Atheism and Historical Awareness

My new 3QD-column (published last week) discusses atheism and historical awareness, departing from John Gray’s Seven Types of Atheism.

It is simultaneously awkward and exciting to read about your own consciously and responsibly adopted beliefs as something to be anatomized. It is also something atheists are not always much disposed to. On the contrary, perhaps: many forms of atheism present themselves as a consequence of free thought, of emancipation from tradition. The internal logic of their arguments prescribes that while religious beliefs, being non-rational, are in need of cultural or psychological explanation, atheism is really just what you will gravitate towards once you finally start thinking. One question here will be whether this is necessarily the case.

More here.

Update: 3QuarksDaily

Since August of this year, I proudly write a 4-weekly column for 3QuarksDaily, mostly about science and religion, and the relation between the sciences and the humanities. (I’m one of a few dozen of columnists rotating to write an original piece every Monday.) Links to the first four posts below:

1) A ‘Gulf Of Misunderstanding’: Steven Pinker And The Two Cultures

2) Letters In The Age Of Science: A 19th-Century Case For Optimism

3) History Of Science And The ‘Conflict Thesis’

4) Bad Arguments On Bad Arguments: The Sokal Squared Hoax As An Unfortunate Cliché

More to follow, probably!

Twee manieren om je rug recht te houden James Comey, A higher loyalty; Jordan Peterson, 12 rules for life

Ik heb dit weekend twee boeken gelezen die in mijn systeem allebei onder de categorie ‘zelfhulp’ vallen: James Comeys A Higher Loyalty en Jordan Petersons 12 Rules for Life.

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Math as an Art Paul Lockhart’s Mathematician’s Lament

Paul Lockhart starts his “Mathematician’s Lament” (later expanded into a book under the same title, but I’ll be discussing the shorter article here) by comparing math class to a misshapen music or art class. Suppose that in music class, enjoying actual music is supposed to be too advanced for children, so they are made to start with memorizing the circle of fifths and pointing the stems of quarter-notes the right way; or suppose that in art class, painting is postponed until after preparatory “Paint-by-Numbers” classes. This, Lockhart suggests, is how math class works; it stifles creativity and natural curiosity and therefore goes against the spirit of mathematics.

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The Problem with the New Trilogy …

… is that it seems to think that nothing in the original trilogy or the prequels really matters. I’ll try to explain what I mean by that, for the issue is not, as it is sometimes presented by optimistic critics, one of a willingness “to kill fans’ darlings”. (“You have to defy wish fulfillment in order to tell a good story”, nods director Rian Johnson, apparently proudly.) That’s a red herring that needs to be utterly demolished, which I will start doing now.

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Blended Learning: Kwadratische verbanden in 3HAVO Afsluitende blogpost voor Onderwijskunde(-IV) aan de lerarenopleiding Windesheim

(Update achteraf: Neem de eerste letter van elke zin.)

Onderwijskunde-4 wordt naast het gezamenlijke dossier afgesloten met een individuele conclusie en blogpost. Hieronder volgt mijn reflectie op onze ‘blended’ leeromgeving in blogpostvorm.

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A Study of Dignity Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day

A butler on leave travels through the English landscape – an outwardly tranquil environment, whose greatness lies in its “very lack of obvious drama or spectacle” (29); an explicit image of the dignified professional that our butler, Mr Stevens, has endeavored to be during his entire life. A great butler, he theorizes, embodies dignity, a virtue resting on the imperturbability of his person and on the moral status of the household that he serves.

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“His heart loved goodness most.” George Saunders, Lincoln in the Bardo

President Lincoln’s son Willie has died, and has now joined the ghosts at the cemetery. Most of the ghosts have stayed behind because they were not ready to move on – with the exception of the reverend Everly Thomas, who thought he was ready but who has fled from judgment at the last instant. Most of the ghosts have not accepted the fact that they have died, believing vaguely but strongly that whatever was on their mind when they were taken from the world can still be achieved. They will still be able to sleep with their wife after healing from their injury and getting out of the ‘sick-box’; or they can yet reverse their ill-advised suicide attempt.

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Vrijheid volgens Hannah Arendt

Bijdrage aan de Idee van september; pdf hier.

De rubriek ‘sociaal-liberale denkers’ roept natuurlijk elke keer weer de vraag op wat denken ‘sociaal-liberaal’ maakt. In gedachten vat ik dat meestal ongeveer zo samen, dat een liberaal belang hecht aan vrijheid, en een sociaal-liberale denker zich er bovendien rekenschap van geeft dat die vrijheid iets is dat tot stand komt ín een samenleving; vrijheid in verbondenheid, op de een of andere manier uitgewerkt.

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