Tag: justice
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Judgement’s Penalty
Value judgements impede understanding In medieval times and in primitive societies an explanation for events was a matter of morality; of good and evil, right or wrong. A death, say by tuberculosis, was explained as the action of evil forces. Witches maybe. Or perhaps the death was explained as good; justice – retribution for a…
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Bubbles
Irrational Exuberance In a lovely talk to the Concept Exchange Society, economist Daniel Friedman told us about financial markets. He said that a financial market is a “marketplace where promises are bought and sold by strangers”. I like that image. A bond is such a promise; a promise to pay interest at fixed intervals and…
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Right Wrongs
Drowning in the ocean of injustice. Context: An atomic bomb was dropped by the U.S. on Hiroshima, Japan in August of 1945. This event was the critical one which ended the Second World War. Some claim that it was an act of savagery needlessly killing many because the war could have been ended without that…
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Perspectives
Sadye Stories My mother’s name was Sadie. By some coup of whim I had thought she spelled it ‘Sadye’ when I suggested that name for our new born daughter to her mother. My precious wife, Elfi, acceded so our daughter became Sadye. Quarantine. Sadye was a 5 year old in kindergarten in 1997. The children…
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The Tick
The Tick August 1997 Perhaps it was a tick lodged in her skin; that tiny black spot on the left side of her neck. Perhaps it was only the crust on a healing skin wound. It’s hard to spot that devilish insect unless you inspect carefully. You get ticks playing in the woods and that’s…
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Need
Charming downtown Santa Cruz consists of just one street five blocks in length. Shops, restaurants and outdoor cafés border this attractive tree lined avenue. Street musicians abound as do beggars and near-beggars, those offering something in exchange for a contribution to their open coffer. One of them stood in a building alcove bordering the sidewalk.…
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Sunshine
The Worrisome Business Of Logical Consistency Sunshine Every Day The year was perhaps 1938. I was 7 years old then, living in a New York City apartment with my mother, my father and my baby sister. The location was a plebian building with the august address of 35 Hamilton Place in Washington Heights. The upper…
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Free-Will-Free
“We must believe in free-will. We have no choice.” ― Isaac Bashevis Singer The words, “free will,” as commonly understood, are without meaning. (Explanation here.) They are words that describe an illusion about reality. Like the word, sunset, describes the illusion that the sun is moving whereas, in fact, the sun is not moving. Rather…
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Autism
Window on Normalcy Mockingly calling ourselves the Concept Exchange Society we meet once a month to hear from someone who has spent time researching and thinking about a subject. We gather in a volunteer host’s home to hear the fruits of considered thought. This month’s speaker has given thought to autism, an isolating mental affliction…
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Indignation
Righteous Indignation As Temper Tantrum Righteous Indignation is a Temper Tantrum What he practiced was Fine Art. It issued from his being. His brush was sure, his color strong. He had the gift of seeing. So when the lady said to him, “May I commission you?” He swelled a bit, elation hid, said, “What would…
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Free Will
Sequel to previous post: God Determines Almost 400 years ago, the venerable philosopher, Baruch de Spinoza (1634-1677), in his ‘Improvement of Understanding,’ wrote of free will: these are words to which no idea is attached. That the phrase, free will, has no meaning has been demonstrated by philosophers for several hundred years: Locke, Hume, Hegel,…
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Understanding hindered.
The image shows one of the stepping stones leading to my house. In mixing the cement I asked myself, “What words deserve being set in stone?” My choices are set in stepping stones. They are observations about the mechanics of being; notes on how the world is. No complaints, no visions of how the world…