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Letters
from Exile Observations
on a Culture in Decline Mediocracy is a new book which takes a satirical look at modern culture by Fabian by Dr. Celia Green Wikipedia, the online
encyclopaedia, describes Celia Green as a British
intellectual and author, notable for her advocacy of comprehensive
philosophical skepticism, her critique of 20th-century thought, and her
psychological theories. All of these attributes are well in evidence in her
latest book, which contains trenchant analyses of education, collectivised medicine, and modern ethics. The latter
section introduces a provocative and original distinction between tribal and
territorial morality. It is actually a principle
of modern paternalism that if you want something you should be stopped from
having it
Most foods are harmful to some people if taken in excess, and I
expect the only reason that carrots are still available without a
prescription is that no one has got very excited about them, or claimed that
they might cure cancer. It is easier to make people appear
equally stupid than to make them equally clever, so teaching methods are
adopted which make it practically impossible for anyone to learn anything. I spent a couple of years between
eleven and thirteen analysing the social evaluations that were taken for
granted, also acquiring a thorough scepticism about processes regarded as
causal, and the consistency of the physical world, as well as the reliability
of my own mental processes. By the
time I was thirteen I was running out of things to think about, so starting
on a run of exam-taking seemed all the more appropriate, as I was finding it
difficult to make use of spare time. It is when the commercial factor
enters into the situation that the possibility of genuine individual liberty
arises. Celia Green has been at various
times Senior Open Scholar at Somerville College, Oxford, holder
of a Perrott Warrick Studentship from Trinity
College, Cambridge, and Honorary Research Fellow at the Department of
Philosophy, Liverpool University. She
was awarded her doctorate by Oxford University for work on causation and the
mind-body problem. She is the author of eight other books, among them The
Human Evasion, The Decline and Fall of Science, and Advice to
Clever Children. Some comments on the book: 'Packed
with ideas, and completely original.' - Dr Charles McCreery 'Celia
Green dazzles with her usual lucidity on an enormous range of topics. A
trenchant, amusing and thought-provoking collection.' - Dr Fabian Tassano, author of Mediocracy UK
£12.95 Published
by Oxford Forum ISBN
978 09536772 38 Letters from Exile is available from Blackwells Bookshop, Oxford (tel. 01865
792792) and Amazon UK. It can
also be ordered direct from the distributors: BSP House · Station Road · Linton · CB1 6NW · UK Telephone: +44
(0)1223 894870 · Fax:+44
(0)1223 894871 Click here for other books published by Oxford Forum |