Philosophy: February 2004 Archive Page

[O]bjective achievements in the arts are demonstrable?and if they can be historically established for the arts, then they are even more clearly identifiable for the sciences. These two spheres of human endeavor represent two kinds of potential objectivity: there is as little chance of the human race giving up Homer or the Beethoven symphonies as there is that it will give up the notion that the earth is a sphere. Over time, achievement in the arts and the sciences is seen as not merely an invention of scholarship, a product of fickle fashion, or a general social construction....The fundamental principle of human achievement is expressed by Aristotle in the Nichomachean Ethics and accepted by philosophers since, and more recently even by psychologists: that human beings derive pleasure from the just exercise of their skills and capacities. From crossword puzzles and rock climbing to painting, composing music, playing a musical instrument, or solving equations, Murray says, ?The pursuit of excellence is as natural as the pursuit of happiness.? For the creative geniuses who are the subject of his book, I prefer to say that achieved excellence simply is happiness. --Dennis Dutton reviews Charles Murray's Human Accomplishment --Of Human Accomplishment (New Criterion)

Hmm... achievement for achievement's sake is dangerously close to "art for art's sake". I suppose Murray at some point had to define what he means by "excellence". To excel in cruelty or to escape punishment for a crime is a kind of excellence; I suppose some people might excel at doing nothing. But that's probably straying too far from the book's subject area (which is, after all, about accomplishment, not destruction or avoidance).

Okay... a quick glance at the article reveals that Murray specifies "Transcendental goods" as one of the four qualities for human accomplishment, so that neatly handles my objection. As Dutton puts it, "These values are the true, the good, and the beautiful—the first central to science, the last to art, and the second to both science and art."

Assumption, though, is too mild a word when it comes to the belief in mental health. The taken-for-granted-ness of this idea ranks with God, romantic love, the nuclear family, the goodness of free markets and the wickedness of Communism. For most people, suggesting that mental health might not exist would be like telling the kind of people who read blogs that they could have a meaningful life without the World Wide Web. The reality of mental health gives those of us without it a motivation to keep embracing pain because it builds character, it is part of the healing process, it will make us better people. --John Spurlock --The Myth of Mental Health (The Blue Monkey Review)

The "you have a right to be healthy" meme certainly works against the Church's "human suffering is part of a divine plan" meme, the latter being an important part of a religious outlook that invites the contemplation of Christ's suffering.

Modern society doesn't have many universally accepted rituals for the preservation of order in our lives, but for those who practice the morning jog, the AA session, Friday night poker, or even the communal viewing of a popular TV show (I used to love watching "COPS," which plays out a metanarrative of restoring virtue and honor) -- these rituals serve much the same function.

When the newest cheating scandal surfaces at some prestigious southern university known for its military school style "honor code," the headlines leap across the tabloids like stories on child molestation by alien invaders.

It's almost never suggested that all this might be something other than a disaster for higher education. But that's exactly what I want to argue here. -- Russel Hunt --Four Reasons to be Happy about Internet Plagiarism  (St. Thomas University)

Found via the Plagiarism Resource Site.