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Lest we be condemned to live in paradise alone
Published: Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
When Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote, "Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all," he was referring to the death of a friend, not a romance that hit the rocks. This is not widely remembered ...(back to the article)
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I, too, found this item well written, with one curious lapse. Implicitly, the distinction between "philos" and "eros" is part of the author's point, yet it is not specifically identified. I realize that hardly any of us study Greek (beyond memorizing the alphabet for one insane purpose or another!), but it used to be something valued in academe. Alas, it is all too common in contemporary to society for the meanings of "philos" and "eros" to be confused!
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I must admit, I'm really curious: what on earth do baristas have to do with any of this?
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I think this column was interesting and well-written! Good stuff.
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??
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So I guess your attitude toward Lewis is emblematic, on the other hand, of one of the major problems facing baristas today.
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@So Erudite. C.S. Lewis is a great, great thinker. No, I'm not kidding. Does that answer your question? Your dismissive attitude towards thinkers like Lewis is emblematic of one of the major problems facing academia today...
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This is why anscombers shouldn't argue against premarital sexual activity based on health reasons: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3072021.stm
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"Loath" and "Loathe" are two different words- Loath means to be unwilling to do something, while Loathe means to hate. The author used the right one. http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/loath.html http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000238.htm
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I second @ So Erudite. It's a very well-written article. Lighten up.
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I meant 20th century, of course, sorry.
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1. I count one Latin typo, singular. It got past the editor too. Typos happen. 2. Pedestrian writing style? On the contrary, it was very well written. 3. C.S. Lewis is one of the most respected thinkers of the 21st century. He is not a "pop intellectual." 4. Accusing someone of making "vapid generalizations" has become a very popular way of dismissing an argument. I would argue that you made a few of your own.
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loath? you mean loathe, Brendan.
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Brendan, you've confused the situation here when you write "Anscombe, in its turn, rebels against a status quo that confuses morality with medicine." In fact, most Anscombe opponents do not think that consensual sex is a matter of right or wrong. It is an amoral act. On the other hand, Anscombers confuse morality with medicine when they make claims like premarital sex is wrong because it can cause an oxytocin rush in women that causes them to bond in a way that premarital relationships cannot fulfill. In addition, you have completely ignored the possibility that one's lover could simultaneously be one's best friend. I consider my boyfriend to be my best friend in the sense you described: facing common interests, goals, and values together. And of course we love one another in the romantic sense of the word. But, guess what, we're not married yet. Why not? Because we're only 21 and we don't need a legal contract to demonstrate our commitment to one another.
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So between the Latin typos, the author's self-avowed ignorance on every subject the article treats, the pedestrian writing-style, the reliance on pop intellectuals (C.S. Lewis? Are you kidding?), and the vapid generalizations ("All philosophers, to the best of my knowledge, grant that friendship is a love and call it by that name."), why exactly does this kid have a column again?
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