pêcheur de soleil
Reading about Spinoza in Sophie’s World, after an excellent chapter on Descartes. The latter’s philosophical positions were amazingly astute given his total dependence on reason to reach his conclusions. Such was not the case, however, with Spinoza, in whose thought one definitely sees the beginnings of modern relativism. To borrow language from the Truth Project, his conclusions are what came naturally (pun intended) when one rejects anything that could be “outside the box” (of nature–the rejection of a transcendent God). I had a sense that with Descartes, for all his rigid rationalism, we were still grounded in absolutes, and ones that were reconcilable with Biblical positions as well (though without certain specifics of God’s character), but with Spinoza… The tether is loose and we are adrift in relativism, with no basis with which to judge anything, not reality, not ethics, not the nature of existence… And the amazing thing is that Descartes was more rational, more honest with himself than Spinoza by stripping away ALL assumptions and still arriving at a correct perception of reality. Spinoza’s philosophy may have been more appealing for its humanistic character, but it was still built on assumptions (however few) that were patently incorrect. The house looks attractive but the foundations, at least the lowest layers, are rotten.
I have been listening to Radio France International here at work and greatly enjoying it. It reminds me of evenings in the house on Route des Pierascas, salivating over the soon-to-be consumed baguette while setting the table for dinner. My mom would invariably have the radio tuned to the French news station, her version of listening to NPR, present as much for the news as for the chance to attune our ears to the native language. Here at work, when I first found the station yesterday, it took me several hours to get ‘back up to speed,” during which I had a good grasp of probably only 75-80% of the information communicated, but after this morning, I am much closer to where I was when we lived there. It returns quickly.
you might also enjoy radiofrance.fr
Over the past week I have made close to three different grocery lists, all of which including varied spelling of one word: baguette. *sigh* Interesting to me how I can live with a French speaking man and yet not be remotely close to spelling this correctly. Lesson learned.
All you have to do is ask… :) I love you.