senile god

Tyler and John sat down to discuss his latest book, including who he thinks will carry on his work, what young people should learn if liberalism is dead, whether modern physics allows for true atheism, what in Eastern Orthodoxy attracts him, the benefits of pessimism, what philanthropic cause he’d invest a billion dollars in, under what circumstances he’d sacrifice his life, what he makes of UFOs, the current renaissance in film and books, whether Monty Python is still funny, how Herman Melville influenced him, who first spotted his talent, his most unusual work habit, what he’ll do next, and more. --John Gray on Pessimism, Liberalism, and Theism

это с ним беседует Tyler Cowen, тот, что ведет Marginal Revoluton. среди прочего Gray говорит:

Yes, I’m not a theist, I’m an atheist, so for me, it would be quite easy to accept that the world, the cosmos, the human situation, human life, human events do not correspond to any ideas of justice we might have developed...

и дальше он объясняет, чем его атеизм отличается от общепринятого, который проистекает из теизма, который reproduce the central categories and concepts of the religion they deny, even as they deny the beliefs. очень интересно дальше про providence: For me, there’s no providence of any kind in history.

абзац со слов That seems to be a secularization of Christian and other ideas of divine providence in history. мог бы вполне Беккет написать. вот это да - в следующем абзаце он Беккета упоминает!!!

David Hume, in one of his dialogues on religion, he says, maybe the universe has been created by a senile god who then forgot what he’d created...

...
I am attracted more to Eastern Orthodoxy than I am to Catholicism, partly because its rituals and art are so beautiful, and for me, many of my judgments are aesthetic.

касательно пессимизма его рассуждения тривиальны. ну и всякое там про биосферу, религию и прочее - как-то неубедительно. зато под конец он даже Стругацких упоминает, Пикник - очень кстати.

по части кино я его вкусы не разделяю. а по части книг... за Моби Дика я уже вряд ли возьмусь когда-нибудь. да и за Пруста - тоже.