An Eclectic Humanist

Lucretius Book 5: From Primeval Ooze to Poetry

In Book 5 of On the Nature of Things, Lucretius presents a naturalistic account of the origins of life and, quite frankly, the origins of species in a well articulated explanation of evolution by natural selection. While he of course lacks the observational mechanisms that we now possess, or that Darwin possessed, he was pretty solid in the broad strokes, and it is probably worth noting that Darwin was familiar with this poem. He also offers accounts of both technology and civilization (both of which involve the question of language) that, like his account of life itself, owe nothing to the imagined divine. In these accounts, which knowingly contrast with both Classical and Old Testament mythologies, our drive and ability to know are neither gifted from nor opposed by those perennially threatening fictions from on high, but rather are emergent properties of us, therefore of life, therefore of matter, therefore of the Cosmos, itself. His narrative of technology is particularly interesting as this is poetically interwoven with his narratives of both evolution and civilization in a way that strikes me, at least, as anticipating contemporary notions of the feedback loops by which complex systems often develop. Of course, to stand scrutiny, a naturalistic description of humanity must also account for such matters as laws and the arts, which Lucretius does by proposing an early version of the social contract on the one hand, and on the other, his description of the arts as mechanisms by which we come to both know and appreciate ourselves and the world in which we live. Bound up in this book, from beginning to end, is an account of a naturally emergent human dignity, and a beautiful and compelling picture of true piety as being directed toward the Cosmos itself, and toward our own wondrous nature.

Lucretius Book 4: How We Know Things

Ever wonder how we know things? Lucretius certainly did, and he also recognized that, without a naturalistic account of knowledge, his proposed Cosmos consisting of nothing other than matter and void would be a non-starter. He argues, necessarily, that all knowledge comes through the senses, and accordingly proposes an empirical epistemology that foreshadows the modern scientific method. He addresses the means why which our senses often seem to deceive us, and argues that, even with its uncertainties, the provisional knowledge offered by empiricism is always better then the illusory certainties offered by religion. One of the principle positions that Lucretius takes on in this book is the so-called teleological argument: the notion that some intent preceded our being generally, and our sense organs particularly. He argues instead, correctly, that function emerges from form rather than predating it. In other words, we don't have eyes so that we can see, but rather, we see because we have eyes. The teleological argument, in other words, indicates an inversion of cause and effect. To partially illustrate the point, I offer a bit of an experiment that you can perform on yourselves. This part of the argument anticipates his discussion of evolution, which follows in Book 5. Also notable in this book, on the topic of senses and knowledge, is Lucretius's understanding of sex and love, his non-binary understanding of gender, and his notion, which seems to anticipate Freud, that much of our cultural activity consists of a redirection of erotic impulses.
Oh, and he also has advice about sex positions.

Lucretius Book 3: Death of the Soul and Other Good Things

In this episode, we continue our exploration of Lucretius's humanist masterpiece, On the Nature of Things. In Book 2, Lucretius begins to explore what it means to live in a Cosmos in which divine interference lays no role and all phenomena are subject to natural laws and naturalistic explanation. Beginning with the smallest objects that can be observed with the naked eye, he leaps inward toward the question of free will and then onward to questions of what current thinkers refer to as emergence—the arising of higher-order behaviours that are not predictable from observing initial conditions and components in complex systems. He offers an explicit discussion of what the divine actually is and why we have no need to worry about it, offers a welcome debunking of the “teleological argument” that the world was made for us or that any intention lies behind our being, and concludes with a refreshing and reasonable argument for the existence of extraterrestrial life.
Not bad for the first century BCE.

Lucretius Book 2: Fun with Atoms

In this episode, we continue our exploration of Lucretius's humanist masterpiece, On the Nature of Things. In Book 2, Lucretius begins to explore what it means to live in a Cosmos in which divine interference lays no role and all phenomena are subject to natural laws and naturalistic explanation. Beginning with the smallest objects that can be observed with the naked eye, he leaps inward toward the question of free will and then onward to questions of what current thinkers refer to as emergence—the arising of higher-order behaviours that are not predictable from observing initial conditions and components in complex systems. He offers an explicit discussion of what the divine actually is and why we have no need to worry about it, offers a welcome debunking of the “teleological argument” that the world was made for us or that any intention lies behind our being, and concludes with a refreshing and reasonable argument for the existence of extraterrestrial life.
Not bad for the first century BCE.

Lucretius Book 1: The Material Cosmos

This episode begins our hands-on discussion of Lucretius's Humanist masterpiece, On the Nature of Things. Book One (of six) presents the best surviving Classical argument for a purely material cosmos consisting of nothing but atoms moving in a void. The argument is the first step in both an overall understanding of how the Cosmos works and, perhaps counter-intuitively, a consolation in which the poet eases his friend Memius's fears about death, most particularly the fear of everlasting torment. The calamity against which he argues throughout the poem is religio—translated as both religion and superstition. Accordingly, Lucretius presents a vision of the Cosmos in which the supernatural plays no active role, in which both matter and void are uncreated and infinite, and in which neither the Earth nor any other location is at the centre: a Cosmos of infinite potential in which life is not unique to some privileged location but rather an inevitable consequence of the behaviour of matter over time.
All quotations are from A.E. Stallings' translation, the most beautiful English rendering of this poem that I've encountered, available from Penguin.
 
