Category: Uncategorized

This from Kleiner’s blog:

An article that talks about the “raised hopes” that we may not be unique in the universe:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23212185/

I am always confused by people who “hope” that we find out that we are not unique.  If there is extra-terrestrial intelligent life, that would be an extraordinary thing to be sure.  But why “hope” for something like this?  One might be curious, but “hopeful”?

Walker Percy addresses this in his brilliant little book “Lost in the Cosmos.”  Percy suggests that Sagan and others are so hell-bent on finding intelligent life elsewhere (or that apes have language here) because they are desperate to affirm science’s apparent judgment that we are not unique in the cosmos (that we really are just an accidental pile of cosmic dust).  But why be so bent on proving you are not unique?  

The real trouble, for Percy, is that they spend so much time looking out into the universe that they do not know themselves – and they manage to ignore how singularly amazing the event of human language is.   

Sagan, like every other ET searcher, is in need of connection – community.  He is alienated (lost in the cosmos).  But is the answer as much “in here” as it is “out there”?  Will we really know ourselves and secure “hope” by the finding of other allegedly random bits of matter organized in a way similar to us? 

Why do we kiss? Why is it such an exciting thing to do? And why does everyone tilt their head to the right when they kiss? Find the answers here.

I posted some reflections on the relation between charity and duty on my blog.  Since the post stems from Pope B16’s Lenten address, I put it on my blog instead of the USU Philosophy page.  But there are philosophical connections (to Singer and to postmodern ethics).  If you are interested, click over to my blog and share your thoughts.  http://web.mac.com/harrisonkleiner/ProfKleiner/Blog/Blog.html 

I thought the LDS-Catholic-Protestant debate went very well, and there was no shortage of student interest, comments, and questions (I fielded questions for over an hour after the debate).  Since the topic is more theology and philosophical-theology than philosophy proper, I thought I would manage the discussion over at my blog.  Feel free to click over there to continue the conversation with comments or questions: http://web.mac.com/harrisonkleiner/ProfKleiner/Blog/Blog.htmlFYI: I will be most interested in discussing what I thought arose as the principle point of difference between the LDS and the Christian.  It boils down to the issue of transcendence – is God radically other as Creator over and against creature, or are God and man of similar ontological status?