #TS87

From Neurotic Misery to Ordinary Unhappiness

2011-12-13T01:19:00.000+05:00

"When I have promised my patients help or improvement by means of cathartic treatment I have often been faced by this objection: 'Why, you tell me yourself that my illness is probably connected with my circumstances and the events of my life. You cannot alter these in any way. How do you propose to help me then?' And I have been able to make this reply: 'No doubt your fate would find it easier than I do to relieve you of your illness. But you will be able to convince yourself that much will be gained if we succeed in transforming your hysterical misery into common unhappiness. With a mental life that has been restored to health you will be better armed against the unhappiness."

Sigmund Freud, Studies on Hysteria

Destino

2011-12-11T18:34:00.001+05:00

Set to a Mexican ballad, it is the love story of Chronos and a mortal girl, depicting the joy and agitation of an unresolved romance through the vicissitudes of time and the actions of destiny. Two lovers in an ever-changing dreamlike landscape, filled with the rich, intriguing and often incomprehensible surrealistic imagery of Salvador Dali. It has many of his well-familiar symbols, such as the soft melting watches, indicating the fluidity and relativity of time; ants that signifiy death, decay and also sexual desire; crutches that denote the inadequacy of mankind and their constant need for support etc. The meaning of Dali's symbol's springs from his life and his subconscious associations, which makes them difficult to make sense of; nonetheless, even when the symbols are incomprehensible, they do not fail to evoke distinct impressions, forcing the viewers to make sense of it from their own subconscious projections. In the words of the creators: Dali says that “It is a magical exposition of the problem of life in the labyrinth of time,” while Walt explains that it is really “just a simple story about a young girl in search of her real love.”

Surrealist Veena

2011-12-11T16:34:00.001+05:00

(translation: this is not a pipe)

René Magritte, The Treachery of Images

Veena Malik, The Treachery of Photoshoots

so fateful a decision, so fortuitous a love

2011-12-08T23:44:00.001+05:00

Six years ago, sitting in the Dissection Hall, a realization struck me with disquieting intensity: there is not much choice in love. Who you fall in love with, how you fall in love, it's all very circumstantial. It felt, at that time, so arbitrary. It appeared as if the decision to find a partner could either be left to parents (arranged marriage) or to circumstances (love). Suddenly the whole grand idea of loving and marrying by choice seemed to crumble in front of me. Love became contingent.

I must say, these thoughts were, and are, not the final word on the topic. Much more can be said about it. The reason I am bringing them up is that I found those ruminations beautifully echoed by Milan Kundera. It's one of those moments when you read a writer or a philosopher, and discover your own thoughts in them, refined and polished:

"...her words had left Tomas in a strange state of melancholy, and now he realized it was only a matter of chance that Tereza had loved him and not his friend Z. Apart from her consummated love for Tomas, there was, in the realm of possibility, an infinite number of unconsummated loves for other men.

We all reject out of hand the idea that the love of our life may be something light or weightless; we presume our love is what must be, that without it our life would no longer be the same; we feel that Beethoven himself, gloomy and awe-inspiring, is playing the 'Es muss sein!' to our own great love.

Tomas often thought of Tereza's remark about his friend Z, and came to the conclusion that the love story of his life exemplified not 'Es muss sein!' (It must be so), but rather 'Es konnte auch anders sein' (It could just as well be otherwise).

Seven years earlier, a complex neurological case happened to have been discovered at the hospital in Tereza's town. They called in the chief surgeon of Tomas's hospital in Prague for consultation, but the chief surgeon of Tomas's hospital happened to be suffering from sciatica, and because he could not move he sent Tomas to the provincial hospital in his place. The town had several hotels, but Tomas happened to be given room in the one where Tereza was employed. He happened to have had enough free time before his train left to stop at the hotel restaurant. Tereza happened to be on duty, and happened to be serving Tomas's table. It had taken six chance happenings to push Tomas towards Tereza, as if he had little inclination to go to her on his own.

He had gone back to Prague because of her. So fateful a decision resting on so fortuitous a love, a love that would not even have existed had it not been for the chief surgeon's sciatica seven years earlier. And that woman, that personification of absolute fortuity, now again lay asleep beside him, breathing deeply."

Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Burden

2011-12-08T19:14:00.001+05:00

X: You place your happiness in my shaky hands... what kind of a burden is that?

Under The Bed

2011-12-06T21:45:00.001+05:00

Source

We are fortunate that even those who believe that everything is permitted in theory are in majority of cases not capable of everything in practice.

Ashura as a Myth

2011-12-05T19:55:00.001+05:00

The Day of Ashura is a day of mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn in the Battle of Karbala for the Shia Muslims. A rich tradition of beliefs and rituals surrounds the commemoration of this day: there are intense, poetic recitations, there are beating drums and chants, narrations of the history of the event, public processions, ceremonial chest beatings, ritual flagellations, and even re-enactments of the battle of Karbala. There is a deeper significance to all of this, which I became aware of only after I had read Karen Armstrong's work on mythology.

Armstrong does not limit herself to the narrow definition of a myth as a 'purely fictitious narrative usually involving supernatural persons, actions or events...' something that is mutually exclusive with an actual historical event. Her conception of a myth is deeper and meaningful. A myth, she says "is an event that - in some sense - happened once, but which also happens all the time."

To my mind, it is difficult to find a more perfect contemporary example of it than the tradition of Ashura. The battle of Karbala is an actual historical event, it happened on 10th of Muharram 61 AH (680 CE). However, in a sense, this battle happens every year in the lives of Shia Muslims.

Armstrong says, a myth "is nearly always rooted in the experience of death and the fear of extinction." The death of Husayn forms the core of this tradition.

"Mythology is usually inseparable from ritual. Many myths make no sense outside a liturgical drama that brings them to life, and are incomprehensible in a profane setting." It is the rituals of recitations, narrations, chest-beatings, flagellations, re-enactments that breathe life into Ashura. While it is a very meaningful activity for the Muslims who do it, from the profane perspective, it is incomprehensible and absurd.

"The most powerful myths are about extremity; they force us to go beyond our experience. There are moments when we all, in one way or another, have to go to a place that we have never seen, and do what we have never done before." Ashura forces the participants to go beyond their day to day experience, and takes them to a time and place they have never seen, the day of the battle of Karbala.

"myth is not a story told for its own sake. It shows us how we should behave." For the Shias, the martyrdom of Husayn provides the central ethical narrative to their lives; it is not just a historical story, it leaves them with moral understanding of what sort of personal virtues they should aspire to in life.

In mythology "we entertain a hypothesis, bring it to life by means of ritual, act upon it, contemplate its effect upon our lives, and discover that we have achieved new insight into the disturbing puzzle of our world.

A myth, therefore, is true because it is effective, not because it gives us factual information. If, however, it does not give us new insight into the deeper meaning of life, it has failed. If it works, that is, if it forces us to change our minds and hearts, gives us new hope, and compels us to live more fully, it is a valid myth. Mythology will only transform us if we follow its directives. A myth is essentially a guide; it tells us what we must do in order to live more richly. If we do not apply it to our own situation and make the myth a reality in our own lives, it will remain as incomprehensible and remote as the rules of a board game, which often seem confusing and boring until we start to play."

This is how I make sense of the Day of Ashura.

Quotations are from A Short History of Myth by Karen Armstrong.

Infant Morality

2011-12-04T20:29:00.001+05:00

The research of Kiley Hamlin from the University of British Columbia demonstrates how infants possess almost adult-like moral understanding, developed somewhere between fifth and eighth months of life.

This is yet another bit of evidence in favor of universal moral grammar.

(See my previous post: Universal Moral Grammar and Implications)

Taking Names

2011-12-04T19:11:00.001+05:00

Midway during a conversation:

Me: So you take names when you orgasm? :)

Aati: Usually. It just happens. You make it sound so interrogational waise. 'take names' -- 'name names', like I'd make a bad spy; someone could sex names out of me. :P

Me: Hahaha!

Envy

2011-12-02T20:58:00.001+05:00

Envy is unsettling because it projects from one's own insecurities and fears. The subject of our envy is merely a canvas on which we paint with our splashed emotions of anger, resentment, inferiority and disgust. This is precisely why envy is so hard to over-come, because what we are trying to over-come are our own demons. It is the Hydra of all inner monsters, no matter how many heads you chop off, many more emerge.

Envy can prove to be one of the strongest chains binding you to your past. It prevents you from moving on, dragging you back again and again to an imaginary arena in which the chanting crowd is constantly cheering to the death-match between you and your opponent, even though in reality, no one is comparing. Even if they are, what matters is whether you are comparing.

Shamed

2011-11-30T23:42:00.001+05:00

Society succeeds in shaming you when it succeeds in convincing you that you have been shamed; it depends on an internalization of honor code.

The Journey: A Recap 2005-2011

2011-11-28T18:29:00.001+05:00

I have been blogging for about 6 years now. I was barely out of my teenage when I started A Myth in Creation and it has been one of the transformative experiences of my life. The blog does not simply depict my evolution of thought, but it also participated in the growth, allowing a means of expression, giving me the boldness to voice my thoughts, helping me engage in self-dialogue and blessing me with the company of like-minded souls in the blogosphere. It is no over-statement that my life would have been radically different had I not been a blogger.

As the 2nd Pakistan Blog Awards are going on these days and judges will be going through the contesting blogs, I suppose it's a good time to showcase some of the representative work that has been posted on this blog over the years. With this blog boasting over 1200 posts, it is not likely that a new visitor will be able to sift through the archives way back to its beginnings. This selection of posts will help you get a flavor of the evolution that I have undergone as a blogger and as a person. Here I may mention that A Myth in Creation was started in 2005 and hosted on TIG, and shifted to blogspot in 2007.

2005

1) Life

2) Determinism and Free Will

2006

1) The Effective Theory of Free Will

2) Music and Love: Similarity

3) Rebirth

4) Disgrace

5) Aimless Traveller

6) Fear, Confusion and Vegetableness

7) Russell and Hell

8) Misjudging people

2007

1) Thinking Habits

2) Unilateral Love

3) A Subtle Murder

4) The Existentialist Couple

5) Laree Chooti and Existentialism

6) Mr. Perfect

7) Annihilation

8) In Love?

9) Friendship and Romance

10) Visions

11) The Meaning of Life

12) Against Romantic Idealism

13) Harry Potter and Skepticism

14) Projecting Phantoms

15) A Return to Mythos

16) Malevolent Theism

17) Ashley... Awais

2008

1) The Inner Self

2) The Risk of Love

3) Crazy Little Thing Called "Love"

4) Subjectivity in History

5) Text and Thought

6) My Absurd Years

7) Poetic Expressions

8) Apolausticism

9) The One Step

10) To Mere Fiction...

11) A Tale of Two Friends

12) Live

13) Newtonian vs Quantum

14) Apoptosis and Suicide

15) On Life

2009

1) Freedom in Society

2) Walking Away

3) One Faltering Step

4) Damsel in Distress

5) Stereotypes

6) Robot

7) The Cocoon

8) The Inadequacy of The God Triad: Where Do I Stand?

9) My Life in Randomization

10) The Options

11) Wittgenstein's Paradox

12) Sex and Marriage

13) Secrets and Friends

14) The Future Uncertainty Principle

15) Psychedelic

16) A "Fresh" Classification of various philosophical positions on "Does the external world exist?"

17) The K-K Modification: On Nudity

2010

1) The Art of Mark Fray

2) The Imperfect Society

3) Resignation: Can resignation be bad-faith?

4) To the people who try to "reconvert" me

5) Love: The Potential for Abuse: Love is not beyond morality.

6) Unfair

7) Truth: She stood there, offering me the Truth...

8) Out of Place

9) The Case for Abortion

10) A Heart Stifled: A heart without intellect is a heart stifled.

11) The Five Curses

12) Culture and Human Rights

13) Eternal Recurrence: An excerpt from When Nietzsche Wept

14) Fundamentalism

15) Social Limits to Personal Freedom

16) Rape and Victim-Blaming Mentality

17) Perceptual Truth: Transcending Skepticism

18) A New Intellectual Journey: Discovering Mysticism...

19) Confessional Poetry, Private Language and Suicide

20) Interpreting Poetry

2011

1) Why Be Moral?

2) The Euthyphro Dilemma

3) The Story of Evolution, Reason and Morality

4) The Price

5) Elopement

6) One

7) Philosophy

8) Illustrated Kisses from Sylvia Plath

9) Living with the Depressed

10) Wittgenstein's Dilemma

11) Iran Before The Chador

12) What I Think About The Burqa

13) Playboy, Burqa and Liberation

14) Hypothesis and Belief

15) Understanding Patriarchy and Honor

16) On The Other Side of the Wall: The Human Search for Meaning and Purpose

17) What Is Liberal Islam?

18) xkcd: How Islamic Sects Proliferate

19) A Pakistan that is yet to be Built

20) Nagel in God's Court

21) Jinnah ka Pakistan

22) Muslims

23) Celebrating World Philosophy Day

24) An Artist's Letter to His Beloved

25) Power Play

Tags to explore in addition:

* My Maxims
* Aati Encounters
* Twitter Stories

A Relationship in Tweets

2011-11-26T21:54:00.001+05:00

Moral Knowledge and Psychopathy

2011-11-24T21:24:00.001+05:00

A few days back during a conversion with my friend Qasim we started discussing Plato's philosophy of virtue, and Qasim expressed how sometimes he felt strongly drawn by the notion that all wrongdoing springs from ignorance, and if one really knew something was wrong, he would not do it. I must admit, the idea is not without appeal to me as well. It's a question I've often asked myself as well; if I wholeheartedly believe an act to be wrong, if I know that one ought not act in such and such manner, can I then knowingly act in such and such manner?

Plato says all sin is caused by ignorance of the good. If you had known better, you would have done differently. As a immediate objection, I brought up the case of a psychopath. Apparently, I thought, a psychopath can knowingly do something wrong. Qasim was quick to point out, however, that it is only apparently so. It is not at all obvious whether a psychopath actually knows that one ought not act so and so.

Imagine a psychopath who is planning to murder his wife, because she is annoying and he'd rather get rid of her and take all her money too. The psychopath is well-aware that what he is about to do is believed by all around him to be a morally heinous act. He knows that it is believed to be an immoral act, but he feels no guilt, feels no pang of conscience, feels no inner tug of war against the temptation. Does a psychopath know that it is wrong to murder one's wife?

There is a certain ambiguity in the word 'know' here. I can separate out two usages.

A) A psychopath knows that one ought not murder one's wife, but he lacks the internal motivation to avoid doing so.

B) A psychopath does not know that one ought not murder one's wife.

There is a subtle difference in the knowing in A and B. The knowing in A is the ordinary and common sense use of the word. A psychopath knows (A) that one ought not murder one's wife because he understands the imperative. The knowing in B is in the Platonic sense.

If we consider sentence A to be equivalent to sentence B, then it means that

knowing (B) = knowing (A) + internal motivation

Let us see if the case of the psychopath (P) is different from that of a "normal" individual (N) when it comes to Platonic moral knowledge.

A psychopath is consciously planning to murder his wife. He does not know that what he is doing is morally wrong.

A normal individual is consciously planning to murder his wife. He does not know that what he is doing is morally wrong.

What then is the difference between the two? Is there no difference at all between the murder committed by a psychopath and murder committed by a normal person? If there is, where does it lie?

It needs to qualified, I'd say. Perhaps the difference is that a normal person actually does believe that what he is doing is morally wrong, but he is able to suppress and ignore it long enough to commit the act. The not-knowing of N resides in a suppression of his internal imperative to do good and avoid evil. This is supported by the fact that a normal person is capable of guilt and regret over his crime. If a normal person did know better, he would not have committed the act. A psychopath, on the other hand, has no such belief; he is not suppressing or ignoring anything. He is not capable of guilt and regret over what he did. The not-knowing of P is in the absence of an internal imperative. For the psychopath, there is nothing to know better.

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For my previous ruminations on applying moral philosophy to psychopathy, see the tag Morality and Psychopathy

Emotive Theology

2011-11-24T19:50:00.001+05:00

Emotive Theology... I love this phrase! It may very well be an alternative title for this blog :) I will keep it in mind for any such potential future use.

Re: Power Play

2011-11-24T18:30:00.001+05:00

My saheli at her delightful blog Zunn has penned her beautiful inspired ruminations in response to my post Power Play. Her tumblr awaits your sojourn.

Power Play

2011-11-23T23:43:00.001+05:00

"We can never establish with certainty what part of our relations with others is the result of our emotions -- love, antipathy, charity or malice -- and what part is predetermined by the constant power play among individuals."

Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

And precisely because we cannot establish that with any certainty, it gives us a cause for both suspicion and hope. We can suspect a relationship to be fuelled by dynamics of personal and social power disequilibrium, and we can find hope, given the uncertainty, that a relationship is based on more than that.

Shades of Grey

2011-11-23T20:51:00.001+05:00

Raza Habib Raja's latest post on Pak Tea House (Political Realities and Shades of Grey) was apparently inspired by a blog post of mine!

I am glad to have been the muse.

Discards

2011-11-22T12:00:00.000+05:00

"I know as a writer how valuable a tool is the wastebasket. Perhaps God throws away many experiments before He finds the right expression. Perhaps we are the discards — or we could be the part He keeps."

Isaac Bashevis Singer

Road to Hell

2011-11-21T23:35:00.001+05:00

"The road to Hell isn't paved at all. Where do you guys get this stuff?"

@TinyJesus on twitter

Settlement and Philosophical Growth

2011-11-21T13:40:00.001+05:00

Philosophical questions are almost never settled. The debate keeps on evolving. More refined arguments and counter-arguments come up.

However, unlike the problems themselves which evolve on, an individual studying a problem ultimately adopts one particular answer to it, which satisfies him, and moves on from the debate considering it settled. He may then continue to engage in the debate, but it will be as a person who is advancing a philosophical position and trying to refuting its opponent position. The debate will proceed to become external from internal. The few cases in which the internal debate continues on is when we begin to live with the philosophical questions that haunt and intrigue us.

For instance, an eager philosopher in his early youth explores the theistic-atheistic debate in philosophy, and soon he'll come to adopt one of the answers: he will feel that the debate is settled for him, and he'll move on, and once he has, he is not likely to revisit the issue, even though the debate would have progressed to greater depths. Same is true for many other problems.

Such a settlement in favour of this or that philosophical position is perhaps a psychological necessity, and is not without advantages in conserving our energies. It would be impossible for us to remain in continuous debate regarding all existing philosophical issues. One can only live with a few questions. However, I feel the ability to genuinely revisit a debate is a requirement for philosophical growth, and it is something we must seek to acquire.

Call it the world

2011-11-21T13:28:00.001+05:00

Something shifted, something so immense you could call it the world.

Call it the world.

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God, opening lines

An Artist's Letter to his Beloved

2011-11-19T11:27:00.001+05:00

My fair lady,

I know, being the woman you are, you envy all that I desire apart from you. And you suspect, being the man I am, I covet these women in my paintings. It is a peculiar poetic madness, the desire to be the only desiree of the one you desire. I cannot blame you, light of my eyes, for wishing to secure all of my affections. It is flattering. Possessiveness of this universal extent, however, is doomed for disappointment. For not even the jealous God could rid men's hearts of their idols, and had to resort to the cheap tactics of heaven and hell. You may be a mortal my love, but you have in your possession the means to my happiness and suffering.

I am tempted to defend myself on the grounds that these unchaste depictions are mere artistic endeavours, noble works of art devoid of anything base, but I know better as an artist. The boundaries of aesthetic appreciation and desire are always blurred. It tastes crude in my mouth to pronounce like a biologist that the sense of beauty is an evolutionary derivative of sexual attraction. It may be so, I do not know. Mother nature is full of surprises and who knows suckling at her breasts has left us with what complexes in the dark corners of our minds. Stendhal declared beauty to be a promise of pleasure. Even if that be so, for me, it is a promise unfulfilled. I wish I could rid the perturbations of your soul, but I can only hope to assuage them with my confession of love, human though it is in its extent.

Be not jealous of these women I draw. They are paper and paint, figments of an over-arching imagination, or perceptions tainted with fantasy. You are flesh and blood, my reality.

Thine ever.

TS56-62

2011-11-19T00:17:00.001+05:00

#TS56 prompts: An expecting mother, A giant float, Apocalypse

As Yahweh's slain body floated on primal waters, Samael announced to all "You bow to me now" & then to Lilith "Hun, let's make a baby"

#TS57 prompts: Serendipity. A Viral Phenomenon. A Stage

* Serendipity is when u find love in the Dengue ward— feverish & puking bt still so beautiful— & a year later u are on the wedding stage

#TS58 prompts: Nostalgia, Labyrinth, Purgatory

* She threw him in the labyrinth of her loveless rejection, hoping nostalgia wd purge him of his infidelity; he never found his way out

#TS59 prompts: A cruise ship, a malign intent, an analysand

* he boarded the ship to murder his adulterous wife trysting with his therapist: the unexpected threesome proved far more therapeutic

#TS60 prompts: apocrypha, metaphrastic, kat

* By divine humor all original apocrypha were lost and only a metaphrastic translation done in jest by a kat-addicted scholar survived

#TS61 prompts (courtesy #PTA): Hoes, Jhalla (crazy), Creamy

* He went all jhalla for the creamy hoe; the fun only lasted half a night: she tied him up & cleaned out his place

#TS62 prompts: a roadtrip, a meddlesome spinster, an article of men's haberdashery.

* she survived spinsterhood spinning yarns to strangers of her licentious road-trips & of buttons she'd torn off men's shirts in haste

The Beginning of Infinity

2011-11-18T17:59:00.001+05:00

"The thought to which Deutsch’s conversation most often returns is that the European Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries, or something like it, may turn out to have been the pivotal event not merely of the history of the West, or of human beings, or of the earth, but (literally, physically) of the universe as a whole.

Here’s the sort of thing he has in mind: The topographical shape and the material constitution of the upper surface of the island of Manhattan, as it exists today, is much less a matter of geology than it is of economics and politics and human psychology. The effects of geological forces were trumped (you might say) by other forces — forces that proved themselves, in the fullness of time, physically stronger. Deutsch thinks the same thing must in the long run be true of the universe as a whole. Stuff like gravitation and dark energy are the sorts of things that determine the shape of the cosmos only in its earliest, and most parochial, and least interesting stages. The rest is going to be a matter of our own intentional doing, or at any rate it’s going to be a matter of the intentional doings of what Deutsch calls “people,” by which he means not only human beings, and not all human beings, but whatever creatures, from whatever planets, in whatever circumstances, may have managed to absorb the lessons of the Scientific Revolution.

There is a famous collection of arguments from the pioneering days of computer science to the effect that any device able to carry out every one of the entries on a certain relatively short list of elementary logical operations could, in some finite number of steps, calculate the value of any mathematical function that is calculable at all. Devices like that are called “universal computers.” And what interests Deutsch about these arguments is that they imply that there is a certain definite point, a certain definite moment, in the course of acquiring the capacity to perform more and more of the operations on that list, when such a machine will abruptly become as good a calculator as anything, in principle, can be.

Deutsch thinks that such “jumps to universality” must occur not only in the capacity to calculate things, but also in the capacity to understand things, and in the closely related capacity to make things happen. And he thinks that it was precisely such a threshold that was crossed with the invention of the scientific method. There were plenty of things we humans could do, of course, prior to the invention of that method: agriculture, or the domestication of animals, or the design of sundials, or the construction of pyramids. But all of a sudden, with the introduction of that particular habit of concocting and evaluating new hypotheses, there was a sense in which we could do anything. The capacities of a community that has mastered that method to survive, and to learn, and to remake the world according to its inclinations, are (in the long run) literally, mathematically, infinite. And Deutsch is convinced that the tendency of the world to give rise to such communities, more than, say, the force of gravitation, or the second law of thermodynamics, or even the phenomenon of death, is what ultimately gives the world its shape, and what constitutes the genuine essence of nature."

Excerpt from David Albert's wonderful review of David Deutsch's book The Beginning of Infinity

Celebrating World Philosophy Day

2011-11-17T21:00:00.001+05:00

"The practice of philosophy is a process benefitting the whole of society. It helps to build bridges between peoples and cultures and heightens demand for quality education for all. Philosophy encourages respect for cultural diversity, exchanging opinions and sharing the benefits of science, which are the conditions for genuine debate. This 17 November, let us rally together to harness the incredibly transformative potential of philosophy."

Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO

Message on World Philosophy Day

So it is World Philosophy Day today; my greetings to all philosophical souls, and not-so-philosophical ones as well. After all, it's not every day that we get to celebrate this amazing subject...

Even though it is time to party, but being philosophers and all that, it's difficult not to be, well, philosophical about it.

