“Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil”

Quotes Amok.

Moderator: Glorious Amok

Post Reply
User avatar
stilltrucking
Posts: 20605
Joined: October 24th, 2004, 12:29 pm
Location: Oz or somepLace like Kansas

“Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil”

Post by stilltrucking » August 3rd, 2008, 10:28 am

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
Let’s begin with a quotation from the bible:
“Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil”
(The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell)

User avatar
Jacob
Posts: 210
Joined: June 12th, 2008, 7:20 pm
Location: Somewhere in Wisconsin...
Contact:

Post by Jacob » August 4th, 2008, 6:01 am

What is evil? And how do we know if the majority is doing evil, or what is right, simply because they are the majority?

User avatar
stilltrucking
Posts: 20605
Joined: October 24th, 2004, 12:29 pm
Location: Oz or somepLace like Kansas

Post by stilltrucking » August 4th, 2008, 10:08 am

I guess it is a never ending cycle of discovery
I would consider the source:
Bertrand Russell is not exactly what some people might call a bible thumper.


Group-Intellect
http://www.aleph.se/andart/archives/images/warning3.png

Image source

Group intellects: don’t go too close, or resistance will be futile… While well-behaved group minds no doubt are selective of who joins (it is after all rather intimate) and unlikely to assimilate everybody nearby, there might be applications or situations where mental firewalls are down and brains easily form group intellects. Maybe the people in the icon should all be raising their hands in the same way, but this is the clipart I found.

User avatar
Jacob
Posts: 210
Joined: June 12th, 2008, 7:20 pm
Location: Somewhere in Wisconsin...
Contact:

Post by Jacob » August 12th, 2008, 7:58 am

stilltrucking wrote:I guess it is a never ending cycle of discovery
so then...evil would be whatever we determine is against the progression and evolution of the human race and world around us?

User avatar
stilltrucking
Posts: 20605
Joined: October 24th, 2004, 12:29 pm
Location: Oz or somepLace like Kansas

Post by stilltrucking » August 12th, 2008, 8:41 am

You asking me what evil is? :o
Who do you think I am Bertrand Russell?
I just thought it was interesting that he used that quote from the bible to begin his autobiography. Russell a stone cold atheist.


All I can tell you is what it is to me, evil is not supernatural, evil is banal.
As Hannah Arendt said in her book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil
Evil is human all too human, but I have met one evil pussy cat.

But I think it would be best to ask Joel the next time he comes by Studio Eight. I am not that much into theology.

Is the human race progressing?

I am not so sure anymore.

“Can we live in this world where historical occurrence is nothing but an unending concatenation of illusory progress and bitter disappointment?

Husserl and Nietzsche: History, Philosophy, and the Possibility of Hope

********************
Nothing to do with your question but
Hannah Arendt
Blows me away
Jewish woman with a N*zi lover, Martin Heidegger who went along with the N*zis to get along. He turned against his Jewish mentor Husserl. She broke it off with him but then went back to him after the war.

Virginia Woolf wondered why men find women so much more interesting than women find men.
I wonder too
why men are so boring.
Last edited by stilltrucking on August 12th, 2008, 9:02 am, edited 3 times in total.

User avatar
Jacob
Posts: 210
Joined: June 12th, 2008, 7:20 pm
Location: Somewhere in Wisconsin...
Contact:

Post by Jacob » August 12th, 2008, 9:21 am

stilltrucking wrote:You asking me what evil is? :o
Who do you think I am Bertrand Russell?
I just thought it was interesting that he used that quote from the bible to begin his autobiography. Russell a stone cold atheist.

All I can tell you is what it is to me, evil is not supernatural, evil is banal.
As Hannah Arendt said in her book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil
Evil is human all too human, but I have met one evil pussy cat.

But I think it would be best to ask Joel the next time he comes by Studio Eight. I am not that much into theology.

Is the human race progressing?

I am not so sure anymore.
“Can we live in this world where historical occurrence is nothing but an unending concatenation of illusory progress and bitter disappointment?

Husserl and Nietzsche: History, Philosophy, and the Possibility of Hope
I think we are becoming more aware of ourselves and the world around us, but indeed, the cycle of history is still turning, but I think it can be averted if we managed to stop killing each other for once. So there's hope, as long as we strive to put forth the effort in the work needed.

And I don't think it's odd at all for Russell to quote a line from the Christian bible, because there's nothing wrong with finding insight into words and ideas. If it sounds good, it sounds good, even if the larger whole may not have something to do with what you like.

User avatar
stilltrucking
Posts: 20605
Joined: October 24th, 2004, 12:29 pm
Location: Oz or somepLace like Kansas

Post by stilltrucking » August 12th, 2008, 11:13 am

I have not read Russell's autobiography

Post Reply

Return to “Inspiration Station”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests