A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider God-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, wrongly believing that he has the Gods on his side.
–Aristotle, Politica bk v (ca. 340 BCE)
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An elaborate spoof on Intelligent Design, The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is neither too elaborate nor too spoofy to succeed in nailing the fallacies of ID. It's even wackier than Jonathan Swift's suggestion that the Irish eat their children as a way to keep them from being a burden, and it may offend just as many people, but Henderson, described elsewhere as a 25-year-old "out-of-work physics major," puts satire to the same serious use that Swift did. Oh, yes, it is very funny. -- Scientific American
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Gold? Our Aristotle should have won that…
Well, no wonder people like the classic Aristotle are… classics. Not sure they’ve always been appreciated though. Any classical scholars amongst the Pastafarians?
I remember Niccolo Machiavelli saying something similar in The Prince. If I recall correctly, he wrote that leaders should act religious but not be religious, just to be liked by their subjects.
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Sounds like he and Aristotle were thinking along the same lines.
-Avatar of Reason
@Reasonable Avatar Nov 24th, 2007 at 3:18 am: “Sounds like he and Aristotle were thinking along the same lines.”
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Sounds even more like copying the ideas coming from a highly reputed brain…
Ramen, Aristotle. Somehow these tactics remind me of George Bush.
So true, Aristotle. So true.
Darwinfish, you stole my thoughts! Thought-thief. But, yeah. BUSH!
RAmen to all!
Right from this moment, I believe in God.
[evil laugh]
Bush……….. Yaarrrrrrrgh… Ye said the dreaded “B” word.
Couldn’t resist:
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Immanuel Kant was a real pissant
who was very rarely stable.
Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar
who could think you under the table.
David Hume could out consume
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,
And Wittgenstein was a beery swine
who was just as sloshed as Schlegel.
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There’s nothing Nietzsche couldn’t teach ya
’bout the raisin’ of the wrist.
Socrates himself was permanently pissed.
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John Stuart Mill, of his own free will,
after half a pint of shandy was particularly ill.
Plato, they say, could stick it away,
‘alf a crate of whiskey every day!
Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle,
and Hobbes was fond of his Dram.
And Rene Descartes was a drunken fart:
“I drink, therefore I am.”
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Yes, Socrates himself is particularly missed;
A lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he’s pissed.
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St John the Blasphemist
Saint of Monty Python Sketches
History had shown the best way to rule a population is through their religion. Most of Europe has tried to get away from this with their desire for seperation of Church and State, something our founding fathers also wanted. It’s a shame we can’t seem to achieve that in the United States.
Reminds me of Hitler claiming to be a Christian. Probably the exact same thing.
Is that why bush says god speaks to him??
Its the name: he thinks he’s the bush god spoke through. He’s just not on fire……
@Jean Bart
“Sounds even more like copying the ideas coming from a highly reputed brain…”
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You’re right. That does sound plausible especially because anyone who tells people not to be virtuous can’t be expected to be virtuous on their own. Shame on me for giving others the benefit of the doubt!
-Avatar of Reason
Wow. That about sums it up don’t it. You ad in another qoute…
“The gods too are fond of a joke.”
Aristotle
And you have Bush.
It appears that philosophy does strange things - at least around here in my machine. Yesterday, Friday, was the 23rd of November, out hyar in Injun Fightin’ Country - or so my calendar says anyway. Yet the article is listed as having been posted on November 24th, which is Saturday; and the responses are dated the 24th, even though they first appeared yesterday.
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Is the website itself in a totally different time zone; one on the other side of the International Date Line?
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@ St. John the Blasphemist - Is that an original? Anyway, I wish I had seen it back some 55+ years ago, when my Jesuit advisor was critiquing my Bachelor Thesis. (Or do I?) Come to think of it, he really didn’t have all that much of a sense of humor after all. But in any event, it would have been a lively session.
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We might have debated the questions: Is it “IN VINO VERITAS”? Or is it, “EX OPERE VINO CONFABULATIO?”
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Many thanks for posting it.
Just BTW, it’s 7:40 AM around here - on the clock anyway. Is there something about FSM time that is supposed to leave one feeling a bit like . . . maybe Alice coming back through the looking glass, one might say?
Aristotle’s quote actually echos Lucretius who wrote, ” All religion is sublime to the peasant, useful to the politician and ridiculous to the philosopher.” Religion has always lent itself to the politically powerful. It tells the faithful to obey lawful authorities “render unto Caesar. . . ” and those same authorities protect religion and permit it free reign to line its own pockets at the expense of the flock. Diderot said it best, “Mankind will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.” LC