Philosophers are intriguing creatures. Even though the emergence of the philosophical animal was a step ahead in evolution, other animals may wonder at their ability to miss out on the obvious...

Philosophy emerges from the deep frustration of a man looking at the animal world.

Eat. Survive. Reproduce.

Is that all?

But the answer eludes us.

Perhaps truth is as inexplicable as... women!

And philosophers are not always adept at winning women's hearts.

And sometimes when they do get lucky...

History is a witness to it:

It's not easy being a philosopher.

At every turn of your life, you hear that nagging voice inside...

and bummer, once you get all philosophical, there is No Exit

so you are stuck with philosophy with all the questions

and God help you if you are a philosophy major...

You can't really go on a strike

You can unravel political philosophy, but you can't run for the elections...

You are always debating and arguing...

Nothing really appeals to you...

People can think you are crazy...

Life is definitely not a picnic...

But life's not all bad.

Sometimes you can do magic.

The simple truth is, we are all mortals.

We are all facing death.

We all need answers.

And even though philosophers can be really hard to understand

They are the only ones with the answers worth listening to.

So on this day, let us remember and celebrate the geniuses who have grappled with the eternal problems of human existence, and who have, whether we realize or not, shaped our understanding of the world.

Years

2011-11-17T03:03:00.001+05:00

"Although he cannot admit it even to himself,
these are the years whose possibility he has always dreaded."

Maurice Kilwein Guevara

A man in love with a woman from a different era

2011-11-17T02:46:00.001+05:00

Midnight in Paris

Taste

2011-11-15T12:25:00.001+05:00

The saint is not tempted, because her soul remembers the taste of sin from a life afar...

How to be Alone

2011-11-15T10:25:00.001+05:00

We may be social creatures but we are not without a need for solitude; it comes easy to some, but for others it has to be learned; we are so much surrounded by people all the time that we have forgotten how to be alone. This is especially so in the internet age: even when you are alone, you are in the constant company of others, on twitter, on facebook...

There is something precious about solitude; to involute and turn your gaze inwards permits a certain growth of the soul that is perhaps not possible in any other way.

If you have never learnt to appreciate it, or have forgotten, here is something beautiful to remind you of it...

Mehtab Ali: Women In the Mirror

2011-11-14T02:36:00.001+05:00

Mehtab Ali is a talented professional artist from Pakistan, and has held many solo and group exhibitions in this country and abroad. Some of his amazing work can be viewed on his publicly accessible Facebook gallery. He also has an upcoming exhibition at Citi Art Gallery in Karachi.

I'll be featuring some of his paintings in this post which revolve around the conjunction of a beautiful woman and a mirror:

All images are the creative property of Mr Mehtab Ali

The Power of Ad hominem

2011-11-12T23:38:00.001+05:00

* 'When we readers perceive in ourselves as well as in Nietzsche the poison of resentment we realize how much ideas can be affected by personal feelings. Thus the importance of one of Nietzsche's most valuable tools, the ad hominem argument. Ad hominem arguments are usually considered fallacies in mainstream philosophy, but Nietzsche uses them well. He attacks people, not just ideas. And in shaming them many of the great figures of philosophy he effectively embarrasses us as well.'

* 'Nietzsche wondered what made people "tick", and he rightly suspected that what they thought and said about themselves and their ideals was almost always misleading, mistaken, or just plain fraudulent. But nowhere is self-deception and hypocrisy more rife than in those aspects of life in which ordinary people as well as philosophers and theologians tend to make grand pronouncements about such lofty subjects as God, human freedom, and morality. Nietzsche's ad hominem arguments did not so much refute the doctrines of religion and morality as undermine them by exposing the sometimes pathetic motives and emotions that motivated them.'

* 'What could be more devastating against the boastful self-righteousness of some philosophers and theologians than an ad hominem argument that undermines their credibility, that reduces their rationality and piety to petty personal envy or indignation? What could be more humiliating than an accusation against a morality that incessantly preaches against selfishness and self-interest that it, too, is in fact not only the product of impotent self-interest, but hypocritical as well? And what could be a more effective argument against theism than ridiculing the ground from which such a belief has arisen?'

Robert C. Solomon, Living with Nietzsche

TS49-55

2011-11-12T01:13:00.001+05:00

Continuing on with the twitter micro-fiction adventures...

#TS49 prompts: cat, ass, trophy

* Kat may have dated him for trophy sex, but anecdotes of her ass became an instant hit in parties as he turned her into his Trophy Ex

#TS50 prompts: jasmine, cottontail, verbosity

* the bunny tattoo on her breast was a cry of Jasmine's inner voice of innocence trapped in the solipsist echochamber of her sinful ways

#TS51 prompts: ghazal, rocket science, hangover

* haunted by her ghazal-eyes, he submitted his astrophysics paper in a hangover; she was a sadist in bed but gentle with his grading: A+

#TS52 prompts: flame, forest, anklets

* Your anklets lap up a fiery dance; your feet demand a forest to burn. Alas, I have but the smouldering remains of a weary heart

* Nothing shall adorn me tonight but the anklets of your love; let their clinking ignite wildfires to the moistness of my undress

#TS53 prompts: Obsessive compulsive, wardrobe malfunction, stoned.

* Her publicist insisted she wear a bikini, bt it was her obsessive-compulsive fear of a nip-slip that landed her on Rolling Stone cover

#TS54 prompts: snorin'; old brown bear; dogfight

* As Han Solo engaged in aerial dogfight with Empire aircrafts, Chewbacca snored away dreamin' of his Wookiee inamorata in the back seat

#TS55 prompts: dialect, a deserted haveli, blood.

* It was in a deserted haveli the 2 linguists understood their dialects of desire and left the floor stained with their virgin encounter

Long Answer

2011-11-12T00:53:00.001+05:00

"Does God exist? The short answer is no. The long answer is noooooooooooooo,"

Jonathan Rosenberg, Mysterious Ways

I must say, that was funny!

Imran Khan and Shades of Grey Reality

2011-11-11T22:20:00.001+05:00

"Well, when mainstream parties misgovern, the people will make a shift to reactionary but financially credible politicians (Individuals). No matter what spin I try to give, the fact is that mainstream parties, namely PPP and PML-N have misgoverned. When crisis of governance becomes very acute, the ideological orientation does not hold the same sway....

When all of this is happening then who can blame those who are liberals to start looking towards Imran Khan? For most of them, their political support for Imran is the extension of their respect for his services to Pakistan. While I severely disagree with Imran on political grounds, I would be dishonest if I deny that he has rendered outstanding services to Pakistan.

During the floods, it was reactionary Imran who was trying to collect money (And he was successful also). Yes, he is a reactionary but people don’t care about these definitions in desperate times.

Yes, you will be correct to argue that ideologically there is a difference between PTI and liberal parties. But in practice, everyone is behaving the same. And when that happens, you will find liberals crying at Minar-e-Pakistan while waving a PTI flag.

I don’t agree with their decision but I don’t blame them for taking it. I don’t agree with reactionaries who take over mainstream politics but I understand why they do it. Now that some of them have joined PTI, I can only hope that Imran starts softening his rhetoric on some critical issues. These are strange times."

Raza H, Why some liberals are supporting Imran Khan

The question of supporting this or that political party is a highly pragmatic decision given that in reality no political party is perfect, and no political party in Pakistan has a particularly liberal track-record, regardless of what they say in theory. Given this background, it is a mistake to think that the mere act of supporting PTI is a delusional betrayal of liberalism. My sentiments are echoed very well by Raza here.

Sane people understand that political realities exist in shades of grey, but when it comes to Imran Khan and PTI, suddenly everyone has the urge to see it as black and white. This applies not just to the liberal critics of Imran Khan, but even more to the hordes of PTI trolls who insist on proclaiming their kaptaan as the one and only messiah, and any criticism against him as an act of blasphemy.

2nd Blog Awards Pakistan

2011-11-11T13:01:00.001+05:00

This blog has entered the competition for Best Diarist in 2nd Blog Awards Pakistan. If you follow this blog and you think it should win, please vote and comment for me to show your support:

Thank you :)

Damage

2011-11-06T22:16:00.005+05:00

"But I didn't understand then. That I could hurt somebody so badly she would never recover. That a person can, just by living, damage another human being beyond repair."

Haruki Murakami, South of the Border, West of the Sun

The Inconsistent Triad

2011-11-06T19:03:00.000+05:00

In this post Julia Galef explains how people are (un)surprisingly capable of believing contradictory things and not being aware of the contradiction. She then suggests that "the Penrose triangle is an apt visual metaphor for what contradictory beliefs must look like in our heads."

