The humours of In Our Time

In a most exciting episode, In Our Time, discussed the medical philosophy of the four humors. It is easy to laugh about it from our modern perspective. The whole approach seems so overly symbolic and detached from physical reality. However, and it fascinates Melvyn Bragg no less: the four humors were already thought of in the era of Hippocrates and if at all stopped to be taken seriously, it was only by the nineteenth century.

His guests analyze the ideas and explain that some of the recommended treatments, actually did, by chance, bring relief - like bloodletting. Apart from some efficacy and the inescapable placebo effect, the four humors delivered also a mode of thought. An order in the universe, a connection between man and his environment; it was altogether a fruitful language which culture has cherished and in many ways still does.

This brings about an altogether awkward feeling we are still connected to this seemingly barbarian medicine. Only in the last minutes a thought is uttered which struck me during the podcast as well. Undoubtedly, four humor medicine is inferior to modern medicine, but the philosophy, the language, the ratio, does have its merits. It shows, more than naturalistic, causality, infection oriented medicine man's relation to his environment. The effect on health of the air we breath, the food we eat, the places where we dwell and the personality we have.

Share on Facebook

Epistemological skepticism - Philosophy Bites

Philosophy Bites (PB) invited Barry Stroud to speak about skepticism (they write 'scepticism'). Skepticism, we know from podcasts such a the skeptics' guide to the universe, teaches us to be skeptic towards all sorts of claims of alternative medicine, UFO, conspiracy theories and other outlandish beliefs. But in PB skepticism is taken in a more accurate (philosophical) context; the context of epistemology.

What I learned in university was that epistemology was the philosophical investigation of knowledge and indeed, we are talking knowledge here. Skepticism scrutinizes knowledge: how can you know, what you think you know, to be correct. Even of your senses, you cannot be entirely certain. Ultimate skepticism is questioning even our perception.

For a moment I thought we'd slip into the question of reality: whether there is reality at all. If we can't trust our senses, maybe reality as we experience it is just a dream. But eventually this related issue, is a different one. Stroud, interviewed by Nigel Warburton and David Edmonds, uses the ten minutes of the show to rapidly take us through the intricacies of epistemological skepticism. What fun!

Share on Facebook

Truus Menger

Martin Simek had bezoek van Truus Menger (audio) in een uitzending die al bijna een maand geleden plaats had, maar pas deze week in de feed werd gezet. Het werd weer eens een heel erg goede uitzending van Simek 's nachts. Martin klaagt halverwege hardop dat hij niet in vorm is en hij oogst zelfs de openlijke kritiek van Menger, die niet over haar ervaring met het afschieten van verraders in 40-45 wil spreken.

Maar in zijn zoektocht weet Simek toch de menselijkheid naar boven te halen. Het meest aangrijpend is wel Truus' relaas over een mislukte redding van joodse kinderen. Zij moest als 19-jarige meisje, actief in het verzet, met een groep kinderen, varierend in de leeftijd van 3 tot 14 jaar een rivier oversteken. Ze had een bootje en ze lag met de kinderen op de oever. Ze moesten in dekking blijven en ze moesten tot 3 uur 's nachts wachten op het juiste getij. Maar om middernacht hield Truus het niet meer uit en besloot de oversteek te wagen.

Door de sterke stroming en de geluiden over het water werden ze ontdekt. De Duitsers schoten en het bootje sloeg om. De kinderen verdronken; Truus kon er maar een op de wal krijgen. Dit trauma slaat op haar 40e nogmaals toe, tezamen met alle andere tegenslagen in haar leven, maar de oude vrouw laat zich in de studio van af het begin kennen als een vitale en humorvolle vrouw. 84 jaar oud, een lang en kommervol leven achter de rug, maar onverwoestbaar.

Share on Facebook

The flight of Wright

WNYC's Radio Lab commemorates the first human flight: Orville and Wilbur Wright's achievement to get their plane off the ground on December 17th 1903 at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The program (and the podcast) turns out as a crafty collage of voices, sounds, music and statements. Ten minutes of depicting the achievement, outlining the historical importance and some human interest.

The feat of the Wright brothers speaks to the imagination. I recall learning about them in grade school and I see my son learning about them in grade school as well. The romantic fascination is inevitable and the Radio lab podcast hits that tune full force. For a moment I wanted to resist, if not for a simple thought expressed also in the show.

The Wright brothers in their efforts were about 10 years ahead of their competitors (or fellow researchers). Had they failed, flight may have entered world history ten years later. What is the difference between 1903 and 1913? It is that war we have been writing about so much in this blog lately: The Great War. Not that air force was really significant in this war, but it was widely experimented with, further adding to its rapid development.

The last second thought with regards to the romantic appraisal of the flight of Wright - are we better off with flight becoming real as early as 1903? Any slight alteration with regards to the Great War and whatever It brought about, affects us heavily today. What if...? Bad medicine for historians.

Share on Facebook

Times Talks (NYT)

Times Talks is a podcast of the New York Times. It is recording of a talk before a live audience at the Times Center with figures from American Culture. Or as the NYT words it on its podcast web page: Intimate discussions with people of note and New York Times journalists and editors. The editions vary in length from half an hour to over an hour. I have tried two of them. Two issues with people from the film industry that kept on talking while the interviewing journalist kept on laughing.

The most recent is Editor at large Lynn Hirschberg discussing film making with actors-directors-producers-brothers Luke and Andrew Wilson. Owen was supposed to have been there but was reported to be 'under the weather.' (audio)

Another episode was Actor and comedian Bill Murray from Arts and Leisure Weekend 2005. Bill Murray takes over the show, rambles on. It is to be admitted that he is very entertaining, but the way the interviewer must continue to laugh hysterically is too much for my taste. Smacking of being eager to please, rather than being genuinely amused. (audio)

Share on Facebook

Rumi - Speaking of Faith

"The Ecstatic Faith of Rumi", is the title of the last issue of Speaking of Faith. Subject is the 13th-century mystic and poet Rumi of whom I had never heard, but who appears to be popular, not only among Muslems, but in recent years also in the West. Krista Tippett speaks about Rumi with Fatemeh Keshavarz professor of Persian and comparative literature at the Washington University.

Professor Keshavarz displays an enchanted affection for Rumi, quoting him and referring to him with loving reverence. What leaps out to the unexpecting listener is a type of both mystic and worldly Islam, which is artful, playful, philosophical and mystical at the same moment. Rumi's lines dance like the whirling dervishes, whose performance he is claimed to have invented as well.

Fatemeh Keshavarz: I think the energy can't go in all directions completely in control and you have to choose because you have one life. You have to spend it wisely. So absolutely, he would say choose, be selective, recognize your own value. At another point he says, 'You are an astrolabe to God, you know, don't use yourself for things that are not worthwhile.'

But I want to linger a little bit on that idea of being scattered because that's a key concept in Sufi thought. And actually it's something that the Buddhists also talk about a lot. And that is our mind just jumps from one thing to the other and, you know, the Sufis call it the onrush of ideas into our minds. And in some ways, if we allow it, it takes us over, you know. You know, what am I going to do about that credit card? You know, how am I going to--what do I do about this student paper, you know, whatever else is that you're concerned with, my family, my kids, my future. So it all invades your life and so in a way you're pulled in all directions. You're scattered. So one of the purposes of his poetry and one of the concepts the Sufis talk about is to collect that scatteredness.

Share on Facebook