Final Post
I got an A in the class. This was probably one of the best classes that I've ever had.
posted by Joseph at 9:32 AM
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Final
1. YOUR NAME.
Joseph Kemmerly; Fri 11:00AM
2. YOUR USERNAME.
joekemmerly
3. List your attendance (how many classes missed? how many classes
were you late to?).
I was always on time and I never missed class. I sat in the middle of class and close to the front.
4. List the titles to each of the two movies, along with a synopsis
of their themes. I also want you to list the "format" that you used
for your two films.
My first digital film is entitled Outer Space by Joseph Kemmerly. This film had a number of images of space, stars, galaxies, etc. I presented my film on October 7. I created my film using Pinnacle. I saved it onto a CD-RW as a MPEG. I also have my video streaming off the CSULB server. You can see it here:
http://www.csulb.edu/~jkemmerl/Movie1.wmv
My second digital film is entitled Social Evolution by Joseph Kemmerly. This film was about social evolution. Specifically, it presents theories about social evolution as to whether society evolves in a predetermined way or in a spontaneous way. I presented this film on December 2. I used Pinnacle again. Again, I saved it on a CD-RW as a MPEG. You gave me a B to B+. The video is streaming off the CSULB server. You can see it here:
http://www.csulb.edu/~jkemmerl/socialevolution3.wmv
5. Did you read all 5 books? (fully? skip-read? looked at the cover?
we had to read books?)
Yes, I read all five books. The first three took me approximately two weeks per book. The latter two were easier to read and took me about one week per book.
6. Give me a link to your field trip so I can access it for
reference.
http://metaphysicaldiversity.blogspot.com/2005/12/field-trips.html
Pass +
7. Also give me a link to your autobiography so I can cross-
reference items if I need to.
http://metaphysicaldiversity.blogspot.com/2005/11/autobiography.html
8. What grade did you finally receive on the midterm?
Here are your words from the email you sent me:
VERY GOOD WORK.
Solid B/B+ which puts you squarely in the "A" bracket.
nice.
8. What grade do you deserve in this class? Substantiate your answer.
I believe I deserve an A in the class. I had perfect attendance and was never late. I turned in all of the assignments on time and my assignments have consistently been high in quality. Also, I read all of the books that were assigned. I also posted on the message board regularly.
9. List any extra credit or other circumstances that may help your
overall grade.
I had perfect attendance and did very well on all of my assignments.
---------------------
Here's the "meat" (or, in my case, "tofu") of the test:
10. Explain Malcolm X's vision of Islam and why he was inspired to
convert to it.
Malcolm X believes in a form of Islam that would be considered foreign to most traditional Muslims. While he was in prison, Malcolm X joined a radical, militant group known as the Nation of Islam (NOI). The NOI believes that, before African-Americans arrived to the USA as slaves, Africans were Muslim and, therefore, should convert back to Islam as a way of retrieving their lost heritage.
Malcolm X was probably inspired to convert to his brand of Islam because of a combination of his own socio-economic conditions as well as the changing intellectual climate that would be a precursor to the 1950’s to 60’s civil rights movement. Malcolm X was appalled by what he saw around him and he thought that African-Americans have not progressed much since slave times and that they had to “liberate” themselves from the white man.
11. What are the three most significant factors motivating Malcolm X's
understanding of race relations (between blacks and whites).
Substantiate your answers.
I believe one of the first things that motivated, as I mentioned in the previous question, Malcolm X was his own economic conditions while growing up. While he was living in Harlem he experienced the dark side of life. He was involved in drug-dealing, pimping, and robbery as well as other things that would likely have a significant effect on one’s own world view, most likely making him pessimistic and cynical.
Malcolm X’s own experience growing up didn’t exist in a bubble, though. He saw his fellow African-Americans experiencing political discrimination and economic hardship as well. Seeing this phenomenon gave Malcolm X a sort of racial collectivist view where he thought that African-Americans should rise up and liberate themselves. This is where he developed an overtly antagonistic view toward those outside of his race, particularly towards Whites and Jews.
Another motivating factor is Malcolm X’s own distorted view of history. He subscribes to something similar to noble savage theory, that everything was going fine for Africans until the evil white man showed up and ruined everything. This line of thinking is found throughout his writing. He blames whites for all of the problems in the world including colonialism and imperialism; making him a sort of Noam Chomksy of his time.
12. Are there different versions of Islam? Detail your answers.
The two major schools of Islam are Sunni and Shia. The split began shortly after the death of Muhammad. The problem was that he didn’t appoint a successor so there was a lot of confusion regarding who lead be the leader of Islam. This debate led to a civil war within the Muslim world called the Fitna.
Sunnis follow a tradition that began with Abu Bakr, who was Muhammad’s father-in-law. Bakr, according to Sunnis, was the first Caliph or successor. They believe that Bakr along with Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan, and Ali ibn Abi Talib were the Four Righteously Guided Caliphs or those that Sunnis believe followed in the traditions of Muhammad. Modernly, Sunnis are the largest group within Islam.
Shia, on the other hand, disregard the first three Caliphs, but favor Ali ibn Abi Talib and believe that he was chosen by Muhammad. Within Shia Islam, the largest school of thought is known as the Twelvers. Twelvers are those who believe that the succession of Imams, similar to the Sunni Caliph, should go as follows:
1. Ali ibn Abu Talib (600 - 661)
2. Hasan ibn Ali (625 - 669)
3. Husayn ibn Ali (626 - 680)
4. Ali ibn Husayn (658 - 713)
5. Muhammad al-Baqir (676 - 743)
6. Jafar as-Sadiq (703 - 765)
7. Musa al-Kazim (745 - 799)
8. Ali ar-Rida (765 - 818)
9. Muhammad at-Taqi (810 - 835)
10. Ali al-Hadi (827 - 868)
11. Hasan al-Askari (846 - 874)
12. Muhammad al-Mahdi (868 - ?)
Modernly, the Shia school is significantly smaller than the Sunni school. Shia can be found mostly in Iran though they also have a significant presence in Iraq.
There are also a number of tiny schools of Islam. Many of them are quite militant such as Wahhabism and Salafism. Islam has also inspired or influenced a number of related faiths such as Yazidis and the Druze.
13. Why does Ken Wilber argue for a holistic or QUADRANT
understanding of religion and spiritual life?
Wilber finds the idea of a quadrant understanding of spirituality appealing because Wilber’s view of integral theory rejects the Cartesian mind/body distinction. So rather than seeing things in terms of mind vs. body, Wilber believes there are four quadrants to our existence and, rather than them being at odds with one another, they are seen as parts of an inter-connected whole. This allows Wilber to take a holistic approach to spirituality rather than a reductionistic one.
The Left quadrants represent the interior perspective. The Right quadrants represent the exterior perspective. The Upper quadrants represent the individual perspective. The Lower quadrants represent the collective perspective. Each of these is then divided into four quadrants.
Wilber believes the four quadrants are as follows. The Upper-Left quadrant has an interior-individual perspective that would fit into Freud’s concept of psychoanalysis. The Upper-Right quadrant has an exterior-individual perspective that would fit into B.F. Skinner’s behaviorism. The Lower-Left quadrant has an interior-collective perspective that would fit into hermeneutics. The Lower-Right quadrant has an exterior-collective perspective that would fit into Marx’s theory of deterministic social forces.
14. How would Edward O. Wilson critique Ken Wilber's transpersonal
psychology?
The problem with transpersonal psychology, from Edward Wilson’s perspective, is that it is not scientifically rigorous for his taste. Wilson would prefer techniques that used the scientific method. On the other hand, Wilber is more interested in non-scientific considerations such as spirituality.
Wilson’s own “consilience” technique for finding the truth would start off by using formal logic and mathematics. If math and logic isn’t sufficient then Wilson would move onto the hard sciences. Once Wilson got to the point where social sciences are necessary, such as psychology, he would most likely be more concerned with naturalistic phenomenon; rather then the supernatural phenomena that is found in transpersonal psychology. After all of those steps are taken then we should discuss spirituality.
Wilson believes in taking complex claims and reducing them down to simpler explanations. For example, if someone had an out of body experience Wilson would try to figure out a more rational explanation for the phenomenon as opposed to the mystical explanation that many others tend to give. Wilson would probably look for such things like a neurological issue that may be involved that would induce someone to think that the way they do regarding their out of body experience.