One of the examples she uses of a contradictory set of beliefs is:

1. “The reason it’s not okay to have sex with animals is because they can’t consent to it.”

2. “Animals can’t consent to being killed and eaten.”

3. “It’s fine to kill and eat animals.”

I leave my readers to reflect on this inconsistent triad as they munch on their Eid-ul-Azha lunch.

Happy Eid everyone!

Disillusionment

2011-11-06T18:17:00.000+05:00

There is only one step between utopia and dystopia, and that is disillusionment.

TS36-48

2011-11-05T17:00:00.002+05:00

#TS36 prompts: a storm, a jazz band, and fake hair.

* She was a wig-fetishist caught in a storm; he was the bald one with a car. Call it kismet, call it love, call it all that jazz

#TS37 prompts: a palimpsest, witch-hunt, and hysteria

* the madressa student washed out his sketches of horny witch-hunts from the slate & set out to copy the verses with hysterical devotion [co-authored with Aati]

* Witchhunters found her skin tattooed wd layers of hysterically overwritten verses; she ws deemed not a witch, but was burned for heresy

#TS39 prompts: opera buffa, Alps, lozenge

* Alps trip gave her a bad cough; she took a lozenge & choked. She cud hv lived to tell that story wd a laugh, but life's no opera buffa

#TS40 prompts: Manga, footsteps, Scheherazade

* Emperor Shehrenzō the Killer marched in & eyed Shahrzād 'Let me tell you a story' she said. 'Can you draw manga?' 'No.' 'EXECUTIONER!"

* After 1001 nights, he broke up wd her "I hv my own stories to tell now" He stepped back n slammed the door on her surprised manga eyes

#TS42 prompts: surrealist imagery, a religious holiday, a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown

* Everyday she had the same nightmare of being slaughtered by her AllahoAkbar-chanting-hubby. On Eid-al Adha she snapped & butchered him

#TS43 prompts: A fountain pen, a bolt of cloth, a samovar.

* She retreated to the Himalayas where she'd spend the winter penning love stories on a bolt of cloth, with a samovar to keep her warm

#TS44 prompts: November rain, a yellow Cadillac, the boy with the bubblegum gun

* Seasons flew & November came. In a yellow Cadillac v drove in rain. Wd bubblegum guns we playd a game. Bang bang, my baby shot me down

#TS45 prompts: Anaconda, Cleopatra, "I'm back baby!"

* Cleopatra preferred the asp's venomous bite to take her back to Antony; the venomless Anaconda wd hav been too dry, like Caesar's love

#TS46 prompts: a typo, a mermaid and Mummenschanz

* the falling of the mermaid's shell-bra was a typo in the mime play, but helped it earn a cult following among incognizant critics #TS46

#TS47 prompts: hookah; sacrifice; Wonder Woman.

* Batman sacrificed his silence & confessed to Wonder Woman: "I love you". She stared back at him: "What have you been smoking, Bruce?"

* The feudal's Yale-grad wife warmed her hukah & read out Wonder Woman comics to her eager children.Some sacrifices turn out well enough

#TS48 prompts: a homophone, a homophobe, a phonograph

* "God destroyed Homo erectus for their abominable sin of lusting after men" the Creationist polemicist announced in his latest podcast

-----

What The What Is #TS?

"Conceived by novelist Musharraf Ali Farooqi, @microMAF, along with artist, writer and scholar Daisy Rockwell, @shreedaisy, (painting under the nom de guerre Lapata), the Twitter-based exercise challenges its participants each morning with a prompt of three concepts."

Capable

2011-11-05T16:31:00.000+05:00

Aati: Fidelity from those incapable of straying is as meaningful as belief from those incapable of doubting.

Case

2011-10-23T01:21:00.002+05:00

A case against God is only as good as the God it seeks to demolish.

TS33-35

2011-10-23T01:11:00.003+05:00

#TS33 prompts: The Apocalypse, an odd couple, a tea towel.

* At the World's end, God and Devil sit for a cup of *chai* and the tea towel is lifted in the celebration of a game well played

* The post-apocalyptic chaos theorists wd have no clue that it all began in the moment of a surreptitious kiss in a Victorian tea party

#TS34 prompts: An animal celebrity, self flagellation and a flower.

* Tormented again by her sinful urges, the priestess-under-vow scattered petals at the feet of snake goddess and reached for her whip

#TS35 prompts: Soondhi (the earthen smell after the rain), doubt, a girl kicking and a Karachi bus

* The soondhi fragrance of that kicking screaming girl lurched the hijacker's heart, and he knew sans doubt that he had fallen hostage

* Dear Kicking-Girl. I doubt u remember me. But on my way to Karachi again, in this bus, the weather all soondhi, u r all I can remember

* A poem kicks my mind once more: it shall marry my doubts to your soondhi love, and set them off to their honeymoon in Karachi

TS31 and TS32

2011-10-20T17:46:00.000+05:00

#TS31 prompt: a barge, a deck of cards, and an itinerant musician.

* He played all the cards right, even sang like UB40 on the rocky boat, but the unseduced Queen of Hearts left with just a friendly peck

* His life was shuffled like a deck of cards; it was impossible to stick togther so on a ferry he blew apart with one last song: 'Allah-o-Akbar!'

#TS32 prompts: Breathless Dragon, Comb, Little Black Book, Cat's Paw.

* She combed breathlessly through his moleskine - heisted with feline grace - and she fell in love again with the man she thought was dead

"Affair ho ga na!"

2011-10-18T21:14:00.001+05:00

Faiza Hameed: "A 2nd year ICS girl shot inside the overhead bridge in front of KC today. The guy who shot her killed himself too. Consider the reaction of people to the above:

"Affair ho ga na!"

"Us larki ne khud he bulaaya ho ga usko."

"Isi liye parents jaldi shaadyaan kar detey hain aisi larkion ki!'

And I'm reminded of your article published in Us a while back. The one that talked about the dynamics that surrounds a girl's honor and related morality issues here. Forget the fact that a life was cut short so early by something so traumatic. Her education, a career, a prospective future all swished down the drain cause the hands of justice are tied and people can just put a bullet through someone whenever they want. Forget the fact that bystanders in news footage can be seen callously recording videos and taking pictures of the dead bodies. People just need someone to tie the scandal-ringing bell on. And if it's a girl, all the better!"

#TS30

2011-10-18T01:58:00.001+05:00

My tweet-length short stories from twitter, following the #TS30 tag which had the theme of 'an infection, an interminable conflict, a flash.'

* The old doctor mastered the art of picking early signs of STDs in the internet porn he consumed, till he went blind from neurosyphilis

* their love flowed like rice-water diarrhea; their silence froze like cold war; their unnoticed end too flashy for a public display.

* Her fist smashed the camera just as it flashed, the image of her dermatitis-inflicted face vaporized in digital limbo; 'Fuckin paparazzi'

* Ironically, it was the driest of their make up kisses that gave her Mono; their damper osculations, rife with conflict, had been safe.

Nihilism as a 'how to feel' philosophy

2011-10-15T16:25:00.001+05:00

Iris: I have been thinking about existential nihilism for quite some time (especially your post). But questions do not cease and there still does not seem to be any clarity. Tell me, when does one say something is self-defeating? For something to be self-defeating, must it not have a purpose to start with? If so, it is clear that nihilism does not have any purpose, and like you say even annihilation does not work. Nihilism's 'everything is meaningless' motto is a mere statement; one without a purpose/aim. Then how can it be self-defeating? I am only thinking in terms of destruction and chaos that naturally ensues from its practice though that is not the purpose of nihilism. So what is nihilism then? It feels intuitively that it is self-defeating but logically I am unable to conclude so. I think, that is why Komal's comment made so much sense that even annihilation is a self-important act and nihilism does not permit that.

Me: @SamadK on twitter said this to me, but in a different way. He said Nihilism is not a 'how to live' philosophy but rather 'this is how it is' philosophy. But I think it is deceptive. How can something that claims that everything is meaningless does not claim to have any bearing on how we should live? At the very least, it appears to have an impact on how to live, that is why you feel it intuitively. A nihilism that is a mere descriptive statement is barren, useless, because it doesn't stop us from actually have a meaningful life, or living as if we have a meaningful life. Yet if someone who is living as if he has a meaningful life, but nonetheless continue to state that everything is meaningless, I would have to call it self-defeating, if not self-contradictory!

