Any meditation on the past that starts with the presumption that some things are universal in humans or human society -- never changing, ignorant, immobile, -- is to retreat from attempting a historical explanation about previous rhythms of existence.... Arguing for immutable values from biology is no different from arguing for immutable values from theology -- selfish genes, selfish doctrines, they both deny history. Assuming that why we do what we do, what we think what we think, is somehow or other beyond our control, and that we would be this way in mind and body whether we lived in Cleveland in 1952 or Toulouse 1218, forfeits the vitality and distinctiveness of the past to the dead hand of biological determinism, cognitive hotwiring, psychological innateness, liberal pleas for bygone victims, conservative pleas for God-given principles, and amaranthine mush about authenticity.I have nothing much to say about this except: I know (and have loved) the word amaranthine from the Gormenghast books I read 40 years ago, ("By all that's amaranthine" said the doctor) and I've yet to find an opportunity to use it myself. Pegg obviously tries harder.
Ana
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...if you are very, very rich. (Most mss. of this age and quality are in national or university libraries and are not for sale at any price...
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I haven't seen a lot of Fellini movies, and I certainly missed this one when it first came out. It may be just as well -- I don't kn...
History World
A Most Holy War
Albigensian Crusade
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Crusades
Mark Gregory Pegg
Middle Ages
Heart and soul
Jumat, 02 Oktober 2009
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