I’ve been working for the last few mornings on a translation of Serge Gainsbourg’s song, “Boomerang”. It involves trying to convey his meaning while at the same time trying to use for every other line words that rhyme with the “rang” part of “boomerang”. I think that the French language has a lot more words like that and so it makes for an interesting challenge.
On
my way to school, I noticed when I was stopped on Brock at the Dundas light
that “Bikes On Wheels” is gone and it’s been replaced by “The Brockton
Cyclery”. I always though “bikes on wheels” was a stupid name anyway so
“Brockton Cyclery” is better and their logo has a more class.
Outside
of philosophy class James commented about how old my Think Pad laptop is. I
told him that it’s a family heirloom and that my great grandfather brought it
here from Sweden at the end of the 19th Century.
Just
before class started I realized that I’d forgotten to bring my notebook for the
second time in the course so I had to write in the empty spaces of my little
weekly planner.
Someone
at the back complained that they had no lights and so the student, the
professor and Cilia were all trying different things to try to get them to
work.
During
the lecture I was having trouble keeping my eyes open and I was embarrassed
after letting them droop that when I opened them up again Professor Black was
looking straight at me. If I sat at the back I could have just gone to sleep if
I’d been so inclined.
Averroes
offers a legal opinion of philosophy using the Qu’ranic texts. He wrote three
responses to Ghazali:
Decisive
Treatise – Legal
Uncovering
the Methods of Proof – Theological
Incoherence
of the Incoherence – Philosophical
The
legal question is: Does the Qu’ran prohibit, allow or command the study of
Philosophy? Is it prohibited, allowed or obligatory? Averroes declares from the
start that it is permitted but then he argues that it is obligatory.
She
reminded us of the old game show that she’d mentioned and then warned us that
she was going to go even further back now to Perry Mason. She told us that
Cilia didn’t even know who Perry Mason was but that he’d been on TV. She said
it went back to the 1930s and of course she was referring to the novels by Erle
Stanley Gardner. I mentioned that there had also been a radio show.
Averroes
insists that it is a religious duty to be a philosopher. Why not see religion
and philosophy in harmony? He approaches the matter on different levels of
discourse. He states that if anyone is a heretic it is Ghazali, but he doesn’t
mean it literally.
Philosophy
is the arbiter of religious tradition. Philosophy is the study, which is the
study of being. This can be chopped up
to Metaphysics – the study of immaterial being; Physics and Math – the study of
material being; and Ethics – the study of the right things to do.
Philosophy
is the study of natural being and relations with divine being.
The
Qu’ran says to reflect on other beings as signs of the creator, so it fits as
philosophy. But so far the argument only proves that philosophy is permitted by
the Qu’ran. The Qu’ran says one must fulfill one’s duty in the best way
possible. What is the best way? The intellect is the best way, which takes us
to Philosophy. Reflection is nothing more than inference and drawing out of the
unknown from the known or the hidden from the apparent, and since this is
reasoning, we are obligated to carry on our study of beings through reasoning.
Logic is a method of taking the known and applying it to the unknown. Logic is
the key to happiness. Logic is the criterion.
Al
Farabi said there is tension between theology and philosophy. There was a
rejection of the imposition of Aristotelian logic into Islam.
Averroes
says logic is a foreign science and so it is extraneous. We can follow those
before us and stand on the shoulders of giants. If a tool from outside of Islam
helps to follow the Qu’ran it is okay. The best tool is that of demonstration.
“The best way possible” means that the command can only be directed at those
with an ability to do logic. Since the obligation is directed at those with the
ability to use logic, it is forbidden for believers not capable of doing logic
to stand in the way of those that can. It would be like standing at the door of
the mosque and preventing worshippers from entering to pray. So Ghazali is at
fault because anything philosophers do in good faith cannot be heretical even
if they make mistakes.
Averroes
says that Philosophy and Theology should be in harmony because truth does not
oppose truth. If you discover something true and I discover something true they
must be in harmony.
Averroes
says Philosophy is the superior master and religion is the servant. Tensions in
the Qu’ran create misunderstanding and so the nature of Qu’ranic revelation
needs a method to resolve conflicts. Those that read the Qu’ran must learn to
discern between the literal teachings and the allegorical or Ta’wil. Augustine
did the same thing with the Bible and the Jews did the same with the Torah.
There are only certain textx on which everyone agrees they are ethical and
practical. There is no consensus among the scholars about how to interpret the
theoretical.
Averroes
claims that religion is a social-political construct. Religion is designed to
govern and to stabilize but not to convey philosophical truths. Part of the
group of Muslim scholars are philosophers. Their lack of consensus is almost a
tautology. Most religious debates are on ethics, even today.
On
the way home I stopped at Freshco where I bought a package of hot Genoa salami,
some ground beef and a couple of jars of unsweetened apple sauce because I’m
getting tired of mixing canned peaches with my yogourt.
That
evening I heard shouting and cheering outside and when I looked through the
window there was a fight going on outside my window. A bunch of young guys were
standing around two guys that were going at it, though it looked more like a
contest than a grudge match. At one point the one guy picked the other one up
and slammed him down on the concrete and then the battle was over. It didn’t
look like the loser was angry though, after he got up.
That
night I cooked the cottage roll that I’d bought a few days before. I boiled it
for an hour and a half with garlic, cloves and a bay leaf in the cast iron
crock-pot that my daughter gave me. Then I coated it in brown sugar and mustard
and glazed it in the oven at high temperature for 15 minutes. It turned out surprisingly
well.
I
watched the last episode of the first season of the 1950s TV series, “Mike
Hammer”. The first ten episodes were full downloads but the rest were only
partial and so I had to deal with missing parts, though I caught the gist of
every story. Darren McGavin played the character of Mike Hammer somewhat
comedically despite the stories being dramatic and violent. He apparently
deliberately toned down a character that in the novels was extremely violent. I
downloaded the second season, which overlaps into 1960. This download was
complete, so I won’t have any glitches when I’m watching it.
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