The issue at hand.A PERSON'S LIFE comes to an end, and suddenly the span of that life is complete. For a time those closest to the deceased live in a warp flooded with memories and the mind's attempt to fill in gaps. More so when death comes quickly, as in the case of a fatal accident or a casualty of war, questions abound regarding decisions made, degrees of control, and the nature of causality causality, in philosophy, the relationship between cause and effect. A distinction is often made between a cause that produces something new (e.g., a moth from a caterpillar) and one that produces a change in an existing substance (e.g. . As we approach the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war Iraq War: see under Persian Gulf Wars. Iraq War or Second Persian Gulf War Brief conflict in 2003 between Iraq and a combined force of troops largely from the U.S. and Great Britain; and a subsequent U.S. , the issue at hand in the March/April Humanist points directly to life lost in military action and begs the questions: How do we value life? What, if anything, is worth dying for? The United Nations recently reported that 34,452 Iraqi civilians died in 2006. Since the March 2003 invasion of that country more than 3,000 U.S. soldiers have been killed. For what? This issue's cover story, titled "The Long Game" offers an answer to that question that's chilling to say the least. Here, Kenneth Anderson Ken or Kenneth Anderson may refer to:
Division of patients for priority of care, usually into three categories: those who will not survive even with treatment; those who will survive without treatment; and those whose survival depends on treatment. ." For those of us who don't believe in an afterlife, life is rich and death is the ultimate sacrifice. The life of the individual matters, and if humanism is to matter humanists must weigh in when people's lives are devalued de·val·ue also de·val·u·ate v. de·val·ued also de·valu·at·ed, de·val·u·ing also de·val·u·at·ing, de·val·ues also de·val·u·ates v.tr. 1. To lessen or cancel the value of. . War is a harsh and horrid enterprise and if it isn't waged to improve the lives of the oppressed op·press tr.v. op·pressed, op·press·ing, op·press·es 1. To keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority: a people who were oppressed by tyranny. 2. or to protect the innocent, then it isn't worth a drop. In the words of General Smedley Butler Smedley Darlington Butler (July 30, 1881 – June 21, 1940), nicknamed "The Fighting Quaker" and "Old Gimlet Eye," was a Major General in the U.S. Marine Corps and, at the time of his death, the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. : "War for any other reason is simply a racket." Of course, with value comes appreciation, and so this issue champions "The Continued Concern of Scientists" by Al Huebner and celebrates life at the university with the concept of the "secular cathedral" as eloquently described in the interview with Harvard Humanist Chaplain Greg Epstein. Lucas Carpenter examines how the liberal arts liberal arts, term originally used to designate the arts or studies suited to freemen. It was applied in the Middle Ages to seven branches of learning, the trivium of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and the quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. education is being diluted within the university system, and Alison Bates Bates , Katherine Lee 1859-1929. American educator and writer best known for her poem "America the Beautiful," written in 1893 and revised in 1904 and 1911. turns our attention to the need for humanists to embrace museums, concert halls, and each other's homes as secular cathedrals wherein art and music can be appreciated for their ability to elucidate the truth of the human condition. On January 19, 2007, my father died as the result of a high-speed cycling crash and so the aforementioned experience with death comes firsthand. "People who live fully often increase their risk of dying earlier," states one of this issues letter writers in reference to the pursuit of adventure, discovery, truth, and beauty. Permit me to say that my father--a naturalist and pioneer by nature--lived (and loved) quite fully and quite artfully throughout his sixty-seven years. I speak for him when I say that in the end, it's what made it all worthwhile. |
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