Tuesday, October 28, 2008

The best magnifying glass

"A shard in your own eye is the best magnifying glass."

-Adorno, Minima Moralia (full text here)

Nice thought even though in real life pain often becomes a smokescreen, hiding from us the truth rather than magnifying it.

In other news, I am dismayed by this new advertisement promoting atheism. I do think it is very important to counter all sorts of religious propaganda so this is definitely a good idea. What I don't like is the second line which smacks of smug and petty-bourgeois hedonism to me which I strongly disapprove of. It should rather have been "There is probably no God. Now read Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger and most of all START WORRYING!"

3 comments:

Kubla Khan said...

This promoting anything is like a fetish love. the slogan sh'd not have the "probably" thrown in. it thus becomes more annoying. Dawkins is annoying anyway.

also, how can one be sure of anything?

Alok said...

One can't be totally sure of anything but there are definitely degrees of certainty. One can be much more certain about laws of physics than the existence of some God for example.

"Probably" is there because you can never be certain about non-existence of something. Who knows someday God finally wakes up from his slumbers or comes back from his exile and decides to give us some proof of his existence. Scientists are open to possiblities!

O Menino Mais Esperto do Mundo said...

LOL