15. How would a Wilberian purview critique the actions of Osama Bin
Laden? Be sure to substantiate your answer.
I think Wilber would see Bin Laden as committing the Pre/Trans Fallacy. To be more specific, Wilber would say Bin Laden makes a mistake called the elevationist fallacy, where pre-rational material is mistaken for being spiritual. The problem with Bin Laden, or any fundamentalist, is that they take a pre-rational concept, like tribalism, and accept it as if it were absolutely divine.
Wilber would not approve of Bin Laden and would instead support religious pluralism. Wilber would not reject that there are genuine mystical experiences, but one has to move through personal levels of development to achieve the transpersonal. Fundamentalists don’t move through those stages. Instead, they force their own, narrower concept of the divine on others.
According to Wilber, a fundamentalist exists at the lower end of the “holarchy”, meaning they rank on a lower level on the spiritual continuum. This means that fundamentalists are indeed part of the whole, but are simply a lesser part than the more meaningful parts of the spiritual whole. Wilber, when describing the KKK and the Nazis, refers to those on this lower end of the spiritual continuum as having “a twisted case of arrested development”. (Wilber, One Taste, p.229)
16. How does the genealogical history of morality contribute to
religious diversity?
I believe that the root cause of religious diversity can be found in hermeneutics. What happens is that once a religion is founded the followers are trying to interpret morality from their holy book. The problem is that not everyone comes to the same conclusions. The disagreements lead to schisms within the religion and can even lead to the creation of new religions.
The best example I can think of would be Martin Luther and Protestantism. Martin Luther disagreed with the Catholic Church on the issue of indulgences, which were payments for the redemption of sins. This process was believed by Luther to be a corrupt practice. In response, Luther expressed his grievances through his pamphlets eventually leading to the Protestant Reformation.
So, Luther’s interpretation was different than the Catholic Church’s version of what it believed to be moral. So in response a schism occurred and new sect formed. There are a virtually infinite number of times that this can occur. Today, you can still find these splits occurring within Christianity in new religions such as Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
17. Given America's religious melting pot, what do YOU think is the
best way to approach American religious diversity? Explain your
reasoning.
Honestly, I think the best approach to religious diversity is Peter Berger’s “inductive option.” When I first heard of this I found it appealing instantly. The inductive option is a great idea because it allows people to be tolerant and open-minded, but not uncritical of religion.
The inductive option allows for the best of both worlds. We can be tolerant, but not to the point where we approve of such things as female circumcision. Also, we can be critical of religion, but not to the point where we dismiss all spiritual claims as per se nonsense. What this gives us is religious pluralism, where we are respectful toward those who differ from us yet, at the same time, we are not abandoning the whole project of religion altogether.
I think this approach is good from, both, a deontological and utilitarian perspective. From a deontological perspective, the inductive option gives people a large degree of autonomy over their own views and actions. Also, one can be critical of another without using force to change the beliefs of those that have differing views. From a utilitarian perspective, people benefit from worshipping as they see fit. If their beliefs are mistaken, then those who hold mistaken beliefs will have to fight it out in the market place of ideas. The inductive option is positive sum, as opposed to zero-sum, because no one is forcing their own views on others.
18. Explain why religion will not disappear, even as we become more
scientifically oriented?
Living in a scientific age, it’s very tempting to take an eliminative materialist view and say that religion is just superstitious nonsense and that everything can or will be explained by purely naturalistic phenomenon. Yet, I do not believe that most people hold this view. For instance, I don’t think people will ever let go of their belief in an afterlife even though there is no verifiable evidence that such a place exists. Why? I think there’s a psychological reason for this.
People feel comforted in believing in an afterlife because we have evolved in such a way that we fear death to the point where we are uncomfortable with the notion of nonexistence. Hence, people believe in an afterlife so that they can convince themselves that they will never really die.
Also, belief in the mystical is nearly universal among various cultures. Not all cultures, such as Buddhists, believe in deities, but nearly all cultures believe in something that “transcends” our current existence. Since this belief is so wide spread, it may very well be an integral component to humanity as a whole. Indeed, there is a field called the Evolutionary psychology of religion where psychologists, such as Steven Pinker, believe that religion may be a by-product of the human mind.
19. How would Ken Wilber argue against Wilson's inter-theoretic
reductionism?
Wilber would not like Wilson’s reductionism. Instead Wilber would prefer a holistic approach to an understanding of the world. So, Wilber uses what’s called integral theory, where the worlds of the physical and metaphysical are integrated. Wilber would say that reductionism can’t explain all aspects of existence because it would leave out abstract objects such as metaphysics, consciousness, and religion.
Since abstract objects can not be reducible to natural phenomena that would mean that abstract objects have no place in scientific inquiry. So, Wilber devised a non-reductionistic approach to account for abstract objects. By putting things, such as consciousness, into quadrants one can get a more holistic understanding rather than attempting to find it through purely reductionistic means.
Wilber would likely dismiss extreme reductionism as a form of scientism, where science is the only means of finding truth. Since the merits of scientism can’t be judged by science, science would then be insufficient as way of finding all known values. So, some values must exist outside of mere scientific values.
20. What was the most valuable thing you learned this semester?
I think the concept of the “biological imperative” that was described in class is useful. Evolutionary psychology is interesting, but I could never quite figure out how to incorporate it into predicting the behavior of other people before I came to class. With the concept of the biological imperative it’s extremely useful in predicting human behavior because if no one reproduced than no one would be here.
The biological imperative is an amazingly simple explanation that can achieve so much. Since the very reason why we exist is from reproduction and given that the process of reproduction as occurred over the whole of our collective existence, then this means that our will to reproduce is amazingly powerful. So people will then act to achieve reproductive success.
So, if you understand the concept you know that everyone’s highest goal, in the biological sense, is to achieve reproduction and people will go out of their way to achieve that end. The biological imperative explains, for example, why men cheat. They do so to maximize the amount of women they can reproduce with.
21. According to Stephen Jay Gould, why is it so difficult to know
the evolutionary "function" of religious belief? Hint: think
of "spandrels" (or unintended secondary effects).
It’s difficult to decipher the function of religion because the religious nature of human beings may have arisen as a result of the unintended consequences of our evolution. Human beings have larger and more complex brains than most species. Presumably, these large brains help our survival. We can use these large brains to solve problems encountered in nature such as devising tools that can aid in obtaining food.
As our brains get more complex, mankind’s capacity for abstract thought increases. One of the unintended consequences of this expansion of brain capacity is that we now have the ability to reflect on our existence. Since primitive man does not yet have the tools required to explain such things as the sun rising. Gods had to be devised to explain such seemingly miraculous events.
As I previously mentioned, evolutionary psychologists such as Steven Pinker believe that religion is a by-product of our mind and has no adaptive purpose. If religion arose in the human psyche as a mere accident than there may very well be no decipherable function to religious belief.
Joseph Kemmerly; Fri 11:00AM
2. YOUR USERNAME.
joekemmerly
3. List your attendance (how many classes missed? how many classes
were you late to?).
I was always on time and I never missed class. I sat in the middle of class and close to the front.
4. List the titles to each of the two movies, along with a synopsis
of their themes. I also want you to list the "format" that you used
for your two films.
My first digital film is entitled Outer Space by Joseph Kemmerly. This film had a number of images of space, stars, galaxies, etc. I presented my film on October 7. I created my film using Pinnacle. I saved it onto a CD-RW as a MPEG. I also have my video streaming off the CSULB server. You can see it here:
http://www.csulb.edu/~jkemmerl/Movie1.wmv
My second digital film is entitled Social Evolution by Joseph Kemmerly. This film was about social evolution. Specifically, it presents theories about social evolution as to whether society evolves in a predetermined way or in a spontaneous way. I presented this film on December 2. I used Pinnacle again. Again, I saved it on a CD-RW as a MPEG. You gave me a B to B+. The video is streaming off the CSULB server. You can see it here:
http://www.csulb.edu/~jkemmerl/socialevolution3.wmv
5. Did you read all 5 books? (fully? skip-read? looked at the cover?
we had to read books?)
Yes, I read all five books. The first three took me approximately two weeks per book. The latter two were easier to read and took me about one week per book.
