The Spirit of Christmas
Christmas has been an historical interest of mine for many years,
at least since learning about its many borrowings from non-Christian
traditions from almost the beginning of the holiday itself. There is
an Atheist group in Florida, for instance, that has set up billboards
with the observation that December 25 was, to begin with, the date
that the birth of Mithras was celebrated during the era of the Roman
Empire.
Of course, there is no date given in the Gospels for the time of Jesus'
birth,
although the interpretation is more-or-less common that shepherds watch
their flocks by night primarily in early Spring so maybe he came into
the world around March 21, which was celebrated in Mesopotamia
as the time of the resurrection of Tammuz, in effect, his rebirth.
But these pieces of information only begin to scratch the surface:
Yule logs, mistletoe, wreaths, Santa Clause, magical reindeer,
gift giving at the time of the Winter solstice, and much else
all had their origins in pre-Christian faiths and traditions.
Some Christians, of course, also know these facts and have declared war
upon such customs. But it is entirely possible to see the fusion of
non-Christian
religious traditions onto the Gospel story of Jesus' birth as found in
Matthew
and Luke (but not Mark and John) as something good, to be cherished and
revered. Just as Matthew, for instance, added a detail to the nativity
story
in which some Magi (we are not told how many even if our traditions
say there were three, or maybe twelve) visit the Christ child. Which is
most interesting inasmuch as "Magi" refers to Magians of what is now
Kurdistan, the homeland of the Medes, hence sectarian Zoroastrians.
Indeed, some Romans adopted Magian trappings, in effect, pretending
to also be Zoroastrian priests, as did Simon Magus. So we are warned
to look out for imposters who, needless to say, are harmful to faith,
unlike actual Magians who venerate Jesus whatever else they
may believe.
Traditional Christmas carols may also incorporate non-Christian (Pagan)
customs, as does the wassail song, and O Tannenbaum, in reference to
the ancient custom of spiritualizing certain types of trees, like, for
instance
the oak tree oracles at Dodona. And there are angels who are "on high,"
who also are vestiges of the deities of ancient pantheons even if there
are Biblical references to such spiritual beings as in Deuteronomy 32
and acknowledgements of "household gods" in I Samuel and Hosea.
All of this has been adopted and made Christian during the 2000 years
or so of Christian history. And why not?, just as the Japanese, who remain
Buddhist and Shintoist, have made Christmas trees part of their own culture
and, indeed, as happens today where you might least expect it, as among
Iranian Shi'ite immigrants in metro Los Angeles, or Shi'ites in Baghdad
who had, it seems, one of the largest Christmas trees in the world this
year.
None of this subtracts anything at all from observance of Jesus' birth
along more "orthodox" lines. Nothing subtracts anything of value from
one of the most magnificent of all Christian observances, Midnight Mass
at a Catholic church or cathedral, or subtracts from nativity pageants
or more modest celebrations featuring church members and little kids
at Evangelical congregations almost everywhere. Indeed, a sort of
religious competition helps explain why Americans celebrate the holiday
the way we do. The importation of Lutheran customs in the later 18th
century spurred the end of the Puritan custom of observing Christmas
with dour seriousness, no tree, no gift giving, etc, just prayer all day
long.
And those Lutheran customs already featured synthesis with a number
of Norse Pagan traditions, such as Santa himself, originally Wotan
but reinterpreted as an historical holy man from Asia Minor
we call Saint Nicholas.
All of this says, to me anyway, that we are better for this kind of
diversity
and that such diversity brings blessings into our lives in many different
ways.
What does Christmas mean? Some philosophical thinkers have had this
question on their agendas and bellow you will find three papers on the
subject.
The holiday is so very beautiful in so many ways, yet is also raises
questions
about commercialism, overindulgence, the worth or worthlessness of kitsch,
the place of families in the life of the mind, how Christmas can educate
people to their shared history, how philosophy itself has been shaped
by thinkers who were inspired by the Christian message or, s'il vous plait,
a message suffused with ideas and values from outside of Christianity
but recognized as good and important to our well being.
Some day there needs to be a fully developed "philosophy of Christmas."
We are just at that place now where this idea has begun to gain traction.
In other words, here is a golden opportunity.....
Billy
=============================================
from the site: Virtual Philosophy
November 29, 2006
The Philosophy of Christmas: An Interview with Stephen Law, author of The
Xmas Files
_Stephen Law_
(http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/stephen_law/profile.html) first came to
public attention with his excellent introductory
philosophy book, _The Philosophy Files_
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=stephen%20law%20philosophy%20files&tag=virtualphilos-21&index=books&li
nkCode=ur2&camp=1634&creative=6738) . Through skilful use of imaginative
thought experiments he manages to communicate quite complex ideas to a very
wide audience. His later books_The Outer Limits_
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=stephen%20law%20the%20outer%20limits&tag=virtualphil
os-21&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1634&creative=6738) and _The
Philosophy Gym_
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=stephen%20law%20philosophy%20gym&tag=virtualphilos-21&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1634&creat
ive=6738) continued in a similar vein. More recently his polemic, _The
War For Children's Minds_
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=stephen%20law%20war%20children%20minds&tag=virtualphilos-21&index=books&linkC
ode=ur2&camp=1634&creative=6738) , addressed fundamental questions about
moral education. But it is his book _The Xmas Files_
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=stephen%20law%20xmas%20files&tag=virtualphilos-21
&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1634&creative=6738) that is most
seasonally appropriate. In this brief interview for Virtual Philosopher,
Stephen
explains what it's about.
