Category Archives: Rationalism

West Bengal secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Surjya Kanta Mishra, says the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are one and the same, and both his party's political adversaries. He also says that the policy of his party is to be on a broad platform with Left democratic and secular organisations, and there is no place for the "Bengal TMC" in it.

He refuses to get into the issue of a possible change in this dynamics when it comes to fighting the BJP nationally in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. However, if one reads between the lines, and tries to make sense of the subtlety of his comments, it seems that the CPI(M) may have shut the door to the TMC in Bengal, but they've not locked it yet. Perhaps now is too early? Watch this space for more.

Mishra is easy to chat with, and we discuss everything from Mamata Banerjee to Marine Le Pen, pro-identity and anti-Islam movements across Europe to nationalism in India, perception to proprioception, rise of the right-wing to the future of the Left at the CPI(M) state headquarters at Alimuddin Street in Kolkata. He is soft-spoken with an absolutely wicked sense of humour (most of his sarcastic comments and jokes are delivered with a deadpan expression and he quietly enjoys the impact on the listener).

The recent bypoll result in Contai South Assembly constituency indicates that the BJP is now a force to reckon with in West Bengal. Who is a greater evil politically for the Left in the state now the Trinamool Congress or the BJP?

We are saying, "defeat TMC to save Bengal and defeat BJP to save India." In fact she [Mamata Banerjee] brought the BJP to Bengal. It is also the Trinamool Congress' rule in the state that has led to the rise of the BJP here.

But Mamata Banerjee's association with the BJP has been in the past (she was part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in 1998, and was railways minister in the cabinet), but today she is fighting the BJP. Moreover, BJP's support has increased nationally even in those states where the TMC has no presence. So why is the TMC responsible for the rise of the BJP in Bengal?

BJP and the TMC are not two entities they are one. It would be illusory to think that they are separate in their policies. Fascistic forces can create such illusions in the minds of people. Today, in the country, there is attack on people's social security and livelihood, fascistic attack on democracy and on secularism. The policies of both these parties are such that they help each other to survive and to thrive.

There has been a rise of the pro-identity right-wing politics throughout Europe, and India is also witnessing increased support for right-wing groups. Where is the place of the Left in this?

Earlier, rationalism could take the lead, and the revolutionary class stood against the feudal system. Now, the world has shifted to the Right, there has been a rise of the right-wing politics. India has been witnessing identity politics, crony capitalism and the financial crisis is still not over there is no employment, no production. And it is to divert attention from all this that different perceptions are being created through social media, and intolerance is so rampant. It is like watching Manmohan Desai's films where you don't have to think, there is no need for rationalism.

But people will learn from their experiences. What is happening now, is what people are perceiving as the reality. They "think" this is reality, but they are just made to see things in a particular way. What they see is just an illusion. Religion is reflection of reality, but communalism is not. Preprioception, which is a reflection of the reality, is the only thing that can fight illusion. We have to present that reality before the people.

Coming back to the political scenario in Bengal, why are you saying that there has been a match-fixing between BJP and TMC, when they are tooth and nail against each other? Do people believe this theory?

Both TMC and BJP are together and their policy is to oust the Left. Moreover, why are the TMC leaders not being arrested? Why is she (Mamata Banerjee) being spared when she is the leader of the party?

Mamata Banerjee is trying to bring together all the non-BJP forces as many regional parties as possible for fighting the ruling party at the Centre in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. What will be the role of the CPM and other Left parties in this? Will you join her to fight the BJP?

Election is not the primary question. Our policy is to be with anti-communal forces, and to be on a broad platform with Left democratic and secular forces. That is the pre-condition, and the Bengal TMC has no place in it.

Which means that this strategy could be altered when it comes to the elections, and it is not impossible that there could be an alliance with the TMC in 2019 nationally to stop the BJP from forming the government?

Now, you are putting words into my mouth. I have already made clear whatever I had to say. Election is not the issue, our main task at hand is to fight both the TMC and the BJP.

The Left parties had had an electoral tie-up in the 2016 Assembly polls in Bengal with the Congress, while the Congress and the Trinamool Congress are now on a great rapport nationally. In retrospect, how does the party look at the alliance with the Congress in Bengal?

It was part of our strategy to create a broad platform with Left democratic and secular forces. And it follows from the resolution of our plenum. We call this a "platform", and we formed this platform with the Congress to fight the TMC in Bengal. Our policy is also to increase our individual strength.

Can the Left parties in Bengal stage a turnaround? How will it happen?

People learn from experiences. In the five states where Assembly elections were held recently, the BJP's win has not been uniform everywhere. It hasn't got majority everywhere. The Left Front will increase its strength in the coming days, there will be a common platform of the Left and other democratic parties.

But the fact is that the people in this state who used to carry red flags with hammer and sickle are now chanting Jai Shri Ram and observing Rama Navami. And Bengal has a history of a sharp Hindu-Muslim divide, exchange of inflammatory words between the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League throughout the 1940s, and the communal riots of Calcutta in August 1946 that go down in history as one of the worst episodes of mass violence in India.

People do not want to fight against each other. It is the leaders of political parties that make them perceive things in a particular way. It had been the same thing in the past. But people do learn from their experiences. Those in Uttar Pradesh are also learning. And do remember, the dangerous path the right wing groups are treading these days and the way they are instigating people won't leave them unscathed.

We will continue to build on our strength our independent strength and that of other democratic forces on a common platform in the coming days.

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INTERVIEW: Left's Surjya Kanta Mishra Says No Room For Alliance With Arch Rivals Trinamool... Just Yet - Huffington Post India

McKenna Grace and Chris Evans star in a scene from the movie Gifted. (CNS photo/Fox)

By John Mulderig Catholic News Service Posted April 21, 2017

NEW YORK (CNS) Endearing and well-acted, director Marc Webbs drama Gifted (Fox Searchlight) might have been a family-friendly movie.