Iris: Yes, Awais. It is deceptive to say that nihilism is just a statement and nothing else. But to use the 'impact' theory, I feel, perhaps is insufficient to call it self-defeating. Every thing has an impact on everything here since existence itself is intertwined; not so much because of nihilism itself. If all nihilists die or live, it would anyway have an impact. And just because nihilism has an impact, we cannot conclude that it hence says something about either living or dying which it claims not to do. It is exactly because it does not say anything about how to live that it stays justified of its meaningless. For a nihilist, if everything is meaningless, why even define how to live or to die? If it did so, that would tantamount to giving a meaning or a purpose. Again, Komal makes sense to me only in this light.

Let's look at it this way. The fact that a nihilist 'brushes his teeth' regularly each morning of his life might be a meaningful act but it is still meaningless to him. This is why nihilism, it seems to me, is not really a 'how to live' philosophy as much as it is 'how to feel' philosophy. It leaves its followers orphans because all it cares for is this 'orphaned' feeling and not so much as what the orphans do or do not.

I have friends who have everything: job, spouse, children and yet they say that life is totally meaningless. They always say that do not know why they are doing what they are doing. This is a very clear example of nihilism. In fact, depression (in some cases) is a manifestation of this existential nihilism. These friends of mine are depressed because of this lack of meaning in spite of all the acts they do. They are not conscious practitioners of nihilism but what they do is just that. But the fact that they 'do things' is not a proof enough that it has a meaning and it tells them how to live.

Me: 'And just because nihilism has an impact, we cannot conclude that it hence says something about either living or dying which it claims not to do.' Hmm. That makes a good point. I think you are right here. I had not appreciated this aspect of it.

Fall

2011-10-11T18:07:00.004+05:00

He makes our fall a means for greater rise.

Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, Book I, Canto III

Rewrite

2011-10-10T19:59:00.000+05:00

Rewrite
Awais Aftab

I will rewrite our memories tonight
Sculpt for us, our apt beginning
Worthy of our perfect end
As if we were always meant to be

Moral Flynn effect

2011-10-09T20:46:00.001+05:00

Steven Pinker's recent book “Better Angels of Our Nature” argues that our modern era is far less violent and cruel than any previous era in human history, and this thesis is backed up by convincing research and data. One of the challenges for Pinker as an anthropologist is to explain what has brought this about. A reasons he gives is that our increased ability of abstract reasoning has led to better moral commitments, what he calls the 'moral Flynn effect'. Peter Singer explains this in his review of Pinker's book:

"Pinker’s claim that reason is an important factor in the trends he has described relies in part on the “Flynn effect” — the remarkable finding by the philosopher James Flynn that ever since I.Q. tests were first administered, the scores achieved by those taking the test have been rising. The average I.Q. is, by definition, 100; but to achieve that result, raw test scores have to be standardized. If the average teenager today could go back in time and take an I.Q. test from 1910, he or she would have an I.Q. of 130, which would be better than 98 percent of those taking the test then. Nor is it easy to attribute this rise to improved education, because the aspects of the tests on which scores have risen most do not require a good vocabulary or even mathematical ability, but instead test powers of abstract reasoning. One theory is that we have gotten better at I.Q. tests because we live in a more symbol-rich environment. Flynn himself thinks that the spread of the scientific mode of reasoning has played a role.

Pinker argues that enhanced powers of reasoning give us the ability to detach ourselves from our immediate experience and from our personal or parochial perspective, and frame our ideas in more abstract, universal terms. This in turn leads to better moral commitments, including avoiding violence. It is just this kind of reasoning ability that has improved during the 20th century. He therefore suggests that the 20th century has seen a “moral Flynn effect, in which an accelerating escalator of reason carried us away from impulses that lead to violence” and that this lies behind the long peace, the new peace, and the rights revolution."

Grain of Truth

2011-10-09T19:17:00.002+05:00

Beware the grain of truth in the cause you oppose.

The Fragility of a Perspective

2011-10-04T00:26:00.000+05:00

I happened to stumble across an old post on a blog, whose author (glynos) no longer seems to be around. I feel it has something valuable to say, so I am sharing it here:

"I used to be a staunch determinist before coming across Nietzsche. I was adamant that it was the only philosophical argument that was uncontestable. I even managed to convert a few people to determinism and almost felt an obligation to explain it to the majority of people I met. It occured to me a while back how fragile a perspective can be. How one can be so certain of something, to the nth degree, and yet with time and 'knowledge,' how that perspective can gradually change.

I've yet to come across a detailed critique from Nietzsche that negates determinism, but that's not important. A lot of people even consider Nietzsche to be a determinist. The one thing that seems clear is that he never considered it a topic that important to discuss, particularly in his major works. He sums it up brilliantly when he says, "We have arranged for ourselves a world in which we can live - by positing bodies, lines, planes, causes and effects, motion and rest, form and content; without these articles of faith nobody could now endure life. But that does not prove them. Life is no argument. The conditions of life might include error."

I don't like getting too much into the "how can you ever prove 'x's existence" type of philosophy. Frankly it bores me and leads to the least worthwhile type of discussions. I do however think it's important to realise the nature of certain beliefs and to understand why they have come about. Cause and effect, like any other notion, is completely dependant on its being understood, contemplated, discussed and accepted. It has no intrinsic value in itself. As we evolve there's every possibility that the idea will be wiped out, or replaced, or changed beyond recognition. Despite all of my reasoning, sense, knowledge and experiences so far (which indicates that cause and effect / determinism IS undeniable), it's important to realise that one's perspective is so fragile that it can potentially be revolutionised by simply words, a collection of audible patterns being processed by the brain, or an assemblance of shapes in the forms of letters being processed by the brain (a classic case of cause and effect in itself).

Does anyone else find themselves tying their self up in knots?"

[my emphasis]

Well, this is how Nietzsche can teach you humility!

Nihilism is Self-defeating

2011-10-02T01:43:00.001+05:00

In my post Does Nihilism Dictate Death?, I had shown that for a nihilist, if nothing in life has value, the only way to affirm and live by such a philosophy is to die.

Komal commented on this: "But then the action of killing oneself should also be self-important, no?"

Which is a brilliant point!

The only way to affirm and live by nihilism is to die.

But a nihilist has no reason to affirm and live by nihilism either! Why practice nihilism, a nihilist may ask, what's the point? Even if it is the sole truth, why care, why bother? Why should nihilism have any value or worth, when nothing else does! This shows that nihilism does not dictate death, but perhaps this makes it the most self-defeating philosophy ever!

Ontological Argument for Truth and Correspondence Theory

2011-10-02T01:16:00.000+05:00

Maverick Philosopher answers my email in which I had asked him if his ontological argument for objective reality also settles the case for correspondence theory of truth:

An Ontological Argument for Truth and the Correspondence Theory

Does Nihilism Dictate Death?

2011-09-30T22:28:00.001+05:00

Albert Camus asked the famous question "Does Absurd dictate Death?" and answered it in negative. His reasoning was that an individual confronted with the meaninglessness and absurdity of the world has a choice: He can either commit suicide, thereby affirming with his actions the lack of worth and value in life, and accepting the triumph of meaninglessness. Or he can choose to rebel against the Absurd, and choose to live a life of personal creative struggle, all the while in the consciousness of ultimate death. I believe Camus has a genuine reason for saying that Absurd does not dictate death, because it's a choice and one can choose to rebel.

A nihilist, however, would even go so far as to say that Camus's rebellion also has no value, has no meaning, has no worth and is ultimately futile. That this too is mere vanity amidst the "Vanity of vanities". If nothing in life has value, the only way to affirm and live by such a philosophy is to die. An out-and-out Nihilist has no reason whereby he can show that Nihilism does not dictate death.

Why Heidegger matters

2011-09-27T12:06:00.000+05:00

The Guardian series of blogposts on Heidegger by Simon Critchley are a rewarding read, and I have discovered a new-found fascination for the philosopher. There is more substance to him beneath the obscurity that meets the first glance.

Being and Time, part 1: Why Heidegger matters

Being and Time, part 2: On 'mineness'

Being and Time, part 3: Being-in-the-world

Being and Time, part 4: Thrown into this world

Being and Time, part 5: Anxiety

Being and Time part 6: Death

Being and Time, part 7: Conscience

Being and Time, part 8: Temporality

Gratitude to Qasim Aziz for pointing me in this direction.

Inauthenticity

2011-09-27T11:53:00.003+05:00

"What gets said in the call of conscience? Heidegger is crystal clear: like Cordelia in King Lear, nothing is said. The call of conscience is silent. It contains no instructions or advice. In order to understand this, it is important to grasp that, for Heidegger, inauthentic life is characterised by chatter – for example, the ever-ambiguous hubbub of the blogosphere. Conscience calls Dasein back from this chatter silently. It has the character of what Heidegger calls "reticence" (Verschwiegenheit), which is the privileged mode of language in Heidegger. So, the call of conscience is a silent call that silences the chatter of the world and brings me back to myself."

Simon Critchley, Being and Time, part 7: Conscience, at the Guardian

It seems true; I am at my inauthentic best when I am immersed in and driven by the clamor of life, both online and offline.

Normalization

2011-09-27T10:42:00.002+05:00

"Most people would anyway; most people condemn violence against women—rape, sexual assault, neglect etc etc. We are all advocates for this—that is easy enough at least in theory, but to prevent the unnecessary sexualisation of women, to fight against the kind of environment that makes all these evils persist—that would be more difficult.

I was telling my male friends once that we read a social psych study in class which showed women could sometimes tolerate sexual harassment in the workplace. My female friends agreed—sometimes it gets tiring to have to fight against it all the time, sometimes you don’t want to be seen as uncool, sometimes it even gives you leverage. Sometimes you wonder if men’s energy (or boredom) just knows no boundaries. Most of the time, I’m sure they mean no harm, that they just want a quick laugh or a boost to the conversation. But is precisely these things—normalizing it, telling ourselves it’s okay that lets it thrive, that makes us blind to its existence."

How we look at women, and Why by Joy Icayan at 3QD

Rude

2011-09-24T22:51:00.001+05:00

G: Don't you think you are more rude to the-religion-that-must-not-be-named than other religions?

Me: Yes, because the-religion-that-must-not-be-named is more rude to me, than other religions!

The Pressure to Marry

2011-09-24T16:07:00.001+05:00

CASE STUDY

The Pressure to Marry

By Awais Aftab

Q. Your parents have been trying to get you engaged and married for quite some time now.

Yes, you cannot imagine the immense pressure I am under. In my family, it is unusual for a girl studying in college to remain unmarried by the time she graduates, let alone stay unengaged. I have graduated and I am still single, while all the cousins of my age group have been married off. My relatives are always telling my parents that if they wait too long, meri umar nikal jaye gee, and I won’t get any good rishtas. Some relatives are even so audacious as to ask if there is something wrong with me. So, understandably, my parents are quite panicky and are desperately trying to get me engaged to secure my future.

Q. How does it make you feel?

Infuriating, of course! Whether I stay single or not, it is none of their business. Why are they so interested in my marriage? And it makes me depressed. It is exhausting to take in all the rubbish people throw at you. I don’t know how long I can keep up.

Q. What is your age?

23!

Q. That isn’t so much. I know of girls much older who are still single and focused on careers.

Such examples are rare and uncommon. Generally, it’s not an acceptable option for girls of most families in Pakistan.

Q. Why don’t you want to get married for now?

I don’t want to marry some guy. I want to marry someone of my own choice, someone with whom I am mentally and emotionally compatible. Furthermore, I want to marry on my own terms. I want to be an independent working woman. I am not someone with an ‘expiry date’ that I have to rush into marriage with the first rishta available. I know that there are girls who are very comfortable with this whole arrangement of marriage, and they themselves want to get married early. Well, good for them, but I am not comfortable with this arrangement, so why should I be pressurised into this?

Q. Are you in a relationship with someone?

Not presently, but I was. It didn't work out. It lasted two to three years. We discovered that we had too many differences, so we both decided to end it. This is also something my parents are really concerned about. They had never approved of the relationship, and even now they feel that it has soiled my reputation so much that I might not get a good rishta any more.

Q. What is your biggest fear at the moment?

I am afraid that my parents will soon lose their patience. Someday I’ll just be informed that my rishta has been finalised with so and so, and I wouldn't really be able to do anything about it. That really scares me and is a source of great anxiety.

Q. Why do you think your parents insist so much that you get married?

They mean well for me in their hearts. They believe that there is only one particular lifestyle that can ensure happiness for a girl, and that is to get married at the right age to a financially settled boy from an honourable and well-off family. With all the rishta competition and the gossips, my parents feel that they have to ensure my future, and that by delaying my marriage, they are risking the happiness of my whole remaining life. Plus, in our society parents have this notion that it is their responsibility to get the children married in the proper way, and they are trying to fulfil that responsibility. Unfortunately, this is not what would bring me any happiness.

——

Please send your feedback to us.mag@thenews.com.pk. You can contact the author directly at awaisaftab@gmail.com.

Published in Us Magazine 23 September 2011.

Where Blood is Cheaper than Juice

2011-09-18T00:51:00.001+05:00

In the cardiac surgery ward today, I was approached by the brother of a post-operative patient. The patient had to be given blood transfusions the previous day because of excessive blood loss. He asked me: "Doctor sahib, nurses nay kaha hay kay issay Neshlay (Nestle) ka juice playain. Woh tu bara mehnga aata hay, hamaray pass tu itnay paisay nahi hayn kay Neshlay ka juice laa sakain. Laikin hamaray pass banday hayn jo khoon denay ko tayar hayn. Aisa nahi ho sakta kay aap isay aur khoon laga dayn takay iss ki kamzoori door hojaye aur hamain issay juice na pilana paray." [Doctor, nurses have instructed us to give Nestle juice to the patient to drink. That is very expensive, we don't have enough money to buy it. We do, however, have people who are willing to donate blood. Is it not possible that you may give him another blood transfusion so that his strength is restored without us having to get him the juice?]

I was stunned for a moment, then I explained to him that we cannot transfuse the patient again because it is not required, and that it's not necessary he buys Nestle; whatever brand of juice he can afford to buy, he can get that.

Carrots

2011-09-18T00:26:00.001+05:00

During a conversation, on hearing about someone...

Me: Wanting to get married because of the special treatment engaged/married women get from other people... one of the typical ways by which society controls individuals. Dangling carrots in front of them and denying them unless they do what it wants.

Twitter

2011-09-15T16:16:00.001+05:00

Twitter has no past. Whatever you say, no matter how deep or original, soon it'll wash away with the timeline to become so remote as to be inaccessible: It is wind and dust.

A blog, au contraire, has a memory.

Death

2011-09-15T00:35:00.001+05:00

"You will find this question raised in the most principled form in the works of Leo Tolstoi. He came to raise the question in a peculiar way. All his broodings increasingly revolved around the problem of whether or not death is a meaningful phenomenon. And his answer was: for civilized person death has no meaning. It has none because the individual life of civilized man, placed into an infinite 'progress,' according to its own imminent meaning should never come to an end; for there is always a further step ahead of one who stands in the march of progress. And no person who comes to die stands upon the peak which lies in infinity. Abraham, or some peasant of the past, died 'old and satiated with life' because he stood in the organic cycle of life; because his life, in terms of its meaning and on the eve of his days, had given to him what life had to offer; because for him there remained no puzzles he might wish to solve; and therefore he could have had 'enough' of life. Whereas civilized man, placed in the midst of the continuous enrichment of culture by ideas, knowledge, and problems, may become 'tired of life' but not 'satiated with life.' He catches only the most minute part of what the life of the spirit brings forth ever anew, and what he seizes is always something provisional and not definitive, and therefore death for him is a meaningless occurrence. And because death is meaningless, civilized life as such is meaningless; by its very 'progressiveness' it gives death the imprint of meaninglessness. Throughout his late novels one meets with this thought as the keynote of the Tolstoyan art."

Max Weber, Science as a Vocation

Disenchantment of the World

2011-09-14T19:00:00.000+05:00

"The fate of our times is characterized by rationalization and intellectualization and, above all, by the 'disenchantment of the world.' Precisely the ultimate and most sublime values have retreated from public life either into the transcendental realm of mystic life or into the brotherliness of direct and personal human relations. It is not accidental that our greatest art is intimate and not monumental, nor is it accidental that today only within the smallest and intimate circles, in personal human situations, in pianissimo, that something is pulsating that corresponds to the prophetic pneuma, which in former times swept through the great communities like a firebrand, welding them together. If we attempt to force and to 'invent' a monumental style in art, such miserable monstrosities are produced as the many monuments of the last twenty years. If one tries intellectually to construe new religions without a new and genuine prophecy, then, in an inner sense, something similar will result, but with still worse effects. And academic prophecy, finally, will create only fanatical sects but never a genuine community."