6. Give me a link to your field trip so I can access it for
reference.
http://metaphysicaldiversity.blogspot.com/2005/12/field-trips.html
Pass +
7. Also give me a link to your autobiography so I can cross-
reference items if I need to.
http://metaphysicaldiversity.blogspot.com/2005/11/autobiography.html
8. What grade did you finally receive on the midterm?
Here are your words from the email you sent me:
VERY GOOD WORK.
Solid B/B+ which puts you squarely in the "A" bracket.
nice.
8. What grade do you deserve in this class? Substantiate your answer.
I believe I deserve an A in the class. I had perfect attendance and was never late. I turned in all of the assignments on time and my assignments have consistently been high in quality. Also, I read all of the books that were assigned. I also posted on the message board regularly.
9. List any extra credit or other circumstances that may help your
overall grade.
I had perfect attendance and did very well on all of my assignments.
---------------------
Here's the "meat" (or, in my case, "tofu") of the test:
10. Explain Malcolm X's vision of Islam and why he was inspired to
convert to it.
Malcolm X believes in a form of Islam that would be considered foreign to most traditional Muslims. While he was in prison, Malcolm X joined a radical, militant group known as the Nation of Islam (NOI). The NOI believes that, before African-Americans arrived to the USA as slaves, Africans were Muslim and, therefore, should convert back to Islam as a way of retrieving their lost heritage.
Malcolm X was probably inspired to convert to his brand of Islam because of a combination of his own socio-economic conditions as well as the changing intellectual climate that would be a precursor to the 1950’s to 60’s civil rights movement. Malcolm X was appalled by what he saw around him and he thought that African-Americans have not progressed much since slave times and that they had to “liberate” themselves from the white man.
11. What are the three most significant factors motivating Malcolm X's
understanding of race relations (between blacks and whites).
Substantiate your answers.
I believe one of the first things that motivated, as I mentioned in the previous question, Malcolm X was his own economic conditions while growing up. While he was living in Harlem he experienced the dark side of life. He was involved in drug-dealing, pimping, and robbery as well as other things that would likely have a significant effect on one’s own world view, most likely making him pessimistic and cynical.
Malcolm X’s own experience growing up didn’t exist in a bubble, though. He saw his fellow African-Americans experiencing political discrimination and economic hardship as well. Seeing this phenomenon gave Malcolm X a sort of racial collectivist view where he thought that African-Americans should rise up and liberate themselves. This is where he developed an overtly antagonistic view toward those outside of his race, particularly towards Whites and Jews.
Another motivating factor is Malcolm X’s own distorted view of history. He subscribes to something similar to noble savage theory, that everything was going fine for Africans until the evil white man showed up and ruined everything. This line of thinking is found throughout his writing. He blames whites for all of the problems in the world including colonialism and imperialism; making him a sort of Noam Chomksy of his time.
12. Are there different versions of Islam? Detail your answers.
The two major schools of Islam are Sunni and Shia. The split began shortly after the death of Muhammad. The problem was that he didn’t appoint a successor so there was a lot of confusion regarding who lead be the leader of Islam. This debate led to a civil war within the Muslim world called the Fitna.
Sunnis follow a tradition that began with Abu Bakr, who was Muhammad’s father-in-law. Bakr, according to Sunnis, was the first Caliph or successor. They believe that Bakr along with Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan, and Ali ibn Abi Talib were the Four Righteously Guided Caliphs or those that Sunnis believe followed in the traditions of Muhammad. Modernly, Sunnis are the largest group within Islam.
Shia, on the other hand, disregard the first three Caliphs, but favor Ali ibn Abi Talib and believe that he was chosen by Muhammad. Within Shia Islam, the largest school of thought is known as the Twelvers. Twelvers are those who believe that the succession of Imams, similar to the Sunni Caliph, should go as follows:
1. Ali ibn Abu Talib (600 - 661)
2. Hasan ibn Ali (625 - 669)
3. Husayn ibn Ali (626 - 680)
4. Ali ibn Husayn (658 - 713)
5. Muhammad al-Baqir (676 - 743)
6. Jafar as-Sadiq (703 - 765)
7. Musa al-Kazim (745 - 799)
8. Ali ar-Rida (765 - 818)
9. Muhammad at-Taqi (810 - 835)
10. Ali al-Hadi (827 - 868)
11. Hasan al-Askari (846 - 874)
12. Muhammad al-Mahdi (868 - ?)
Modernly, the Shia school is significantly smaller than the Sunni school. Shia can be found mostly in Iran though they also have a significant presence in Iraq.
There are also a number of tiny schools of Islam. Many of them are quite militant such as Wahhabism and Salafism. Islam has also inspired or influenced a number of related faiths such as Yazidis and the Druze.
13. Why does Ken Wilber argue for a holistic or QUADRANT
understanding of religion and spiritual life?
Wilber finds the idea of a quadrant understanding of spirituality appealing because Wilber’s view of integral theory rejects the Cartesian mind/body distinction. So rather than seeing things in terms of mind vs. body, Wilber believes there are four quadrants to our existence and, rather than them being at odds with one another, they are seen as parts of an inter-connected whole. This allows Wilber to take a holistic approach to spirituality rather than a reductionistic one.
The Left quadrants represent the interior perspective. The Right quadrants represent the exterior perspective. The Upper quadrants represent the individual perspective. The Lower quadrants represent the collective perspective. Each of these is then divided into four quadrants.
Wilber believes the four quadrants are as follows. The Upper-Left quadrant has an interior-individual perspective that would fit into Freud’s concept of psychoanalysis. The Upper-Right quadrant has an exterior-individual perspective that would fit into B.F. Skinner’s behaviorism. The Lower-Left quadrant has an interior-collective perspective that would fit into hermeneutics. The Lower-Right quadrant has an exterior-collective perspective that would fit into Marx’s theory of deterministic social forces.
14. How would Edward O. Wilson critique Ken Wilber's transpersonal
psychology?
The problem with transpersonal psychology, from Edward Wilson’s perspective, is that it is not scientifically rigorous for his taste. Wilson would prefer techniques that used the scientific method. On the other hand, Wilber is more interested in non-scientific considerations such as spirituality.
Wilson’s own “consilience” technique for finding the truth would start off by using formal logic and mathematics. If math and logic isn’t sufficient then Wilson would move onto the hard sciences. Once Wilson got to the point where social sciences are necessary, such as psychology, he would most likely be more concerned with naturalistic phenomenon; rather then the supernatural phenomena that is found in transpersonal psychology. After all of those steps are taken then we should discuss spirituality.
Wilson believes in taking complex claims and reducing them down to simpler explanations. For example, if someone had an out of body experience Wilson would try to figure out a more rational explanation for the phenomenon as opposed to the mystical explanation that many others tend to give. Wilson would probably look for such things like a neurological issue that may be involved that would induce someone to think that the way they do regarding their out of body experience.
15. How would a Wilberian purview critique the actions of Osama Bin
Laden? Be sure to substantiate your answer.
I think Wilber would see Bin Laden as committing the Pre/Trans Fallacy. To be more specific, Wilber would say Bin Laden makes a mistake called the elevationist fallacy, where pre-rational material is mistaken for being spiritual. The problem with Bin Laden, or any fundamentalist, is that they take a pre-rational concept, like tribalism, and accept it as if it were absolutely divine.
Wilber would not approve of Bin Laden and would instead support religious pluralism. Wilber would not reject that there are genuine mystical experiences, but one has to move through personal levels of development to achieve the transpersonal. Fundamentalists don’t move through those stages. Instead, they force their own, narrower concept of the divine on others.
According to Wilber, a fundamentalist exists at the lower end of the “holarchy”, meaning they rank on a lower level on the spiritual continuum. This means that fundamentalists are indeed part of the whole, but are simply a lesser part than the more meaningful parts of the spiritual whole. Wilber, when describing the KKK and the Nazis, refers to those on this lower end of the spiritual continuum as having “a twisted case of arrested development”. (Wilber, One Taste, p.229)
16. How does the genealogical history of morality contribute to
religious diversity?
I believe that the root cause of religious diversity can be found in hermeneutics. What happens is that once a religion is founded the followers are trying to interpret morality from their holy book. The problem is that not everyone comes to the same conclusions. The disagreements lead to schisms within the religion and can even lead to the creation of new religions.