Elements in screenwriter Tom Flynns script, however, make this thoughtful film which examines the proper balance between cultivating youthful talent and the need for even extraordinary kids to lead a normal life exclusively suitable for grown-ups and perhaps older teens.

Facing the issue outlined above is easygoing Florida boat mechanic Frank Adler (Chris Evans). Informally entrusted with the care of his then-infant niece, Mary (McKenna Grace), at the time of her mothers suicide, Frank has had to adjust his bachelor lifestyle for the sake of stand-in fatherhood (Marys real dad has shown no interest in her.)

Frank has also had to come to grips with the fact that Mary, like her mom before her, is a math prodigy.

Believing, as the audience eventually learns, that his sisters death was at least partially caused by the demands their hard-driving mother, Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan), made on her to concentrate only on her studies, at the cost of both friendships and romance, Frank wants something different for Mary. So, after homeschooling her to the age of 7, he enrolls her in the local public school.

Though Marys caring teacher Bonnie (Jenny Slate) soon discovers her gift, and suggests that she would be better off in a more competitive environment, Frank keeps to his plan. He even turns down the possibility of a full scholarship at a private academy.

When British-born Evelyn turns up, though, Frank faces a more formidable challenge to his intentions. Evelyn initiates a lawsuit to win custody, and Mary becomes the prize in a bitter courtroom battle between the two.

The generally wholesome atmosphere of the proceedings is briefly marred by Marys exposure to the aftermath of a bedroom encounter and her use of a vulgar expression. Additionally, viewer discernment is required to sort through a conversation Mary and Frank have about religion.

This discussion pits ex-philosophy professor Franks somewhat passive agnosticism against the faith that guides his and Marys warmly affectionate landlady and neighbor, Roberta (Octavia Spencer). Frank maintains, fairly enough, that no one can know for certain whether there is a God. But Frank is open to belief in general and, when Mary specifically asks about Jesus, Frank encourages her to imitate him.

The dialogue implies that religious ideas are wholly unconnected to reason, an exaggeration of the proper dividing line between what we can perceive with our senses and what transcends them. Yet the fact that this exchange takes place against a glowing sunset suggests that the moviemakers sympathies may not be on the side of cold rationalism.

The film contains nongraphic premarital sexual activity, mature references, including a suicide theme, a single rough term and a couple of uses each of crude and crass language. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

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Arrival of orphan girl makes a man's life 'Gifted' - CatholicPhilly.com

Lakewood resident Jeannie Parnes Wechsler's story is both riveting and relevant. Video by Jerry Carino

As the world recognizes Holocaust Remembrance Day, or "Yom HaShoah" as it is known in Hebrew, on Monday, the East Brunswick Public Library will present the fourth annual installment in the series The Jews of Eastern Europe Before The Holocaust on April 30. The multimedia event of lectures and music were created by Holocaust survivor Michael Kesler. Since Kesler's retirement in 2006, he has written extensively of his and his late wifes experiences during World War II.(Photo: ~Courtesy of Michael Kesler)

EAST BRUNSWICK As the world recognizesHolocaust Remembrance Day on Monday, the East Brunswick Public Library will present thefourth annual installment in the series The Jews of Eastern Europe Before The Holocaust on April 30.

This years program will focuson the Jews of Belarus and the Baltic States.Previous programs, which were attended by more than 250 people,highlighted the Jews of Ukraine, the Jews of Polandand the Jews of Russia.

The internationally recognized date for Holocaust Remembrance Day, or "Yom HaShoah" as itis known in Hebrew,corresponds to the 27th day of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. It marks the anniversary of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in Poland.

The multimedia event of lectures and music were created by Holocaust survivor Michael Kesler. Exploringthe long history and rich culture of the regions Jews, thisprogram in particular delves into the Jews of Belarus and the Baltic States, whohad a significant presence before theirextinction by the Germans and their allies.

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Since Kesler'sretirement from the petroleum industry in 2006, hehas written extensively of his and his late wifes experiences during World War II.

"I believe it is important that our people, particularly the new generation, appreciate the roots they sprung from, since nearly three-quarters of American Jews derive their origins from that area," Kesler said. "To paraphrase Stalin, a mass-murder 'cousin'of Hitler: 'A million killed is a statistic, a single death is a tragedy.' In my waning years as a survivor, I want people of the community to get an up-close look at the people behind the 6million number of those who had perished from 1939 through 1945 at the hands of Hitler and his followers."

Kesler said the first part of the program focuses onthe history of the region.

"During the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, this area brimmed over with Jewish scholarship and new cultural and social movements," he said. "It became the center of traditional houses of study. It was where the so-called Lubavitch branch of Hasidism emerged. At the same time, it spawned Jewish rationalism under the leadership of the Gaon(genius) of Vilna, which paved the way for enlightenment, Zionismand secularism."

Rabbi Esther Reed, senior associate director of Hillel at Rutgers University, will preview the series, the programand the participants.Professor Glenn Dynner of the Sarah Lawrence College faculty, and a member of the Princeton Institute of Advanced Study, will review the history of Jewish life in the major cities of Belarus and the Baltic States, such as Grodno, Minsk, Bialystok, Kovnoand Marc Chagalls birthplace, Vitebsk.Rabbi Joshua Finkelstein of the East Brunswick Jewish Center will offer reflections on the regions passed-down heritage. There also will be a Q&A session.

The second part will introduce the Jewish music of that period, based in part on Eleanor Gordon Mloteks book "Mir Trogn a Gezang."Dr. Tamara Reps Freeman, an ethnomusicologist, will lead the programs selections of traditional and classical compositions and playa 1935 Joseph Bausch viola rescued from the Holocaust.

Tenor Michael Kesler,alto Susan Hornstein, recorder player Donna Messer, vocalist Deborah Gerberand pianist David Schlossbergwill join Freemanwith a performance of songs such as "Sleep, Yankele," alullaby by Mordechai Gebertig, "Margaritkelech (Daisies)," byZalman Schneur, a Yiddish poet and novelist from Vilna, "Shterndl(My Little Star) " by Moshe Kulbak, aJewish poet who was executed duringStalins reign of terror against Jewish intellectuals, "Caprice Hbraqueby Alexander Krein, a Soviet composer born in Belarus, "Rachel"from the Opera La Juive by Jacques Halvy, a contemporary of Verdi and "Ale Brider(All Brothers)" by Morris Winchevsky, born in Kovno, Belarus.

The ensemblealso will perform arendition of "Tumbalalaika," a well-known and beloved folk song with lyrics of the first two stanzas by Gedalia Evin, Messers grandfather.

Theprogram is sponsored by the East Brunswick Public Library, the Karma Foundation, the Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jerseyand the East Brunswick Jewish Center. The event will take place at the East Brunswick Public Library, 2 Jean Walling Civic Center, at2:30 pm. April 30. The program is free and open to the public. Registration is not required.

Staff Writer Cheryl Makin: 732-565-7256; cmakin@mycentraljersey.com

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East Brunswick library hosts Jews of Belarus Holocaust program - MyCentralJersey.com

Common Dreams

This Earth Day, Defeating Trump is Job One Common Dreams Facts, data and rationalism have been under attack in this country for years, but the assault has gained ground under the Trump Administration. Trump's cabinet has moved to stop collecting essential scientific data in different departments, and his ... Satellite Marches - March for ScienceMarch for Science all 222 news articles »

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This Earth Day, Defeating Trump is Job One - Common Dreams

We have reached a critical point in our society where the fundamental tenets of humanism and rationalism are under siege by both left- and right-wing fundamentalists who seek to enforce their views on others through emotion laden rhetoric that serves no other purpose other than to distract from factual evidence which nullifies their twisted view on the world.

The very paradigm of humanistic rationalism seeks to establish neutrality and unbiased views but is threatened by nonsensical reasoning motivated by fearmongering. To divide the populous of a nation is the very first step in establishing a people who are so blinded by fear of the other side that they will blindly follow irrational and dangerous rhetoric; dangerous because if one looks at history all major conflicts in the history of humanity started with a divide between people on the concepts by which society should function. The idea that we arent one with each other, that ethnical and racial superiority is a viable fact, this is what is leading to the demise of humanity as a whole.

Authors such as Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky have committed themselves to educating the populous on the dangers of dehumanising other groups of people based on whatever irrational fear. Karl Marlantes, in his brilliant book What It Is Like To Go To War perfectly illustrates the dangers of this dehumanisation of people and what it will ultimately lead to: senseless killing and destruction. Marlantes is particularly good at articulating his viewpoint due to the fact that he himself fought in Vietnam and experienced the devastating psychological aftermath of war.

Humans are the most loving yet the most hateful species in the history of what is now a disastrous world. We love to the point where our fear tells us it isnt safe which in turn causes us to turn to hatred as a sort of defence mechanism against our perceived threats. Humans hate what they dont understand. We love what we think we understand. We view the world through a very narrow prism that leads us to believe that our view and only ours is the default setting according to which the world functions and should function. We fail to comprehend or even attempt to comprehend perspectives that threaten our own comfort zone; perspectives that lead us to believe that our bubble is under siege.

It is a critical and indeed a non-negotiable prerequisite that, to view the world through an open-minded prism which is built on the foundations of rationality and neutrality, we need to embrace different perspectives. It is through this embracement that we as the human race develop new ways of thinking which, if utilised correctly by way of a humanitarian mindset, we moved forward unto greener pastures. But we can only move forward if all of humanity moves forward.

It is no myth that deeply embedded structural inequalities that favour the bourgeoisie and show contempt to the proletariat (excuse the pinch of Marxism) have lead us to the point where only a small minority of humans are moving forward and leaving the rest behind. The elite view those left behind as an anchor that is keeping humanity from moving forward and instead of raising the anchor, they are simply trying to cut it loose and leave it in the dark depths of poverty and despair. The other 99% is essentially dehumanised by the 1%; the former is seen as subhuman and not worth saving.

Unfortunately, those who criticise unregulated capitalism and corporate greed which are the very foundations on which the 1%/99% divide is built on are deemed Marxists by default. It is this black and white thinking which perfectly illustrates the need to embrace alternative perspectives in order to keep humanity from stagnating. We have been indoctrinated by to think that we are immune to failure. We have been taught to believe that we as humans have total control over our destiny and that Mother Nature and the rest of our world is but mere pawns in our game of seize and control. It is only when we are shocked beyond comprehension by disaster that we realise we are not as immune to failure and destruction as we have been led to believe. Embracing alternative views as viable prisms through which the world can be viewed will naturally lead to us being able to foresee the inevitable failure of our very narrow-minded worldviews.

Throughout history countries such as the US of A have been on a global rampage with the sole objective of control over our precious globe. They have twisted the concepts of globalism and internationalism as something which entails war and oppression by default. This is one of the key reasons why so many people are against any societal structure that seeks to give all humans social mobility. They see it as a means of control over their lives since this is what mainstream media and regimes like the US and Israel need people to believe. Divide and conquer is no mere expression.

It is reality. A handful divide and millions if not billions are conquered. A perfect example of the aforementioned would be the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The two-state solution which was put to vote in the UN Security Council won by a margin of 165-26. However, the resolution did not pass since one of the six states not in favour of it, the US, has the massively unfair privilege of a veto right.

One country decides the fate of the Palestinian people. A fate so abhorrent in nature that it is almost impossible to conceive how a country could be able to oppress another country like they do. Once again it all comes down to dehumanisation. The people of Vietnam were dehumanised. The people of Iraq were dehumanised. Everyone who is deemed a threat by the largest oil company/military-industrial complex in the world (the US and cos empire) is dehumanised and viewed as disposable liabilities. Since when does "helping" other nations give a nation more control over those nations in need of help? Since when does the guilty party that put a nation in dire straits have the privilege of deciding latters fate? The US likes to parade themselves as the saviour of the globe. They fail to realise that true heroes lend a helping hand without expecting anything in return.

We as the human race have reached a critical turning point: will we allow the elitists to exercise their unfair privilege to the detriment of us all or will we stand up and speak for those who have been driven to the depths of despair, unable to be heard? Will we fight for the visions of those such as Einstein, Chomsky and Kennedy or will we allow the destruction of humanity to continue rolling on? These are the uncomfortable questions that need to be asked and the answer given should be in favour of all of humanity, otherwise we are doomed to rot under the oppressive regime of the 1%.

Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.

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The human race have reached a critical turning point - News24

There is a funny sort of fideismaround which is a popular form of a philosophical error.

Fideism holds that faith is superior to reason and special knowledge can be had by faith alone which is superior and maybe even contradictory to that knowledge arrived at by reason.

Pope St John Paul II knocked fideism and rationalism on the head with his brilliant encyclicalFides et Ratio.Nevertheless, the kind of popular fideism we see today is linked with a sort of dreamy sentimentalism.

The way it is expressed is you have your truth and I have mine. Along with this goes the relativism that says, We cant really know the truth, but we believe certain things to be true.

In other words, Believing makes it so. This is what I have described elsewhere as Tinkerbell Catholicism.

Something is not true because you believe it. You believe it because it is true.

This twisted form of fideism is what stops many people from pursuing the truth of the Catholic faith. What they believe is what they think is true and they think it must be true simply because they believe it.

I have come across this same problem expressed in a different way, I could not become a Catholic because I have different theological beliefs.

Yes. Fine. But are those beliefs true? They are not necessarily true just because you believe them. Protestantism with its faith alone dogma is especially prone to fideism. When it is combined with anti-intellectualism it is especially noxious. Thus some Protestant fundamentalists and Calvinists will hold to beliefs that any childwith some common sense can show are simply untrue, but they hold to their beliefs thinking that believing makes it so.

Catholicism, on the other hand, is based on reality. Catholicism may confound common sense, but it never contradicts common sense.

We believe that a thing is true because it is true not because we happen to believe it to be true.

The sun is warm and yellow. This wine is red and good. I am alive and this is good and this is real.

This is the glory of Catholicism and it is why I believe my faith more strongly and more deeply than ever.

Because it is true and its truth doesnt depend on me.

I depend on it.

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Fideism R Us - Patheos (blog)

Ever since The Da Vinci Code came out in 2003, author Dan Brown has been one of the most recognized writers around the globe.

For four, now soon to be five, books, Brown has combined history, fiction, religion, symbols, and murder to write the adventures of his protagonist, Professor of Symbology Robert Langdon. Like any riveting read, his books entertain readers as well as teach them about philosophers, conspiracy theories, and famous buildings. His newest book, Origin, continues Langdons story. It comes out this fall.

Langdon, whos played by Tom Hanks in the movies, often chases or runs away from a murderer or conspiracy theory by finding and solving clues about historical figures and symbols.

The books leave readers questioning how much of this information is true?

The Freemasons

One popular theme in The Lost Symbol in 2009 is that the Freemasons are a secret society that secretly run America. In the book, Langdon finds out that The Founding Fathers actually built a secret portal under Washington where secrets of the universe are hidden.

In reality, no such portal has been discovered. The Freemasons are often used in books and mythology, and rumors about the group run rampant. These theories often overlap with conspiracy theories about the New World Order and the Illuminati.

Its known that one Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin, was a Mason, and these symbols appear in American culture, such as the pyramid and eye on the Great Seal of the United States on the dollar bill.

The Priory of Sion

In The Da Vinci Code, Brown writes that a brotherhood was founded in 1099 with members such as Isaac Newton Botticelli, Victor Hugo and Leonardo Da Vinci. These people knew that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and has a surviving heir.

In the book, Mary and her descendants are the Holy Grail.

In reality, the Priory of Sion was a monastic order formed that year. In 1982, a book was published about The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail and how they protect Jesus and Marys secret. The Priory is now considered a hoax created in the 1950s by a Frenchman named Pierre Plantard.

Opus Dei

In The Da Vinci Code, this is a group sanctioned by the Vatican that plots to find and kill the heir/grail. A huge villain in the book, Silas, is an Opus Dei monk.

In real life, its a real Catholic organization with an estimated 87,000 members worldwide. However, none are monks. Their goal also isnt to find the Holy Grail.

The Illuminati

Perhaps one of the biggest theories-turned-fact in his books is the Illuminati in Angels and Demons. This secret society works to bring down the Catholic Church for their crimes against scientists like Copernicus and Galileo, who was convicted of heresy for claiming the Earth moved around the sun.

In real life, the Illuminati was a real organization founded in 1776 in Bavaria with the ideals of free-thinking and rationalism. Copernicus was never attacked by the church, but Galileo was mistreated. He was subjected to lifelong house arrest after his claim about the Earth and Sun, but he was never convicted.

Source: telegraph.co.uk

The books leave readers questioning how much of this information is true?

Robert Langdon books

Angels & Demons (2000)

The Da Vinci Code (2003)

The Lost Symbol (2009)

Inferno (2013)

Origin (2017)

Other Dan Brown books

Digital Fortress (1998)

Deception Point (2001)

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Tales of murder, religion and history - Fenton Tri County Times

With roots that date back to the Renaissance, the Reformation and the Enlightenment, modernism is largely characterized by rationalism and individualism. Accepting rationality as the main source of legitimacy and authority, many critics, including Gandhi, argue that a modernist mentality ignores spirituality and limits reason. The idea that only what is researched, scientifically discovered or seen and proven can be accepted as fact is considered to be the modernist mind's own dogma. Emerging as a reaction to the church's corruption and abuses in the Middle Ages, modernist thought has been fed with scientific discoveries in technology, industry, media and other progressive fields. As a result, the more man has achieved the more Greek philosopher Protagoras's statement "man is the measure of all things" gains relevancy. In return, this has further cemented the theory that reason is the only source of legitimacy and authority.