Max Weber, Science as a Vocation

Book

2011-09-14T16:43:00.000+05:00

"The fundamental problem is not that you believe in God. It's that you believe He has written a book."

Jesus and Mo

Religious Art

2011-09-06T19:21:00.000+05:00

From the article Religious art is about being human at Guardian by Sophia Deboick:

'Even the most iconic of religious artworks can have profound meanings for the nonbeliever. Grünewald's depiction of the crucifixion on the Isenheim Altarpiece is one of the most wrenching in the history of western religious art, showing an apparently rotting Christ, his flesh pierced with thorns, his feet and hands horribly contorted. Here is an image that, for the Christian, emphasises the extreme sacrifice of the crucifixion, but here is also human suffering, disease and grief (powerfully depicted in Mary Magdalen's anguished hand-wringing and the Virgin's swoon). That it was painted for the hospital chapel of St Anthony's monastery in Isenheim, where those suffering from ergotism-induced gangrene were treated, underscores that it had more to say about body than soul to its intended observers.

Religious art, arguably like religion itself, ultimately deals with the trials of being human, and this is something those of all faiths and none can share in. The pope is right when he says that "art can express and render visible humanity's need to go beyond what one sees, revealing a thirst and quest for the infinite", but that "infinite" is the unfathomable in ourselves, whether we call that "God" or not.'

Questions for Humeira Iqtidar

2011-08-29T22:55:00.004+05:00

This post is in response to this article by Humeira Iqtidar on Guardian. Quotes are excerpts.

Is it possible that groups such as the Islamists who oppose secularism may be, inadvertently perhaps, facilitating secularisation?

Let us assume that Islamists may inadvertently be facilitating secularisation to a degree. So? What does it suggest? That those who desire secularisation of society should now be encouraging Islamisation? That secularists should make peace with Islamists, and let them carry on with their work of radicalization, content with the comfortable knowledge that this radicalization is ultimately going to secularize the society anyway?

The general understanding about the relationship between secularism and secularisation is based on a reified reading of European history.... There are many problems with this narrative, including questions of historical accuracy, as well as immense variations and reversals in the European experience. However, it is important here to note that in this version secularism and secularisation seem to have developed together.

Let's grant that historically secularism and secularisation didn't happen together, but does it also mean that they cannot happen together? Furthermore, does it mean that individuals who wish to promote both secularism and secularization are somehow misguided? That the project to wed secularism and secularisation is intrinsically doomed?

But secularism as a separation of church (religion) and state does not make ready sense in societies where there was no hierarchical, structured church that had inherited an empire's state apparatus as the Roman Catholic church had in Europe. In the various versions of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism etc there has been no one clerical figure vested with the kind of power and authority that the pope excersised over domains now assumed within the modern state.

Perhaps you are taking 'church' too literally. "Muslim world has no Catholic Church, so how can there be separation of State and Church?" Separation of state and church implies separation of religious laws and state laws. Separation of state and church in the Muslim world means that Sharia will not be the law of the land. What's so difficult about that to grasp?

So we cannot assume that the lack of secularisation within these societies is due to some "lateness" on their part. They did not secularise in the way that Europe did because they did not need to.

Or maybe it was because the rational philosophical discourse wasn't strong enough in these societies to lead to Enlightenment and secularisation?

The Islamists are vehement in their public insistence on dislodging the idea of secularism as universal, claiming it to be a parochial, European experience – with some justification. Yet, the process of raising these and other questions about the definitions of public and private in the political arena, the fierce competition amongst Islamists to provide a definitive answer and the very structure of Islamist thought that emphasises an individual relationship with religious texts has led to a deep, conscious and critical questioning of the role of religion – a secularisation – in predominantly Muslim polities.

Perhaps it is simply an insistance of polarization? We had a largerly amorphous 'moderate' population of Muslims which was confronted with the Islamist literalist interpretation of religion, to which Muslims either responded by accepting it or rejecting it, vanishing the middle ground of remaining undecided. And even if secularisation is a reaction to Islamism, you ignore to see that Islamists are still in vast majority and outnumber the secularists by a thousand-fold, or even more.

The Protestant reformers were not arguing for less religion, they were asking for more – for a continuously religious life against the Catholic cycles of sin and repentance. Yet, as Max Weber's influential work suggests, they ended up rationalising and secularising. To say all this is not to suggest that Pakistani Islamists will have exactly the same impact as the German Protestants. There can be little doubt that they will produce a very different subject and citizen because of the disparity in context.

Not the same impact as the German Protestants... doesn't this imply the possibility that Pakistani Islamists may actually end up radicalizing and Islamising the society, a glaring possibility that you never seem to bring up?

Muslims

2011-08-26T23:31:00.005+05:00

Some Muslims make morality their Islam and some Muslims make Islam their morality.

The former are troubled by the backwardness of the latter and the latter are troubled by the modernity of the former. Both blame each other for ignorance of Islam. The former blame the latter for ignorance of the 'spirit' of religion and the latter blame the former for ignorance of scripture and sunnah.

Burka Feminism

2011-08-25T00:20:00.006+05:00

Aati: Just for laughs, I imagine a burka clad feminist is a bit like a person sitting in a cage, telling on lookers 'How can you say I'm not the who's free?' I get the feeling it's like in their mind, they are in a cage but everyone else is in a bigger cage around their smaller one. That somehow makes them 'free' because 'at least we are not in that bigger cage!'.

Me: How much of this do you think applies to hijab?

Aati: The hijab is marginally less repressive, but more insidiously stubborn form of the same thing. Say, it's a cage on wheels :P 'I can go anywhere, I do anything, how can you say I'm not free?!' Pata hai Awais, I don't think burka-clad and feminist are paradoxical terms. A woman conditioned to live within a burka -- physical, social, and often mental -- still has the potential to realize the need for equality, and the capacity to struggle for it. Mujhe masla uss se hai jiska feminism hota hee usskay burkay main hai.

Utilitarianism and Psychopathy

2011-08-23T16:08:00.007+05:00

"The mismeasure of morals: Antisocial personality traits predict utilitarian responses to moral dilemmas" by Bartels and Pizarro is a thought-provoking study which reveals how psychological aspects of a person may underlie the sort of moral philosophical framework he prefers. The study specifically deals with antisocial personality traits and utilitarianism.

This is the abstract:

"Researchers have recently argued that utilitarianism is the appropriate framework by which to evaluate moral judgment, and that individuals who endorse non-utilitarian solutions to moral dilemmas (involving active vs. passive harm) are committing an error. We report a study in which participants responded to a battery of personality assessments and a set of dilemmas that pit utilitarian and non-utilitarian options against each other. Participants who indicated greater endorsement of utilitarian solutions had higher scores on measures of Psychopathy, machiavellianism, and life meaninglessness. These results question the widely-used methods by which lay moral judgments are evaluated, as these approaches lead to the counterintuitive conclusion that those individuals who are least prone to moral errors also possess a set of psychological characteristics that many would consider prototypically immoral."

What I see in this research is that the utilitarian methodologies (not necessarily their conclusions) are at odds with our innate moral sense (Universal Moral Grammar). The utilitarian idea that ends justify the means does not suit well with the conscience of most people, and this is what psychopathy is: the absence of a conscience. Indeed, most significant moral dilemmas we face in our lives are about the means to obtain a particular goal. Our moral sense is as much concerned with the actions themselves as it is concerned with their consequences. While utilitarianism provides us valuable answers regarding what to do in this or that particular situation, does utilitarianism offer us any valuable answer on what it means to be a good person, a better person, a moral person? I believe not. What makes us a better human being is not an exclusive concern with the consequences, but the development of virtues, the character traits such as compassion, empathy and justice. Consequences matter when it comes to specific moral acts; Virtues matter when it comes to being moral and living a moral life.

[Hat-tip: Utilitarian Psychopaths]

Jinnah ka Pakistan

2011-08-17T19:39:00.007+05:00

Who knew the Euthyphro argument could have such far reaching applications!

Nagel in God's Court

2011-08-16T12:12:00.002+05:00

And in case you haven't read his paper, you should: Moral Luck, Thomas Nagel.