The best example I can think of would be Martin Luther and Protestantism. Martin Luther disagreed with the Catholic Church on the issue of indulgences, which were payments for the redemption of sins. This process was believed by Luther to be a corrupt practice. In response, Luther expressed his grievances through his pamphlets eventually leading to the Protestant Reformation.
So, Luther’s interpretation was different than the Catholic Church’s version of what it believed to be moral. So in response a schism occurred and new sect formed. There are a virtually infinite number of times that this can occur. Today, you can still find these splits occurring within Christianity in new religions such as Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
17. Given America's religious melting pot, what do YOU think is the
best way to approach American religious diversity? Explain your
reasoning.
Honestly, I think the best approach to religious diversity is Peter Berger’s “inductive option.” When I first heard of this I found it appealing instantly. The inductive option is a great idea because it allows people to be tolerant and open-minded, but not uncritical of religion.
The inductive option allows for the best of both worlds. We can be tolerant, but not to the point where we approve of such things as female circumcision. Also, we can be critical of religion, but not to the point where we dismiss all spiritual claims as per se nonsense. What this gives us is religious pluralism, where we are respectful toward those who differ from us yet, at the same time, we are not abandoning the whole project of religion altogether.
I think this approach is good from, both, a deontological and utilitarian perspective. From a deontological perspective, the inductive option gives people a large degree of autonomy over their own views and actions. Also, one can be critical of another without using force to change the beliefs of those that have differing views. From a utilitarian perspective, people benefit from worshipping as they see fit. If their beliefs are mistaken, then those who hold mistaken beliefs will have to fight it out in the market place of ideas. The inductive option is positive sum, as opposed to zero-sum, because no one is forcing their own views on others.
18. Explain why religion will not disappear, even as we become more
scientifically oriented?
Living in a scientific age, it’s very tempting to take an eliminative materialist view and say that religion is just superstitious nonsense and that everything can or will be explained by purely naturalistic phenomenon. Yet, I do not believe that most people hold this view. For instance, I don’t think people will ever let go of their belief in an afterlife even though there is no verifiable evidence that such a place exists. Why? I think there’s a psychological reason for this.
People feel comforted in believing in an afterlife because we have evolved in such a way that we fear death to the point where we are uncomfortable with the notion of nonexistence. Hence, people believe in an afterlife so that they can convince themselves that they will never really die.
Also, belief in the mystical is nearly universal among various cultures. Not all cultures, such as Buddhists, believe in deities, but nearly all cultures believe in something that “transcends” our current existence. Since this belief is so wide spread, it may very well be an integral component to humanity as a whole. Indeed, there is a field called the Evolutionary psychology of religion where psychologists, such as Steven Pinker, believe that religion may be a by-product of the human mind.
19. How would Ken Wilber argue against Wilson's inter-theoretic
reductionism?
Wilber would not like Wilson’s reductionism. Instead Wilber would prefer a holistic approach to an understanding of the world. So, Wilber uses what’s called integral theory, where the worlds of the physical and metaphysical are integrated. Wilber would say that reductionism can’t explain all aspects of existence because it would leave out abstract objects such as metaphysics, consciousness, and religion.
Since abstract objects can not be reducible to natural phenomena that would mean that abstract objects have no place in scientific inquiry. So, Wilber devised a non-reductionistic approach to account for abstract objects. By putting things, such as consciousness, into quadrants one can get a more holistic understanding rather than attempting to find it through purely reductionistic means.
Wilber would likely dismiss extreme reductionism as a form of scientism, where science is the only means of finding truth. Since the merits of scientism can’t be judged by science, science would then be insufficient as way of finding all known values. So, some values must exist outside of mere scientific values.
20. What was the most valuable thing you learned this semester?
I think the concept of the “biological imperative” that was described in class is useful. Evolutionary psychology is interesting, but I could never quite figure out how to incorporate it into predicting the behavior of other people before I came to class. With the concept of the biological imperative it’s extremely useful in predicting human behavior because if no one reproduced than no one would be here.
The biological imperative is an amazingly simple explanation that can achieve so much. Since the very reason why we exist is from reproduction and given that the process of reproduction as occurred over the whole of our collective existence, then this means that our will to reproduce is amazingly powerful. So people will then act to achieve reproductive success.
So, if you understand the concept you know that everyone’s highest goal, in the biological sense, is to achieve reproduction and people will go out of their way to achieve that end. The biological imperative explains, for example, why men cheat. They do so to maximize the amount of women they can reproduce with.
21. According to Stephen Jay Gould, why is it so difficult to know
the evolutionary "function" of religious belief? Hint: think
of "spandrels" (or unintended secondary effects).
It’s difficult to decipher the function of religion because the religious nature of human beings may have arisen as a result of the unintended consequences of our evolution. Human beings have larger and more complex brains than most species. Presumably, these large brains help our survival. We can use these large brains to solve problems encountered in nature such as devising tools that can aid in obtaining food.
As our brains get more complex, mankind’s capacity for abstract thought increases. One of the unintended consequences of this expansion of brain capacity is that we now have the ability to reflect on our existence. Since primitive man does not yet have the tools required to explain such things as the sun rising. Gods had to be devised to explain such seemingly miraculous events.
As I previously mentioned, evolutionary psychologists such as Steven Pinker believe that religion is a by-product of our mind and has no adaptive purpose. If religion arose in the human psyche as a mere accident than there may very well be no decipherable function to religious belief.
posted by Joseph at 12:08 PM
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Field Trips
Joseph Kemmerly 11:00 AM Fri
The Glory of Christmas @ the Crystal Cathedral
On November 26 I went with my family to the Crystal Cathedral to see The Glory of Christmas show. When we first arrived the first thing I noticed was the enormous Christmas Tree which had lots of lights, but I thought it could have used more ornaments. While I was waiting in line with my family we saw some of the animals that were in the performance entering the building. One moment that was amusing was when one of the camels was eating out of a garbage can. Not only did the camel eat the contents of the can, but it also started to eat the lining of the trash can. The animal caretaker had to pull the camel away from the can so it would stop eating.
At around 7:00 PM we were let into the cathedral. Once we found our seats we realized how good our seats were. We were only about six rows from the stage on the main floor. When I sat down I started to look around the cathedral. The cathedral’s internal structure had a system of blue bars that surrounded the ceiling. If you look straight up you realize just how large the structure is. My little brother commented that it reminded him of the Eiffel Tower.
Before the show started I read the program that we received. Apparently, this year is the 25th anniversary of the show. I also learned that the narration was done by Thurl Ravenscroft who was the voice of “Tony the Tiger” in the Frosted Flakes commercials!
The show began at 7:30 PM. At first there was an introduction given by Dr. Robert Schuller, who normally gives Sunday masses at the cathedral. Then began the prelude, where O Little Town of Bethlehem was performed. This is where we first see the ballet-like dancing. The next scene was the betrothal of Mary and Joseph. It was around this time when one of the dancers tried to do a flip. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite make it all the way and he almost landed on his knees. After that, my mother whispered to me that the dancing was a bit clumsy and I agreed.
Some of the more interesting scenes occurred when the angels appeared. The angels were held up by two cables that were attached all the way at the top of the cathedral. When the angel Gabriel appeared and “flew” over me, one of the first thoughts that came to me was that if the cables broke and she fell on me then that would seriously hurt.
My favorite part of the whole event was the use of live animals. Luckily, we were sitting so close that we could actually smell the animals as they came onto the scene. Some of the animals include sheep, lamb, llamas, and donkeys. My favorite animals were the camels which the three wise men rode in on. One of the amusing problems of using live animals was that they would actually defecate during the show. How they solved this problem was ingenious. They had people dressed as though they were part of the scene clean up the mess. For example, in one seen where everyone was dressed in shepard’s outfits the cleaners were also dressed as shepard’s and they hid their pooper-scoopers underneath their robes. In fact, I didn’t even notice until my mother pointed it out to me.
The best singing was done during a scene called the Adoration where all the people are rejoicing over Jesus’ birth. At this scene, the performers seemed to be especially good. Although, one of the weakest parts of the singing was when small children were doing the singing. Of course, you can’t expect children to perform at the same level as a fully grown adult, but why use them at all? My guess is that everyone thinks its “cute” when they sing. Unfortunately, a child sang Silent Night, which was not done very well.