Nigel: Your book The Xmas Files is, as far as I know, the first book to
look at the Philosophy of Christmas. Not an obvious topic. Could you tell me
a bit more about it?
Stephen: It consists of 14 short chapters (some very short) each looking
at a different aspect of Christmas in a philosophical way.
Nigel: One of the topics you write about, sentimentality, is particularly
interesting. Ive already written a post about sentimentality:
_'Sentimentality as a Way of Avoiding Clear Thought'_
(http://nigelwarburton.typepad.com/virtualphilosopher/2006/11/sentimentallity.html)
. What do you think
sentimentality is, and are we particularly prone to it at Christmas time?
Stephen: Christmas is of course a great festival of Dickensian
sentimentality - all that hearty back-slapping and good will. I won't define
sentimentality, but I will suggest that it sometimes involves the disguising
or
hiding of reality by means of the kitsch, the Disney-esque. It often involves
a
form of self-deception. Christmas "round robins" are a good example. The
authors are often guilty of sentimentalizing their own lives, presenting a
glossy, sanitized version to both themselves and others. Not healthy, I
think. And, I argue, potentially damaging.
Nigel : What other topics do you cover?
Stephen: There are chapters on the ethics of lying about that hideous tie
Aunt Gertrude gave you, the morality of eating turkey (and meat generally),
the dangers of kitsch Christmas sentimentality (attacked by e.g.
C.S.Lewis), whether the Christian message of "peace" is such a good idea,
whether
our "thinking of others" at Xmas time actually goes anything like far enough,
whether "faith" is a good idea, whether the "incarnation" of God even
makes sense, whether atheists can enjoy Xmas with a clear conscience, and so
on.
Nigel: How has your book been received? Have you, for instance, been
accused of 'unweaving the rainbow', removing some of the joy of Christmas by
subjecting it to such critical analysis?
Stephen: Not yet, but it is only a matter of time, I guess.
Nigel: Throughout your work you put an emphasis on the improving effects
of the good use of reason. How would you reply to those who maintain that
this is an exhausted post-Enlightenment approach to life that is no longer
tenable?
Stephen: Critics of the Enlightenment like Alasdair MacIntyre and John
Gray point out, correctly, that those Enlightenment philosophers who thought
reason alone would answer all our moral questions (e.g. Kant) and would
inevitably usher in a brave new world were mistaken on both counts. It is
certainly true that we cannot simply "think" our way to being good. There is
currently a great deal of attention being focused in the US on character
education, which emphasizes the importance of instilling good habits
(influenced by Aristotle). I agree. But of course none of this shows that the
ability
to think clearly and independently, and the courage to do so, aren't
extremely valuable moral resources that none of us can afford to be without.
In
fact, those who distrust encouraging young people to think and question are
usually either relativists who think there is no truth to discover, or
religious authoritarians who simply want children to accept, more or less
uncritically, what they are told (as an act of "faith"). This, by the way, is
the central concern of my latest book, _The War For Children's Minds_
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=stephen%20law%20war%20children%
20minds&tag=virtualphilos-21&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1634&creative=673
8) [Melissa Benn's _feature on The War for Children's Minds_
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/family/story/0,,1787968,00.html) from The
Guardian].
----------------------------------------------------------------
from the site: The Philosopher's Eye
Christmas and Philosophy
We recently caught up with Scott C. Lowe, professor and chair in the
Philosophy Department at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, and editor
of_Christmas – Philosophy for Everyone: Better Than a Lump of Coal_
(http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-144433090X.html) . He is
also the
author of “Ebenezer Scrooge – Man of Principle” which appeared in Think
magazine in 2009. His philosophical interests are in political and legal
philosophy. He hopes his students think of him as the reformed Scrooge at the
end of the story, not the hard hearted Scrooge who meets the ghost of Jacob
Marley.
PE: Why did you decide to edit a book on Christmas and philosophy?
SCL: It started with an article I published on Ebenezer Scrooge. He’s a
great example of the role of character in morality which is a hot debate in
ethics these days. From there it struck me that there are a lot of
interesting questions about Christmas that philosophers might have something
to say
about.
PE: What are so
(https://philosophycompass.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/xmas_bauble1.png) me of
the central concerns of the book, and why are they
important?
SCL: Christmas is the most widely celebrated holiday in the Western world,
you can’t avoid it. So questions about what Christmas means to Christians
and non-Christians alike seem pretty interesting and important to me.