But has modernist thought simply followed the steps of the European church, which didn't accept the significance of reason in the Middle Ages, didn't tolerate people's free will or anything that wasn't deemed "Godly"? Has the modernist mind's obsession with reason as the only source of true information and the denial of all other human elements, such as emotions, morals, beliefs or the soul, led it to have its own dogmas and taboos?

TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COINAccording to many scholars, reason is not the only source needed to gain knowledge. Gandhi is one of them. Contrary to modern rationalists, Gandhi believed innate traits, such as intuition, love and forgiveness, were also sources of knowledge. Molecular biologist and evolutionary geneticist Francisco J. Ayala at the University of California also holds similar views. He explained: "I contend that both scientists denying religion and believers rejecting science are wrong. Science and religious beliefs need not be in contradiction. If they are properly understood, they cannot be in contradiction because science and religion concern different matters."

He continues: "The scope of science is the world of nature: The reality that is observed, directly or indirectly, by our senses. Science advances explanations about the natural world, explanations that are accepted or rejected by observation and experiment. Outside the world of nature, however, science has no authority, no statements to make, no business whatsoever taking one position or another. Science has nothing decisive to say about values, whether economic, aesthetic or moral; nothing to say about the meaning of life or its purpose."

Reflecting on what Ayala is discussing in real life, could it be claimed that science or reason is not used as a basis to determine the legitimacy of values and beliefs?

On the other hand, how has the absolute focus on materialistic progress impacted humans' lives and nature? According to Gandhi, the search for profit and progress with no regard for wider moral, cultural and other consequences has led to a continuous neglect of the soul and other components that defines man's humanity. With there being no consciousness about morals and values, there is a relentless competition from individual levels to international levels that only produces violence, oppression, exploitation and domination. The macro reflection of this in real life has unfortunately been the exploitation of countries, which has been justified recently using various arguments, such as intervening to protect human rights and freedoms. On the other hand, the individual level of this is characterized by modern civilization's ever-increasing emphasis on self-achievement, which encourages egocentric man's relentless struggle for a constant increase in possessions, wealth, status and pleasures regardless of the legitimacy of how these are achieved. This has brought about a complete set of individualistic values, as discussed by German sociologist Ulrich Beck, with greater individualism people's actions are influenced more by egocentric calculations rather than by a sense of commitment, obligation or responsibility toward others.

However, the damage of this relentless pursuit for materialistic progress and wealth does not seem to end here. From Nancy Fraser's ideologies underpinning modernity/modernism are serving as a tool for advancing material progress. Let's listen to Nancy Fraser's remarks:

"As a feminist, I've always assumed that by fighting to emancipate women I was building a better world more egalitarian, just and free. But lately I've begun to worry that ideals pioneered by feminists are serving quite different ends. I worry, specifically, that our critique of sexism is now supplying the justification for new forms of inequality and exploitation.

In a cruel twist of fate, I fear that the movement for women's liberation has become entangled in a dangerous liaison with neoliberal efforts to build a free-market society. That would explain how it came to pass that feminist ideas that once formed part of a radical worldview are increasingly expressed in individualist terms. Where feminists once criticized a society that promoted careerism, they now advise women to "lean in". A movement that once prioritized social solidarity now celebrates female entrepreneurs. A perspective that once valorized "care" and interdependence now encourages individual advancement and meritocracy."

These were Nancy Fraser's beginning remarks in her article titled "How Feminism Became Capitalism's Handmaiden - and How to Reclaim It," which was published in 2013 in the Guardian newspaper in the U.K. In a way, Gandhi's argument about the neglect of the soul by modern civilization, and its impacts on individuals and society, gains more meaning in light of this revelation. If the soul hadn't been neglected and morals hadn't been generated, probably it would not have been possible for women's dignity or rights to be seen as a tool by an elite capitalist group to reach certain materialistic goals.

BAUMAN'S CRITICS ON SOCIETYThe neglect of the soul, the disappearance of morals and values that kept families and societies together is leading to disappearance of society and institutionalization of every sphere of life. Emeritus Professor Zygmunt Bauman's article titled "The Absence of Society" elaborates on this in detail. According to Bauman, today's "social ills" are a result of the absence of society, in other words, the disappearance of the values that defines human beings' identity as humans. He further states that the driving force of conduct is no longer the realistic desire to "keep up with Joneses," but the infuriatingly nebulous idea of catching up with supermodels, premier league footballers and top-10 singers.

The list of social problems and ills is increasing every passing day with the very fast evolvement of technology, the e-world and social media, which are areas that are not governed by morals, principles or values. Societies are struggling to develop immediate strategies to confront the risks associated with these advancements.

While every advancement adds to man's temporary pleasure, it is also leading to greater individualism, degeneration of human identity and the destruction of nature, since advancements are not embellished with the moral values that would normally minimize the harm of any advancement to humanity.

As put by the late Bosnian leader Aliya, for humanity's own sake there is a need to remind us that we have higher obligations. We have to be unselfish and humane. Again, we have to be able to "sacrifice" that that represents the appearance of a principle that is contrary to the principle of interest that is zoological and that continues to heavily define relationships from individual levels to international levels in today's world.

*Analyst at Strategic Thinking Institute, Ankara

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Can reason truly measure what it means to be human? - Daily Sabah

The true testof whether or not your job is vital to the sustenance of the national economy is if you come home in a bad mood after a day of work and your kids ask if interest rates are bothering you. Dr. Lael Brainard 83 finds time to help determine the countrys optimal monetary policy, ameliorate employment hierarchies that skew away from underrepresented groups, and most importantly, cheer on her three daughters.

c/o The Federal Reserve Board

The decorated alumna is currently serving as a member of the United States Federal Reserves Board of Governors. She last worked under President Barack Obama as Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury from 2010 to 2013 and Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury in 2009.

I am very mission-driven and I really care about economic opportunity, Americas role in the world, and this role as a force for good, said Dr. Brainard. The extent to which our country displays the true American Dream is being supported by policies, that people should not be held back by where they were born, or what schools are in their neighborhood, or how much wealth their parents had, or whether their parents were immigrants, or the color of their skin. I am cognizant that the field that I chose when I chose it was very male-dominated. As Ive progressed in my career I have tried to create more diverse opportunities for others at senior levels, from a gender, ethnic, and racial perspective. I want to give back and help younger people make their way in this arena.

Dr. Brainard discussed her career and what days are like as a member of the U.S. Federal Reserves Board of Governors.

There is really no average day, said Dr. Brainard. On a day that we have an FOMC meeting, or a scheduled Federal Open Market Committee meeting, where we determine monetary policy, generally we all start the day in the very large, historical boardroom, which has a big map of the Federal Reserve Districts on the wall. Each of us sits in a designated seat, the board members each have their names printed on the backs of the chairs, and it is extremely formal. Every word we say is transcribed and will be released five years after the date of the meeting. People are a bit cautious in terms of the observations that they make.

We start the meetings with people from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York telling us what the financial markets look like and then we hear about the economy, and then we go around and talk about our own views of the economy, she said. Generally, the Chair summarizes and the setting for the monetary policy discussion usually follows. During that portion of the meeting, we go around the table and talk about what we think is the right course for monetary policy and the right setting for interest rates. At the end of this period, we all vote very formally, and then the result is released to the public.

Joining the Fed has forced Dr. Brainard to be much more selective with her word choice, especially in the public sphere.

That definitely has a way of making us much more cautious about what we say in the public arena, she said. We recognize that financial markets are extremely sensitive to news of any sort on the policy front. It does make us need to calibrate our words very, very carefully. With regard to how they might be heard, and what kind of conclusions investors might be drawing about the future of the economy, it is incumbent on us to be as transparent as we possibly we can. This is so the public understands the factors that are influencing each of our individual thought processes as we think about the appropriate calibration of monetary policy.

Dr. Brainard explained that being stuck inside of a boardroom is not the only part of her job description. Another is traveling to help bona fide people in sticky situations.

Another kind of day is where I go out to a part of the country where our community development staff is working with local institutions and local community development organizations to try to improve economic development and access to financial services for capital for small businesses, underserved communities, and communities that dont traditionally receive the help they need, she said. I went to El Paso, to a border area, with our staff from the El Paso branch of the Dallas Fed.

We spent the day talking to families who were struggling to be able to secure mortgages on their land, and who generally have pretty challenging living conditions, based on their earned income, she said. It was a rewarding day that resulted in a new house being made available on an affordable basis to a single mother who was struggling with cancer and living in a trailer with rusted out floors and no air conditioning. There are days when I am out and about, trying to understand how Americans of all different types are experiencing the economy in a very granular way.

The way Dr. Brainard views the economy is shaped by her childhood experiences, which are not typical in the slightest.

I lived overseas for my entire childhood both in Communist Poland and Germany before reunification, she said. From that experience, I took away two things. One, the power of economic dynamism, markets in propelling forward economies, and using peoples great ideas to improve the quality of our lives and build better futures for us. In the Poland I saw as a young child, individual initiative was stymied at every turn. There were very high rates of suicide and alcoholism. The parts of the economy that flourished the most, the farm and small business sectors, had the least amount of red tape and the greatest role for individual initiative. The second thing is the capacity for our country, America, to be a beacon of hope for other countrys aspirations, but only when we as a nation embrace our own challenge to make sure that the American Dream is alive and well, and that all people who work hard can have opportunities to make a better life for themselves and their children.

c/o Japan Times

Operating monetary policy is no easy feat, as the meter for evaluating the ideal indicator is ever changing.

We are an organization that operates under the guidance in statute that Congress gives us, she said. Our job is to pursue maximum employment and stable prices. Stable prices in todays economy have been defined as two percent inflation. That makes it pretty clear-cut in terms of what are we are supposed to achieve. That is where the economy can grow in a sustainable way. It gets complicated because the nature of the economy changes over time, and the financial markets are extremely dynamic. You may find the same interest rate settings have very different effects on employment and inflation in different decades, which makes it complex, interesting, and quite challenging.

The instances when the Federal Reserve Governors are relied on the most are clearly in times of economic downturn.

At moments of extreme financial stress, monetary policy using interest rates alone, may not be able to get the economy back on its feet with credit flowing again and small businesses being able to restock their inventories and hire workers the things we need to make the economy vibrant, she said. Until recently interest rates have been near zero. At moments of extreme stress, it is important for polilcymakers to think outside the box, which is why we saw a much more complicated and innovative set of policies being implemented at the height of the financial crisis.

For some without a background in economics, Dr. Brainard discussed some of the basic causes of the 2008 Financial Crisis.

This is going to be like the Great Depression, where historians and economists write about it for decades to come, she said. It is probably too early to know what really mattered the most, but clearly the mortgage arena became unmoored. People were making mortgages based on no documentation, giving people with lower incomes mortgages they couldnt possibly afford. They were doing it because there was this massive machine whereby people who were making those credit decisions didnt actually have to live with their consequences. These bad mortgages would be sold, sliced up, packaged, and resold so that investors had no clue of any of the risk involved.

Layered on top of that there were increasingly international wholesale financial markets which are built on a set of trust relationships, she said. Once confidence and trust started to erode with one or two financial institutions essentially moving close to the edge of the abyss, everyone started withdrawing funds in a rush to get out first, and we saw a run on the wholesale financial markets. There are usually a whole host of factors that makes these large financial crises very tricky to foresee sufficiently in advance. There is not one single factor where if you tracked it, you would have been able to predict and prevent the crisis.

Commitment to her alma mater is something that cannot be disputed for Dr. Brainard, as she has twice served as a member of the Board of Trustees.

The hardest thing while I was an alumni-elected trustee, just five years after graduating, was still feeling tied to the perspective of being a student on campus and the concerns about the Wesleyan they were experiencing, but of course as a trustee, you have to think of Wesleyan across generations and as an abiding institution, she said. There is some tug there. For instance, I found it difficult when we were discussing the issue of divestment from companies that invested in South Africa during the Apartheid era. Wesleyan was trying to navigate this complicated, narrow ethical path; I saw the issue in more black and white terms.

Speaking of her time at Wesleyan, Dr. Brainard broke down, in simplistic terms, the nature of her senior-year thesis.

I got back to Wesleyan after the summer of my junior year with a quandary, no idea what to write my thesis on, she said. I had 50 ideas, but no conviction on any of them. I went into a professors office, Brian Fay, and I was in such despair at that juncture that I was thinking about not writing a thesis at all because I was having such a hard time choosing a topic. He told me that he didnt care what my topic was, just that I absolutely needed to write something, and that he would be happy to be my advisor. That was a great vote of confidence and spurred me to get my act together.

c/o Quartz

I chose a topic of utopianism and dystopianism but from a social engineering perspective, thinking about how the two genres in literature embodied the impulse that we all have as humans to be social engineers and social planners, and how some of that can go badly awry sometimes, she said. Of course growing up in a communist country for part of my childhood, I had some experience with that. It turned out to be some crazy long piece of work, but boy it was great for me to work out some of my own internal debates about policy. It was really made possible by the conviction of my professors, and this convinced me to have the conviction in myself.

The College of Social Studies most certainly took up a lot of Dr. Brainards time while attending the University.

I was at CSS and we were in this weekly rhythm where our class would have to read some huge number of pages of really dense stuff and then produce a long, beautifully written essay on Thursday overnight for seminar on Friday. We would all find ourselves, bleary-eyed, in the library late on Thursday night, trying to make some sense of the small percentage of the assigned pages that we actually managed to digest at that point. We would pull an all-nighter and always come in the next day with pretty adequate but not great efforts at writing essays. Once, I spent the entire night not being able to find one piece of evidence to answer the assigned question, and finally, I wrote something. I went to class the next morning and started to speak about the topic of nationalism in the enlightenment era. The professor asked me why I was speaking about nationalism in the enlightenment era, which was not a thing, and told me the actual topic was enlightenment rationalism. The assignment had a typo so rationalism was spelled with what an n. If nothing else, CSS gave us the ability to produce a paper on literally any topic.

At the end of the day though, even with all of her accolades, Dr. Brainards children are still what she cherishes most.

I spend all my free time with my three daughters, who are endlessly funny, she said. They always tease me about my work at the Fed. If Im ever in a bad mood, they ask me if I am unhappy about interest rates. Im not sure there are a lot of households in the country where the parent comes home from the office and the kids ask if you are unhappy about interest rates. I love cheering them on at their soccer games and track meets. I just traveled with the family to a really remote part of the Tibetan Plateau in rural China to visit my oldest daughter, who is studying there. I mostly enjoy spending time with my kids and their friends, and all the activities they are involved in.

Read the rest here:

Fed Board Governor Dr. Lael Brainard '83 Drives the Economy Forward - The Wesleyan Argus

Robert Pattinson and Charlie Hunnam in James Grays new film.CreditPHOTOGRAPH BY AIDAN MONAGHAN / BLEECKER STREET MEDIA / EVERETT

James Grays films are the public trace of a secret doctrine: dont follow the words, follow the music; dont believe your eyes, believe your heart. Hes a devoted, meticulous, fanatical realist whose clear, tough, physical dramas sublimate themselves into undertones and overtones, murmurs and intimations, reminiscences and dreams. His new film is The Lost City of Z, which is based on the nonfiction book by David Grann, aNew Yorkerstaff writer, chronicling an early-twentieth-century British explorers ill-fated expedition in the Amazon jungle. The film opens today, and with its bluff, romantic resuscitation of the cinemas classic adventure-tale genre and tone, its perhaps Grays most radical attempt at abstraction and displacement.

Its the story of a search thatits no spoiler to saydoesnt come to fruition, a series of missions that dont achieve their goals, and that nonetheless reverberate powerfully and enduringly with the force of its ideas and ideals. The action starts in 1905, when Major Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam), serving to maintain British rule in Ireland, is summoned to London for a meeting. Though Percy (so Ill call him, to distinguish the character from the historical person) is brave and capable, hes the son of a dissolute father, and his lineage impedes his promotion both in the Army and in society. That may change, thoughhes dispatched by the Royal Geographical Society to lead an expedition into the Amazonian jungle bordering Bolivia and Brazil so that, by mapping the vague border, war between those countries can be avoided (and British economic interests can be served).

Percy and his second-in-command, Henry Costin (Robert Pattinson), a more experienced explorer, discover the missions dangers and difficulties early on, as well as its mysterious wonderssuch as the discovery of an opera company maintained in a rustic encampment run by a local rubber baron. The potentate supports the mission with the full force of his harsh reignhe offers Percy a crew of enslaved indigenous people, as well as rafts and other supplies.