 
 

Season Introduction and an Introduction to Lucretius

Greetings, folks, and welcome back. This kick-off to Season Two begins with a brief catch-up as it's been a couple of months since we've been in touch, and then jumps right into the subject matter with which I'd like to begin the year. The topic of the first few little talks will be what, to my mind at least, is the most important work of ancient Western Humanism to have survived the bonfires and vandalism of the early Christian era: Lucretius's great didactic poem, On the Nature of Things, which provides the only surviving account of Epicurean thought written from an Epicurean point of view. Lucretius presents us with a Cosmos consisting solely of matter and void, argues against any supernatural agency in either cosmological or human affairs, presents organized religion as a blight on both society and the individual, argues for empiricism as the most valid epistemology for generating knowledge of the natural world, lays out the atomic theory of matter, depicts an infinite Cosmos working consistently to the same principles, presents an early version of the theory of evolution, dispenses with the ever-destructive association of pleasure with “sin,” lays out a version of ethics that his modern inheritors would go on to develop as the social contract, and even makes an argument for death with dignity. And, particularly relevant to our own society at this particular time, he argues strenuously against any superstitious or religious self-delusion (the Latin word religio translates as both “superstition” and “religion”) during a mass infectious disease crisis. In short, he is one of my intellectual heroes.
This talk lays out some background and context for the poem and its reception in the Modern period. Subsequent talks will address details of the text itself, hopefully enough to spark an interest in reading it. And if you do decide to read it, the translation I recommend is A.E. Stallings' translation, available from Penguin, which renders the original Latin hexameters into rhyming English hexameters rather than the prose for which many other translators opt, and is a genuine pleasure to read simply on its own poetic merits.
Enjoy

Remembrance Day

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Britain, and Veterans' Day in the US. So, for this episode, as an act of remembrance, I will simply be reading several poems and a chapter from a great and devastating war novel, written by soldiers who served on the Western Front. I am confining the location and time largely for historical reasons but also for personal ones as the field of literature to choose from would otherwise be overwhelming. so instead of aiming at broad coverage now, I will optimistically assume that there will be future annual episodes on this theme, each focusing on a different area, conflict, or period. While I will not say I hope you enjoy these selections--I did not enjoy recording them, to be honest--I do hope that they offer some insight into the realities of war that can only arise through listening to those who have been there.
This episode is dedicated to the memory of my grandfather, John Hay Wilkie, who served first with the Royal Scots and then with the Seaforth Highlanders. Grandpa was wounded at Ypre in May 1915, and by the end of the war had seen service not just in Europe but also in the Middle Eastern campaign. This day 102 years ago, he was somewhere in Turkey.

Gratitude, Compassion, and Electoral Politics

So the US election has been called, and it's all over but the temper tantrum. What do we do now? Where do we go? Well, speaking as an outsider, my first impulse is to rejoice in the triumph of electoral politics over authoritarianism, and I will stand by that impulse (fight me). My second impulse, though, is to ask what those Americans who have lived under Trump and Trumpism for the last four years are entitled to, and the first two words that come to mind are gratitude and compassion. Had they not voted that fascist MF out of the White House, the whole world would have paid the price both politically and environmentally. And over the last four years, many of them have been traumatized, and many of them have died, as a direct result of their "president's" fascist politics. So be kind, folks. Be gentle. I am officially declaring this "International Hug an American Week." Seriously, they have it coming. It's been a hard fight.

Rodger Has Election Jitters

As the US election closes in, I find myself unable to think about anything else. So, having attempted a couple of other ideas and failed to complete them, I've surrendered to the zeitgeist and recorded an election episode, as much an exorcism of my ambient demons as anything else. The talk ends up revolving around the political philosophy of the ancient Confucian thinker Mencius (Mengzi), but as much as anything, I think it might be an attempt at community, a reaching out to others at what I believe is a critical moment not just in American history but in world history.

Attack of the Fundamentalists 4: Stand Against the Dominion

Here, finally, is the concluding installment in the "Attack of the Fundamentalists" sequence. This one takes a bit of a turn from what I'd originally intended, which had been simply to outline the history of Christian Dominionism inthe US, and instead speaks more broadly about the ongoing cultural conflict between the religious right and reasonable people on such subjects as apocalypticism and the looming American election. It seems to me that the discourse between the religious right and the more progressive elements of society, which has been building in tension and vehemence for many years now, is coming to a head as the demographic tide that throughout my own childhood and early adulthood favoured the Christian fundamentalists, finally turns against them. Looking at these and other factors, and considering the flow of history a few weeks out from an election in which the most religious country in the "First World" faces a choice between remaining the backward-looking parody of itself that it has become under Trump and under the prolonged influence of the religious right, or moving forward and once again rejoining the community of nations, I find myself both anxious and hopeful for the future. While I very well could be wrong, I think the Evangelicals and fundamentalists in the US have overplayed their hand, especially in their fantasy-based response to COVID-19, and are--failing ongoing and powerful attempts at voter suppression--about to be handed their reality-denying asses on a plate.