In a recent post, I tried to start a deeper discussion with Milan about what it means to act ethically in these needful times with respect to climate change.
I’m not sure if he meant this post as a response to my post, or as a response to the ongoing discussion on carbon ethics – but [...]
Archive for the ‘Capitalism’ Category
On Carbon Ethics, Individual action, and the Value of Slow Travel
Posted in Capitalism, Cross Canada Trip, Ethics, Philosophy, Technology, Trains, global warming on November 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“Chic-ness” and Cheapness – the materiality of the modern aesthetic
Posted in Body Phenomenology, Capitalism, Ethics, Food, Pragmatics, Pubs, Technology, Things, coffee, writing on November 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
We find today everywhere examples of mass produced luxury. Sitting in a coffee house atop dark wood chairs, next to a floor to ceiling fireplace adorned with an exotic artwork, I am both everywhere and nowhere. Starbucks, or Second-Cup, even the new-look Macdonalds embrace an architecture of bare wood, rock and leather wingback chairs alongside [...]
On Rememberance Day
Posted in Capitalism, Ethics, God, Philosophy, writing on November 11, 2009 | 1 Comment »
On Remembrance Day we are expected to honour soldiers. Soldiers who made individual sacrifices, for the sake of us – so that we can partake in the value(s) they defended. This is what is asked of us “in return” for their “gift”.
But is this demand without political, contemporary interest? Are we expected to value the [...]
On Time and Engagement in the Present
Posted in Capitalism, Ethics, Philosophy, Pragmatics on October 20, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Today, two events occurred that together brought me to a clarifying thought about the ways we are in-time today. The first was a conversation with a retired professor, and the second was an entry on Milan’s excellent blog.
John was making the not too controversial point that the institution of texting, tweeting, being on the computer [...]
Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal
Posted in Art, Capitalism, Philosophy, Picturesque, beginning on October 14, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal is free. This means you don’t have to pay, (except for some temporary exhibitions). That and the collection is quite astonishing – including the likes of Monet, Picasso, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, etc… There is also a serious ancient Greece exhibit which, unlike the ROM’s, doesn’t pretend that Roman [...]
Obscure Band Showcares: Part 2 of 3 – the Consumer Goods
Posted in Capitalism, Ethics, Music on October 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
The Consumer Goods are a Winnipeg band that are not afraid to voice their opinions on political issues. Their Myspace page is littered with songs about the department of national defense, police violence, the Canadian occupation of Afghanistan, and the erosion of abortion rights in the U.S.
Their frontman, Tyler Shipley (one of my only friends [...]
The arrival of the future. Part 3 of 3: BMW’s GINA project
Posted in Art, Capitalism, Pragmatics, Things, beginning on September 25, 2009 | 1 Comment »
You might be wondering how a concept car could signal that the future has already arrived. Concept vehicles, we normally think, project futures that may or may not arrive. For instance, the minivan was first shown by Lancia in 1978 – but it didn’t “arrive” until Chrysler’s great success in the 1980s.
However, what we can [...]
The arrival of the future. Part 1 of 3: The iphone
Posted in Capitalism, Pragmatics, beginning on September 24, 2009 | 1 Comment »
As modern technological individuals, we’ve been trained to expect the arrival of the future. “The future” is characterized by the automation of simple human tasks (skip to 1:40), the automation of war (in the sense of the machines become automatons), and the becoming increasingly emotional and physical of human-computer interfaces. Humans can remarkably bad at [...]
Social Beliefs and Personal Values
Posted in Capitalism, Ethics, Pragmatics on September 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I often make the case that torture in the middle ages was a moral act. Given what people believed about the afterlife, torture wasn’t just morally neccesary or acceptable, in certain situations it was downright deserving of approbation:
“The penal law sought to save [the accused's] soul. For this reason, a convictd person who confessed could [...]
Values
Posted in Being, Capitalism, Ethics, Philosophy, global warming on September 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
We all have them. They’re what drive us, what we strive for. What we sometimes have to give up. What we set up as provisional ideals, goals, projects. What guide us through difficult decisions. What we ponder over. What we die for (or from).
When our ideals differ from those of others, we have values for [...]