The heat proves overwhelming; Henry has a cut that wont heal; the Amazon teems with fish that the explorers never manage to catch; a crew member mutinies; natives on shore attack the river-borne company with arrows; and the mission threatens to deteriorate into a merely onerous duty when an Indian slave (on whose knowledge of the terrain Percy depends, and whom, its worth noting, Percy treats respectfully, like a crew member) confides to Percy that theres an ancient city in the jungle, somewhere past the source of the river. Sure enough, when they arrive at the sourcea land that no Caucasian has previously reachedPercy finds shards of pottery, as well as elaborate tree carvings, that indicate vestiges of the lost city. Though the British government has cancelled the original purpose of the mission and Percy and his crew return to London, Percy is now possessed of a new purposeto return to the jungle and find that city, which he dubs Z (pronouncing it zed, British-style).

Percys purpose isnt mainly archeologicalits anthropological. He wants to overcome Eurocentric bigotry and prove that the indigenous people of the Amazon jungle, derided by other Geographical Society members as savages, display an intellectual and cultural sophistication equal toand earlier thanthat of European society. He undertakes a second missionand it proves to be even more difficult than the first, but it also brings him into close contact with one native tribe thatwhile practicing cannibalism (albeit in a way thats explained so as to minimize its horrors)also displays an intricate civilization, as well as remarkable agricultural achievements. Yet this mission, too, is thwarted; Percy returns home unsatisfied. With the Great War now under way, hes sent to lead troops into battle and, suffering a chlorine-gas attack by German forces, is rescued from the battlefield, hospitalized, and warned by doctors that his exploring days are done. (As it so happens, theyre notand the final mission proves to be catastrophic.)

Theres a surprising lightness to the scenes of the rigorous, dangerous expeditions, and that lightness is a crucial aspect of Grays artistry. He doesnt minimize the hardships endured or the exertions requiredbut he approaches them with a modesty and a self-restraint thats as much a matter of ethics as of aesthetics. From a personal perspective, filming to emphasize the difficulties and displeasures of the mission could only come off (as it does, for instance, in Werner Herzogs films and in Apocalypse Now) as vanity, as a breast-beating boast of the difficulties that he himself endured (and to which he subjected his cast and crew) in order to make his filmas if that pride and that proclamation should win him any badge of honor over and above the specific merits of the film itself.

Proceeding by touches, symbols, and synecdoches, by suggestions and implications, Grays modesty conveys, above all, an absencethe incommensurable abyss between the experience and the image, the realm of the unfilmable, or, rather, the no-longer-filmable. Grays films vibrate with echoes of what his experiences, his ideas, his feelings could be, cinematicallyif the classical cinema that inspired them and nourished them were still in existence. It isnt only grand adventure that, in Grays artistic purview, cant be filmed with a classical fullnessits life itself. The Yards gathers the sounds and moods and tones of growing up in Queens, the experience of Gray watching classic movies and imagining his own experiences, his own emotions, embodied in those styles, knowing that they never could be. In Two Lovers, he conjures the sense of feeling simultaneously like an emotional titan trapped in a tiny apartment in a narrow life and like an emotionally stunted, damaged, unworldly-incapable monsterand does so within the constraint of a narrow, local cinematic style that reverberates nonetheless with the force of grand-scale classic melodramas. The Immigrant catches a family prehistory of grand passions that coincides with the operatic grandeur of the silent cinema; its a story of the furious struggles of an earlier generation that implanted Grays own immigrant family into America and implanted movies into Hollywood.

Theres a music to Grays films, a music to his images; hes essentially incapable of making a dull or untextured image, but, just like the term style, the word music is itself value-free. What kind of music do his images make? A poised, neoclassical music; Grays images have an untimely, exalted quietness, as if he were filming with violins and woodwinds and didnt admit of electric instruments, though his subtler textures compete in the same arena and catch some of the same emotional jolt. In Lost City, glancesas between Percy and his wife, Nina (Sienna Miller), his intellectual associate and companion in his mission (but who isnt allowed to accompany him physically into the jungle)fill instants with vast swaths of time. They reverberate with an extraordinarily inward intimacy, in which action doesnt seem to imply thought so much as it seems to accumulate around it.

Ive seen The Lost City of Z twice, and on first viewing I wished that the role of Major Percy Fawcett had been filled by its original claimant, Brad Pitt, whose element of ferocity and possession is his most distinguishing trait. On second viewing, though, I found Hunnams more moderate incarnation true to the movies sense of Fawcetts own obsession: Percy isnt an obsessive by nature, hes an obsessivemalgr lui. He didnt choose to explore the Amazonian jungle, he was sent there to fulfill a mission that was neither of his choosing nor of his preference (he wanted to see combat). He fulfilled his mission dutifully, found his sense of purpose inflamed by the ideaand the slender evidenceof the lost city, and his desire to find it is fuelled by an intense humanistic rationalism.

Percys devotion to discovering the Lost City of Z doesnt dance with exotic visions of golden towers but treads with an unusual yet pedestrian sense of decencyhe seeks not its glory but its workaday complexity, less El Dorado than an Amazonian Manchester. Hes looking to rediscover the traces of a vanished society in the hope of overturning facile hierarchies and replacing them with respect, honor, and wonder at the achievements of distant peoples in the distant pasta society that, for all its cruelty and ferocity, embodies secrets and experiences that are lost to modernity. (Like The Immigrant, The Lost City of Z features one of the greatest last shots in the recent cinemaand this one captures those contradictions with a majestically imaginative gesture.) The mission involves chaos, turmoil, troublebut Percys vision, his efforts, and his reports are models of poise, purpose, and precision. Grays subject is the pursuit of a truer, better self, one thats imbued with and inspired by the colossal achievements of the past, a self-accomplishment thats distinguished from the petty rounds of daily negotiations and drawing-room squabbles. As alluring as the fleeting fragments of inspiration may be, theyre subordinate to the purpose of the great, big, perfected, enduringand impossiblework. In Grays filmsas in the drama of The Lost City of Z itselfthe true creation is neither the effort nor the result: its the purity of the emotion and the clarity of the idea.

More:

The Lost City of Z Resuscitates Cinema's Classic Adventure Tale - The New Yorker