Towards the end, the wise men arrived to give gifts to Jesus. I could smell the incense as the wise men were arriving onto the scene. Then, O Come All Ye Faithful was sung. After the gift giving, the angels came out again and a very good rendition of Hark the Herald Angels Sing was performed. At the end, the narrator described in brief the life of Jesus and the impact of Christianity on the world. Then, Joy to the World was playing as all of the actors left the stage.
Overall, my family and I enjoyed the performance very much and I would recommend everyone go and see it. It’s especially good if you get close up seats. That way you can really experience everything from the smell of the animals to the scent of incense. The cathedral, itself, is an impressive structure as well. The funny thing is that the Crystal Cathedral is neither crystal nor a cathedral. The structure is glass and there’s no bishop so technically it’s not a cathedral. Nevertheless, it’s quite fun.
Trinity Christian City International
On December 3 I went to Trinity Christian City International. I live very close to this place and I’m glad I have an excuse to check it out. In fact, I see it every time I drive home from CSULB. The place is so enormous that it almost looks like a castle; complete with a gate and everything. Of course, the irony of this is just delicious. Once you look at it you realize, “Oh, so this is what happens when you give those people money.” At night, you can see all of the white colored Christmas lights which stands out if you are driving on the 405 South Freeway. What’s funny is that there’s a sign that says “Happy Birthday Jesus” instead of “Merry Christmas.”
I went to the place at a little after 11:00 AM. There were not many people there at all. When I entered the compound, I parked next to a manger scene. The first place I walked to was a garden with a fountain down the middle of it. The garden was fairly large and I found it pleasant. After looking at the garden, I entered the main building.
What I saw inside was shocking. The interior looked even more like a palace than the outside. Just about everything inside was made out of marble and had gold trim. I don’t know if the gold was real or just painted as a color. Again, it makes you think that they don’t practice what they preach. They talk about giving, but they use the money for creating something that looks like a mansion.
Once I got inside I continued touring. I looked around the first floor and saw a cardboard cutout of Benny Hinn. After looking at that, I made my way to the Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh Gift and Book Shop. There were a number of other customers in the shop as well. I looked at the books to see what they had in stock. A number of books were what I would expect to see in a Christian book shop such as books about the Bible and the life of Jesus. Although, there were a number of books that I did not expect to see at all. There were a number of books about “biblical economics” and “faith-based finances”, when I saw these books I giggled a little bit because even if Jesus were alive today I doubt I would take investment advice from him.
A number of books were on politics as well. I think that just about all of them were from a conservative political perspective. There was a book about Condoleezza Rice and a book authored by Alan Keyes. When I made my way toward the back end of the shop I noticed that there were some Hanukah-related merchandise which I thought was kind of nice at first. At a closer glance I realized that this was actually somewhat disturbing. There were a number of books at seemed sympathetic to Jews and Israelis, but there were also a number of books that were critical of Islam such as one entitled Islam Revealed and Christian Jihad, which was a book that was somewhat sympathetic towards the Christians during the Crusades. Why the discrepancy? I believe there’s a political motivation involved.
When I left the bookstore I looked up and noticed that at the ceiling of each floor you can see paintings of angels on them. I went up the stairs and saw a marble statue of an angel with a sword on top of a guy in chains. It was a cool statue, but it was pretty violent for something that’s supposed to be Christian. I stopped at the second floor because I think the third floor is reserved for special events. On the second floor was the bistro, which I didn’t eat at. Toward the back I saw some event room that was shut off. Next to the entrance of the room was a sign that said that it is illegal to disturb a religious ceremony.
After looking at all that I left. I didn’t see the Virtual Reality Theater of “The Revolutionary”. Overall, the place is actually quite nice, but there’s a problem with that. I think it’s the hypocrisy that’s involved. TBN preaches charity, but practices extravagance.
The Glory of Christmas @ the Crystal Cathedral
On November 26 I went with my family to the Crystal Cathedral to see The Glory of Christmas show. When we first arrived the first thing I noticed was the enormous Christmas Tree which had lots of lights, but I thought it could have used more ornaments. While I was waiting in line with my family we saw some of the animals that were in the performance entering the building. One moment that was amusing was when one of the camels was eating out of a garbage can. Not only did the camel eat the contents of the can, but it also started to eat the lining of the trash can. The animal caretaker had to pull the camel away from the can so it would stop eating.
At around 7:00 PM we were let into the cathedral. Once we found our seats we realized how good our seats were. We were only about six rows from the stage on the main floor. When I sat down I started to look around the cathedral. The cathedral’s internal structure had a system of blue bars that surrounded the ceiling. If you look straight up you realize just how large the structure is. My little brother commented that it reminded him of the Eiffel Tower.
Before the show started I read the program that we received. Apparently, this year is the 25th anniversary of the show. I also learned that the narration was done by Thurl Ravenscroft who was the voice of “Tony the Tiger” in the Frosted Flakes commercials!
The show began at 7:30 PM. At first there was an introduction given by Dr. Robert Schuller, who normally gives Sunday masses at the cathedral. Then began the prelude, where O Little Town of Bethlehem was performed. This is where we first see the ballet-like dancing. The next scene was the betrothal of Mary and Joseph. It was around this time when one of the dancers tried to do a flip. Unfortunately, he didn’t quite make it all the way and he almost landed on his knees. After that, my mother whispered to me that the dancing was a bit clumsy and I agreed.
Some of the more interesting scenes occurred when the angels appeared. The angels were held up by two cables that were attached all the way at the top of the cathedral. When the angel Gabriel appeared and “flew” over me, one of the first thoughts that came to me was that if the cables broke and she fell on me then that would seriously hurt.
My favorite part of the whole event was the use of live animals. Luckily, we were sitting so close that we could actually smell the animals as they came onto the scene. Some of the animals include sheep, lamb, llamas, and donkeys. My favorite animals were the camels which the three wise men rode in on. One of the amusing problems of using live animals was that they would actually defecate during the show. How they solved this problem was ingenious. They had people dressed as though they were part of the scene clean up the mess. For example, in one seen where everyone was dressed in shepard’s outfits the cleaners were also dressed as shepard’s and they hid their pooper-scoopers underneath their robes. In fact, I didn’t even notice until my mother pointed it out to me.
The best singing was done during a scene called the Adoration where all the people are rejoicing over Jesus’ birth. At this scene, the performers seemed to be especially good. Although, one of the weakest parts of the singing was when small children were doing the singing. Of course, you can’t expect children to perform at the same level as a fully grown adult, but why use them at all? My guess is that everyone thinks its “cute” when they sing. Unfortunately, a child sang Silent Night, which was not done very well.
Towards the end, the wise men arrived to give gifts to Jesus. I could smell the incense as the wise men were arriving onto the scene. Then, O Come All Ye Faithful was sung. After the gift giving, the angels came out again and a very good rendition of Hark the Herald Angels Sing was performed. At the end, the narrator described in brief the life of Jesus and the impact of Christianity on the world. Then, Joy to the World was playing as all of the actors left the stage.
Overall, my family and I enjoyed the performance very much and I would recommend everyone go and see it. It’s especially good if you get close up seats. That way you can really experience everything from the smell of the animals to the scent of incense. The cathedral, itself, is an impressive structure as well. The funny thing is that the Crystal Cathedral is neither crystal nor a cathedral. The structure is glass and there’s no bishop so technically it’s not a cathedral. Nevertheless, it’s quite fun.
Trinity Christian City International
On December 3 I went to Trinity Christian City International. I live very close to this place and I’m glad I have an excuse to check it out. In fact, I see it every time I drive home from CSULB. The place is so enormous that it almost looks like a castle; complete with a gate and everything. Of course, the irony of this is just delicious. Once you look at it you realize, “Oh, so this is what happens when you give those people money.” At night, you can see all of the white colored Christmas lights which stands out if you are driving on the 405 South Freeway. What’s funny is that there’s a sign that says “Happy Birthday Jesus” instead of “Merry Christmas.”
I went to the place at a little after 11:00 AM. There were not many people there at all. When I entered the compound, I parked next to a manger scene. The first place I walked to was a garden with a fountain down the middle of it. The garden was fairly large and I found it pleasant. After looking at the garden, I entered the main building.