Questions like ‘should we lie to our kids about Santa?’ or ‘should we really
worry about keeping Christ in Christmas’ are ones that lots of folks have
thought about.
PE: And what is it that draws you (personally) to this topic?
SCL: The commercialization of Christmas is a really interesting, and
disturbing, trend to me, even though I’m not a religious person. That
Christmas
has turned into an orgy of stuff really makes me think about what’s
valuable in life
PE: What sort of reaction do you hope it will get?
SCL: There are a lot of different views about Christmas represented in the
book. I hope people, of whatever stripe, will be challenged by what they
read there. I’d like folks to read and think about Christmas more
reflectively and not, say, just throw the book into the fireplace.
PE: Did anything in particular strike you through the process with working
with the contributors to the book and with the material they produced
(things you learned, surprises, etc.)?
SCL: The conflict between religious and secular Christmas is really old! I
learned a lot about the history of Christmas celebrations from working on
the book; the making merry part of Christmas has been around a long, long
time.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
No idea how to eliminate the drab color areas from the article
but the material is interesting. Wittgenstein is not on my list of
favorite philosophers, not at all. On the contrary, he is someone
to debunk some time, for various reasons, not least the fact that
he was homosexual and anti-Christmas. But here is a very different
approach to the theme of Christmas that might be thought about
to good effect, maybe in contrast to much better ways
to conceive of the holiday.....
from the site: Philosophy by the Way
December 26, 2016
How
to Celebrate
celebrate Christmas:
Wittgenstein
There is hardly any western philosopher who writes about Christmas. It’s a
bit strange, since Christmas is the most important holiday in the western
world, even though for many people it’s no longer celebrated because of its
religious meaning. It has turned into an important secular holiday,
especially to be celebrated in the family. In this way Christmas is gradually
becoming important all over the world, also in non-Christian countries.
Therefore, it’s remarkable that all major (western) philosophers
philosophically
ignore it, although much can be said about it. Even such a devote
roman-catholic like Montaigne usually kept away from writing on Christmas,
probably
because he didn’t want to be involved in the religious conflicts of his
time. He was afraid of being accused to support the Reformation, if he would
present a moderate point of view.
It’s true that Sartre wrote a kind of Nativity play, when he was interned
as a prisoner of war in Germany during Christmas 1940, but actually it was
an act of solidarity with his fellow prisoners and a rejection of Nazism.
But it is an exception and in fact only Wittgenstein devotes occasionally
some words to Christmas. We know that he often celebrated it with his family –
anyway before he definitively moved to England – but that he didn’t like
it. However, during the First World War, so exactly hundred years ago, he
was not at home, since he was a soldier. Wittgenstein wrote a diary during
these years, and it would be interesting to know what he did on December 25
or 26, 1916, but alas, this part of his diary has been lost or he didn’t
write about it. What we do know is what he did during Christmas two years
before. These were the days that soldiers on the Western Front fraternized
and celebrated Christmas together with the enemy, to the great annoyance of
the generals, who succeeded to suppress this fraternization in later years.
But in December 1914 Wittgenstein was in Eastern Europe and his post was
behind the front line at a quiet place. So even if he would have liked to
fraternize with the Russian enemy – which I doubt – he couldn’t do that.
Wittgenstein tells us that on Christmas Day 1914 he takes the midday meal
in the officers’ mess. Was it special Christmas dinner? I don’t know, for
he doesn’t mention what he ate. And Wittgenstein tells us that “he worked
a bit”. The next day, on Boxing Day, he “hardly worked”, so he writes, and
in the evening he went to a coffee house with a young man whom he had met,
and he had an interesting discussion with the guy.
It needs some explanation what Wittgenstein means when he writes that he “
worked”. He doesn’t mean that he did his tasks as a soldier, but that he
worked on the manuscript of what would later become his Tractatus
logico-philosophicus. We know even exactly what he wrote then:
“The proposition says something” is identical with: It has a particular
relation to reality, whatever this may be. And if this reality is given and
also that relation, then the sense of the proposition is known, "pvq" has a
different relation to reality from "p.q", etc.
The possibility of the proposition is, of course, founded on the principle
of signs as going proxy for objects. [Cf. 4.0312.]
Thus in the proposition something has something else as its proxy. But
there is also the common cement. My fundamental thought is that the logical
constants are not proxies. That the logic of the fact cannot have anything as
its proxy. [See 4.0312.]
[from Notebooks 1914-1916]
In the Tractatus (4.0312) this would become:
The possibility of propositions is based upon the principle of the
representation of objects by signs.
My fundamental thought is that the “logical constants” do not represent.
That the logic of the facts cannot be represented.
So, during Christmas 1914, four months after he had voluntarily joined the
army, Wittgenstein was working on the most fundamental thoughts of his
early philosophy, namely that a language represents the world it depicts. This
idea would become one of the basic ideas of analytical philosophy. Even
though today we will not take it in a literal sense any longer, isn’t it
still considered true that the words we speak represent at least our view on
the world and how we want that others – the persons we are speaking to – see
it?
...
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