What I saw inside was shocking. The interior looked even more like a palace than the outside. Just about everything inside was made out of marble and had gold trim. I don’t know if the gold was real or just painted as a color. Again, it makes you think that they don’t practice what they preach. They talk about giving, but they use the money for creating something that looks like a mansion.
Once I got inside I continued touring. I looked around the first floor and saw a cardboard cutout of Benny Hinn. After looking at that, I made my way to the Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh Gift and Book Shop. There were a number of other customers in the shop as well. I looked at the books to see what they had in stock. A number of books were what I would expect to see in a Christian book shop such as books about the Bible and the life of Jesus. Although, there were a number of books that I did not expect to see at all. There were a number of books about “biblical economics” and “faith-based finances”, when I saw these books I giggled a little bit because even if Jesus were alive today I doubt I would take investment advice from him.
A number of books were on politics as well. I think that just about all of them were from a conservative political perspective. There was a book about Condoleezza Rice and a book authored by Alan Keyes. When I made my way toward the back end of the shop I noticed that there were some Hanukah-related merchandise which I thought was kind of nice at first. At a closer glance I realized that this was actually somewhat disturbing. There were a number of books at seemed sympathetic to Jews and Israelis, but there were also a number of books that were critical of Islam such as one entitled Islam Revealed and Christian Jihad, which was a book that was somewhat sympathetic towards the Christians during the Crusades. Why the discrepancy? I believe there’s a political motivation involved.
When I left the bookstore I looked up and noticed that at the ceiling of each floor you can see paintings of angels on them. I went up the stairs and saw a marble statue of an angel with a sword on top of a guy in chains. It was a cool statue, but it was pretty violent for something that’s supposed to be Christian. I stopped at the second floor because I think the third floor is reserved for special events. On the second floor was the bistro, which I didn’t eat at. Toward the back I saw some event room that was shut off. Next to the entrance of the room was a sign that said that it is illegal to disturb a religious ceremony.
After looking at all that I left. I didn’t see the Virtual Reality Theater of “The Revolutionary”. Overall, the place is actually quite nice, but there’s a problem with that. I think it’s the hypocrisy that’s involved. TBN preaches charity, but practices extravagance.
posted by Joseph at 12:35 PM
Friday, December 02, 2005
Second Movie (updated)
Someone complained that my movie was blurry, so I saved it a higher resolution. Again, my movie is here:
http://www.csulb.edu/~jkemmerl/socialevolution3.wmv
http://www.csulb.edu/~jkemmerl/socialevolution3.wmv
posted by Joseph at 3:49 PM
Second Movie
I have my second movie streaming off the CSULB server. You can see it here:
http://www.csulb.edu/~jkemmerl/socialevolution3.wmv
http://www.csulb.edu/~jkemmerl/socialevolution3.wmv
posted by Joseph at 1:37 PM
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Critiques of Ken Wilber
Here are some criticisms of Ken Wilber:
http://www.kheper.net/topics/Wilber/
Here's a site with lots of stuff on Ken Wilber. There's even an
article entitled The Cult of Ken Wilber here:
http://www.kheper.net/topics/Wilber/Cult_of_Ken_Wilber.html
Here is an even larger collection of criticisms:
http://www.integralworld.net/readingroom.html
http://www.kheper.net/topics/Wilber/
Here's a site with lots of stuff on Ken Wilber. There's even an
article entitled The Cult of Ken Wilber here:
http://www.kheper.net/topics/Wilber/Cult_of_Ken_Wilber.html
Here is an even larger collection of criticisms:
http://www.integralworld.net/readingroom.html
posted by Joseph at 9:59 AM
Friday, November 25, 2005
One Taste
Ken Wilber, author of One Taste, is a board member of the integral institute.
http://www.integralinstitute.org/integral.html
From the site:
Integral Institute is dedicated to the proposition that partial and piecemeal approaches to complex problems are ineffective. Whether addressing individual and personal issues of meaning and transformation, or increasingly complex social problems such as war, hunger, disease, over-population, housing, ecology, and education, partial and fragmented approaches need to be replaced by solutions that are more comprehensive, systematic, encompassing—and integral.
Accordingly, there are four main goals for the Institute:
1. Integrate the largest amount of research from the largest number of disciplines—including the natural sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, neurology, ecology), art, ethics, religion, psychology, politics, business, sociology, and spirituality.
2. Develop practical products and services from this research—which can be used by individuals in their own development, or by groups, businesses, national and international organizations.
3. Apply this integrated knowledge and method of problem solving to critical and urgent issues—especially the serious political, health, educational, business, and environmental problems facing humanity. This integral approach to problem solving is employed by the Institute’s own members; by forming alliances with other organizations; and by training organizational leaders, managers, and change agents in the Integral Approach.
4. Create the world’s first Integral Learning Community—with national and international communities of Integral Practice, as well as with Integral University.
Integral Institute functions as the world’s premier site for integral research and applications; as a generator of consulting services, seminars, and conferences; as a network of the most influential integral theorists from around the world; and as an open organization for disseminating and applying integral methods to complex problems in a wide variety of fields, personal to professional.
The mission of the Institute is to assist people and organizations along integral, comprehensive, balanced, and sustainable lines in order to dramatically improve the quality of life on this planet. Integral Institute’s founding belief is that by helping individuals, companies, organizations, governments, NGOs, and communities to become integrally informed, they can more effectively chart their courses and make wiser and saner decisions today and in the future; develop successful, breakthrough strategies to help solve their problems; and more successfully mobilize their resources to implement desired solutions consonant with integral sustainability.
Because Integral Institute specializes in integral operating systems (IOS) that can help any organization reorient itself in a more balanced and comprehensive fashion, I-I serves as an “organization for other organizations,” helping them design operating systems that tap into and utilize previously neglected potentials in individuals and organizations.
Integral Institute is also pioneering the world’s first Integral Learning Community, previews of which are presented in Integral Naked, but the more complete form of which can be found in the launching of Integral University. (See Integral University for more information; see Bulletin Board for late-breaking news on IU.)
By assisting people in various settings to become more balanced and comprehensive in their decisions, Integral Institute believes that it can assist a collective increase in wisdom and basic sanity for the planet and future generations.
Wilbur is also an author for beliefnet.com. In this article he asks in Which Level of God Do You Believe In?
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/153/story_15318_1.html
http://www.integralinstitute.org/integral.html
From the site:
Integral Institute is dedicated to the proposition that partial and piecemeal approaches to complex problems are ineffective. Whether addressing individual and personal issues of meaning and transformation, or increasingly complex social problems such as war, hunger, disease, over-population, housing, ecology, and education, partial and fragmented approaches need to be replaced by solutions that are more comprehensive, systematic, encompassing—and integral.
Accordingly, there are four main goals for the Institute:
1. Integrate the largest amount of research from the largest number of disciplines—including the natural sciences (physics, chemistry, biology, neurology, ecology), art, ethics, religion, psychology, politics, business, sociology, and spirituality.
2. Develop practical products and services from this research—which can be used by individuals in their own development, or by groups, businesses, national and international organizations.
3. Apply this integrated knowledge and method of problem solving to critical and urgent issues—especially the serious political, health, educational, business, and environmental problems facing humanity. This integral approach to problem solving is employed by the Institute’s own members; by forming alliances with other organizations; and by training organizational leaders, managers, and change agents in the Integral Approach.
4. Create the world’s first Integral Learning Community—with national and international communities of Integral Practice, as well as with Integral University.
Integral Institute functions as the world’s premier site for integral research and applications; as a generator of consulting services, seminars, and conferences; as a network of the most influential integral theorists from around the world; and as an open organization for disseminating and applying integral methods to complex problems in a wide variety of fields, personal to professional.
The mission of the Institute is to assist people and organizations along integral, comprehensive, balanced, and sustainable lines in order to dramatically improve the quality of life on this planet. Integral Institute’s founding belief is that by helping individuals, companies, organizations, governments, NGOs, and communities to become integrally informed, they can more effectively chart their courses and make wiser and saner decisions today and in the future; develop successful, breakthrough strategies to help solve their problems; and more successfully mobilize their resources to implement desired solutions consonant with integral sustainability.
Because Integral Institute specializes in integral operating systems (IOS) that can help any organization reorient itself in a more balanced and comprehensive fashion, I-I serves as an “organization for other organizations,” helping them design operating systems that tap into and utilize previously neglected potentials in individuals and organizations.
Integral Institute is also pioneering the world’s first Integral Learning Community, previews of which are presented in Integral Naked, but the more complete form of which can be found in the launching of Integral University. (See Integral University for more information; see Bulletin Board for late-breaking news on IU.)
By assisting people in various settings to become more balanced and comprehensive in their decisions, Integral Institute believes that it can assist a collective increase in wisdom and basic sanity for the planet and future generations.
Wilbur is also an author for beliefnet.com. In this article he asks in Which Level of God Do You Believe In?
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/153/story_15318_1.html
posted by Joseph at 8:59 AM
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Autobiography
Autobiography
By:
Joseph Kemmerly Fri 11:00AM
Religion has had a significant impact on my life and world view. Although, I think my views on religion are part of a larger intellectual evolution that I have undergone during my life.
Childhood
At first, my parents tried to raise me as a Catholic. Well, it was mostly my father who took me to Church on Sundays. My mother seems, for the most part, indifferent to religion. I dreaded going to Church on Sunday mornings and I was grateful when we missed mass, whatever the reason that might had been.
I went to a Catholic elementary school called St. John the Baptist in Costa Mesa. I enjoyed school there for the most part, except for being teased often times. Every Friday, the entire school would attend mass before we started our regular classes. Unlike going to mass on Sunday, I enjoyed going to mass on Friday because I found considerably more enjoyable to sit and listen to a priest, even if he was boring, than go to class and concentrate on difficult subjects like math.
When I was in the eighth grade, we had to pair up with first graders when we went to mass on Friday. I never quite understood what the point of this was. Nevertheless, I was lucky. My first grade buddy had a speech impediment and he had to go to speech on Friday mornings to help him with his problem. So I didn’t have to deal with the hassle of having a first grader by my side.
After the eighth grade, I was glad to leave St. John the Baptist. It’s not that it was a bad school, but after approximately eight years I really got sick of it.
During this time, I did not give too much thought to religion. Perhaps this was because I was too young to understand the gravity of theological issues. My critical thinking skills were virtually non-existent as well. I wouldn’t experience any sort of existential doubt until later years.
High School
I went to high school at Mater Dei, a Catholic high school in Santa Ana. I despised high school. It was difficult for me both academically and socially. Freshman year, surprisingly, was not as difficult for me as the later years would become.
Sophomore and Junior years were a disaster. I was struggling academically. I don’t know why I found it so difficult, but for whatever reason I was stressing out. Every so often the school would send out “progress reports” to tell parents how well their students were doing. At one point I got a progress report that said that in half of my classes I was getting D’s and F’s!
I was having a difficult time socially as well. I started to withdraw more and become more introverted (more so than I already am). At this point I started to develop a “sense of self” that I was uncomfortable with. Whenever I looked into the mirror, I didn’t like what I saw. I felt really awkward.
During this time, I started to have doubts about all of my previous beliefs, religious and otherwise. I guess the problem I had was, to use the technical name, the problem of evil. How could all of these bad things be happening to me if there was a God that was omnipotent and a God that had the capacity to rid the world of evil? This problem would confound me for a while after the middle of high school.
Thankfully, my senior year of high school wasn’t nearly as bad as my previous two. My grades got better during the last year. I was also having less difficult of a time socially. Despite some improvements, I look back at my high school time with resentment. I don’t think it had anything to do with the fact that I went to a Catholic high school. A lot of students wanted to attend a public school, but the fact that it was religious didn’t bother me so much. I think I most likely would have experienced the same problems at any other high school.
Early College
I went to Orange Coast College immediately after high school. Orange Coast College, though difficult at times, was a considerably better experience for me than high school. One of the first things that I thought was bizarre about going to a secular educational institution was that I didn’t have to wear uniforms! Since elementary school, I had been wearing uniforms every day to class. There was a sense of freedom I had as a result of being able to wear what I wanted to wear. Although, the funny thing is that I retained some habits that I still have to this day. For example, I still tuck my shirt into my pants, usually when it’s cold. We were forced to tuck our shirts in at all of my previous schools and I never quite got over the fact that I can do essentially anything I want with my clothes.
It was around the time when I began attending Orange Coast College that I began to develop an intellectual curiosity that led me to want to know more about the world than what I was learning in my classes. I don’t know if there was a specific event that sparked this curiosity in me. Perhaps coincidentally or perhaps not, but this was around the time when 9/11 occurred. Again, I don’t know if this specific event caused me to think about the world differently rather than a more intellectual event in my personal development, it could very well be a coincidence.
Present - Ethics
Nonetheless, I began doing my own personal research regarding ethical and religious issues. There were two classes that I took at Orange Coast College that were the catalyst for my intellectual development, Ethics and Logic. In Ethics, especially during the first week of the course, we learned about the various schools of ethics such as Kantian-ism, Utilitarianism, Existentialism, etc. My sympathies regarding ethics tend to lie with Kant. It’s not so much that Kant’s ethics are the best, because there not, but it simply seems the least absurd ethical philosophy relative to all others.
Utilitarianism seems to obviously absurd to me. One could easily use utilitarianism to justify slavery. I know that there are fairly complicated arguments in favor of utilitarianism such as the distinction made between act and rule utilitarianism, but nonetheless utilitarianism seems absurd to me almost at face value. Existentialism leads to many absurd conclusions as well, which is ironic since existentialists tend to believe that the world is valueless and absurd.
Regarding religion, there’s the Divine Command theory of ethics. Divine Command theory doesn’t make much sense to me. If God can create morality by divine will then can God break the moral rules that he created or does he have to follow his own rules as well? If God has to obey his own rules, how could God be omnipotent? If God can break his own rules then is it okay for God to kill and steal? This is sort of like asking, “What happens when an immovable object meets an irresistible force.”
Kantian-ism is relatively better than the rest. His categorical imperative appeals to me because it takes the concept of the rational will of others into consideration whereas the others tend to be more based on consequences. Plus, Kant seems to be more sympathetic toward individual autonomy relative to other ethical systems.
Present – Logic
My logic course also had an influence on me. This course sparked my interest in the idea of Truth. How do we come to know truth and what constitutes truth? In class, I learned about the distinction between formal and informal logic.
I was particularly interested in the study of fallacies. Once I learned about them, I realized how often one encounters them. It’s especially fun to catch someone resorting to fallacies in political debates. The study of fallacies led me to wonder how it is we know when something is true or not.
My favorite tool for determining truth is to use Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit. This includes various tools such as the scientific method, Occam’s Razor, as well as formal and informal logic. I find this especially useful in the face of various religious claims.
Conclusion
My intellectual endeavors, both inside and outside of class, have had a considerable influence on my religious beliefs. When I encounter religious claims, I try my best to run them through Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit. Regarding religion and ethics, I am not a big fan of the divine command theory of ethics, instead preferring a more secular, Kantian approach towards ethics.
My own theological views are constantly evolving, even as I type out this autobiography. I am not a big fan of the idea of a personal God due to the problem of evil. In fact, I tend to think of myself as a weak agnostic. I am open to the idea of religious claims being true, but I doubt they can be known. This is a position I find comfortable because it allows for me to be pluralistic towards religious claims and not dogmatic.
By:
Joseph Kemmerly Fri 11:00AM
Religion has had a significant impact on my life and world view. Although, I think my views on religion are part of a larger intellectual evolution that I have undergone during my life.
Childhood
At first, my parents tried to raise me as a Catholic. Well, it was mostly my father who took me to Church on Sundays. My mother seems, for the most part, indifferent to religion. I dreaded going to Church on Sunday mornings and I was grateful when we missed mass, whatever the reason that might had been.
I went to a Catholic elementary school called St. John the Baptist in Costa Mesa. I enjoyed school there for the most part, except for being teased often times. Every Friday, the entire school would attend mass before we started our regular classes. Unlike going to mass on Sunday, I enjoyed going to mass on Friday because I found considerably more enjoyable to sit and listen to a priest, even if he was boring, than go to class and concentrate on difficult subjects like math.
When I was in the eighth grade, we had to pair up with first graders when we went to mass on Friday. I never quite understood what the point of this was. Nevertheless, I was lucky. My first grade buddy had a speech impediment and he had to go to speech on Friday mornings to help him with his problem. So I didn’t have to deal with the hassle of having a first grader by my side.
After the eighth grade, I was glad to leave St. John the Baptist. It’s not that it was a bad school, but after approximately eight years I really got sick of it.
During this time, I did not give too much thought to religion. Perhaps this was because I was too young to understand the gravity of theological issues. My critical thinking skills were virtually non-existent as well. I wouldn’t experience any sort of existential doubt until later years.
High School
I went to high school at Mater Dei, a Catholic high school in Santa Ana. I despised high school. It was difficult for me both academically and socially. Freshman year, surprisingly, was not as difficult for me as the later years would become.
Sophomore and Junior years were a disaster. I was struggling academically. I don’t know why I found it so difficult, but for whatever reason I was stressing out. Every so often the school would send out “progress reports” to tell parents how well their students were doing. At one point I got a progress report that said that in half of my classes I was getting D’s and F’s!
I was having a difficult time socially as well. I started to withdraw more and become more introverted (more so than I already am). At this point I started to develop a “sense of self” that I was uncomfortable with. Whenever I looked into the mirror, I didn’t like what I saw. I felt really awkward.
During this time, I started to have doubts about all of my previous beliefs, religious and otherwise. I guess the problem I had was, to use the technical name, the problem of evil. How could all of these bad things be happening to me if there was a God that was omnipotent and a God that had the capacity to rid the world of evil? This problem would confound me for a while after the middle of high school.
Thankfully, my senior year of high school wasn’t nearly as bad as my previous two. My grades got better during the last year. I was also having less difficult of a time socially. Despite some improvements, I look back at my high school time with resentment. I don’t think it had anything to do with the fact that I went to a Catholic high school. A lot of students wanted to attend a public school, but the fact that it was religious didn’t bother me so much. I think I most likely would have experienced the same problems at any other high school.
Early College
I went to Orange Coast College immediately after high school. Orange Coast College, though difficult at times, was a considerably better experience for me than high school. One of the first things that I thought was bizarre about going to a secular educational institution was that I didn’t have to wear uniforms! Since elementary school, I had been wearing uniforms every day to class. There was a sense of freedom I had as a result of being able to wear what I wanted to wear. Although, the funny thing is that I retained some habits that I still have to this day. For example, I still tuck my shirt into my pants, usually when it’s cold. We were forced to tuck our shirts in at all of my previous schools and I never quite got over the fact that I can do essentially anything I want with my clothes.
It was around the time when I began attending Orange Coast College that I began to develop an intellectual curiosity that led me to want to know more about the world than what I was learning in my classes. I don’t know if there was a specific event that sparked this curiosity in me. Perhaps coincidentally or perhaps not, but this was around the time when 9/11 occurred. Again, I don’t know if this specific event caused me to think about the world differently rather than a more intellectual event in my personal development, it could very well be a coincidence.
Present - Ethics
Nonetheless, I began doing my own personal research regarding ethical and religious issues. There were two classes that I took at Orange Coast College that were the catalyst for my intellectual development, Ethics and Logic. In Ethics, especially during the first week of the course, we learned about the various schools of ethics such as Kantian-ism, Utilitarianism, Existentialism, etc. My sympathies regarding ethics tend to lie with Kant. It’s not so much that Kant’s ethics are the best, because there not, but it simply seems the least absurd ethical philosophy relative to all others.
Utilitarianism seems to obviously absurd to me. One could easily use utilitarianism to justify slavery. I know that there are fairly complicated arguments in favor of utilitarianism such as the distinction made between act and rule utilitarianism, but nonetheless utilitarianism seems absurd to me almost at face value. Existentialism leads to many absurd conclusions as well, which is ironic since existentialists tend to believe that the world is valueless and absurd.
Regarding religion, there’s the Divine Command theory of ethics. Divine Command theory doesn’t make much sense to me. If God can create morality by divine will then can God break the moral rules that he created or does he have to follow his own rules as well? If God has to obey his own rules, how could God be omnipotent? If God can break his own rules then is it okay for God to kill and steal? This is sort of like asking, “What happens when an immovable object meets an irresistible force.”
Kantian-ism is relatively better than the rest. His categorical imperative appeals to me because it takes the concept of the rational will of others into consideration whereas the others tend to be more based on consequences. Plus, Kant seems to be more sympathetic toward individual autonomy relative to other ethical systems.
Present – Logic
My logic course also had an influence on me. This course sparked my interest in the idea of Truth. How do we come to know truth and what constitutes truth? In class, I learned about the distinction between formal and informal logic.
I was particularly interested in the study of fallacies. Once I learned about them, I realized how often one encounters them. It’s especially fun to catch someone resorting to fallacies in political debates. The study of fallacies led me to wonder how it is we know when something is true or not.
My favorite tool for determining truth is to use Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit. This includes various tools such as the scientific method, Occam’s Razor, as well as formal and informal logic. I find this especially useful in the face of various religious claims.
Conclusion
My intellectual endeavors, both inside and outside of class, have had a considerable influence on my religious beliefs. When I encounter religious claims, I try my best to run them through Carl Sagan’s Baloney Detection Kit. Regarding religion and ethics, I am not a big fan of the divine command theory of ethics, instead preferring a more secular, Kantian approach towards ethics.
My own theological views are constantly evolving, even as I type out this autobiography. I am not a big fan of the idea of a personal God due to the problem of evil. In fact, I tend to think of myself as a weak agnostic. I am open to the idea of religious claims being true, but I doubt they can be known. This is a position I find comfortable because it allows for me to be pluralistic towards religious claims and not dogmatic.
posted by Joseph at 1:57 PM
Malcolm X
I have finished reading Malcolm X.
This is said to be the official website of Malcolm X:
http://www.cmgww.com/historic/malcolm/index.htm
Here's some info on him:
http://www.cmgww.com/historic/malcolm/about/facts.htm
FAST FACTS
Birth name: Malcolm Little
Nickname: (early years) Detroit Red, Big Red
Name change: Malcolm X; El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
Birth date: May 19, 1925
Birth place: University Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska
Death date: February 21, 1965
Death place: The Audubon Ballroom in New York
Burial location: Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York
Parents: Earl Little and Louise (Norton) Little
Siblings: (in order of birth) Ella, Earl and Mary (half-siblings from
Earl's previous marriage); Wilfred, Hilda, Philbert, Reginald and Yvonne
Married: Betty (Sanders) X; on January 14, 1958
Children: Attallah, Qubilah, Ilyasah, Gamilah, Mallak and Malikah
Hair color: Reddish brown
Eye color: Brown
Elementary school: Pleasant Grove Elementary School in East Lansing,
Michigan
Occupation: Civil rights activist
Nationality: American
Religion: Islam
Famous tagline/quote: "By any means necessary."
Malcolm X was a member of the Nation of Islam. Here's their website:
http://www.noi.org/
This is said to be the official website of Malcolm X:
http://www.cmgww.com/historic/malcolm/index.htm
Here's some info on him:
http://www.cmgww.com/historic/malcolm/about/facts.htm
FAST FACTS
Birth name: Malcolm Little
Nickname: (early years) Detroit Red, Big Red
Name change: Malcolm X; El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz
Birth date: May 19, 1925
Birth place: University Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska
Death date: February 21, 1965
Death place: The Audubon Ballroom in New York
Burial location: Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York
Parents: Earl Little and Louise (Norton) Little
Siblings: (in order of birth) Ella, Earl and Mary (half-siblings from
Earl's previous marriage); Wilfred, Hilda, Philbert, Reginald and Yvonne
Married: Betty (Sanders) X; on January 14, 1958
Children: Attallah, Qubilah, Ilyasah, Gamilah, Mallak and Malikah
Hair color: Reddish brown
Eye color: Brown
Elementary school: Pleasant Grove Elementary School in East Lansing,
Michigan
Occupation: Civil rights activist
Nationality: American
Religion: Islam
Famous tagline/quote: "By any means necessary."
Malcolm X was a member of the Nation of Islam. Here's their website:
http://www.noi.org/
posted by Joseph at 11:36 AM
