Editorial Issue number 3 February 2018-01-28

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This issue contains the third centrepiece lecture from the first volume of the
Trilogy: “The World Explored, the World Suffered: The Exeter lectures”. The
lecture is given by Glynn Samuels. It is an excursion into the hinterland of
Religion, Philosophy and Education. Glynn fears the worst for his friend Jude
Sutton whose life is spiralling out of control and he publicly reflects on the
human condition in relation to the inevitable infinite suffering that surrounds it.
There is no answer to such a condition and suffering except a Stoical faith that
Good will somehow emerge from the vortex of chaos of a life that can so easily
be thrown away. He reaches forlornly for some earthly comfort and finds it in
Bach, Freud and Wittgenstein. Here is his tribute to his favourite composer:

“In  this  regard  Wittgenstein  points  to  the  industry  of  Bach,  one  of  my  favorite  
composers,  and  points  out  the  “logical”  or  “grammatical”  relation  of  industry  to  humility  
and  suffering.  Bach  could  really  listen  to  music  with  the  ear  of  an  exploring  sufferer  and  
produce  it  for  the  hands  of  suffering  explorers  too.  I  personally  cannot  hear  what  I  hear  
in  Bach  in  very  much  of  our  popular  music.  Bach  in  his  music  is  like  the  tightrope  walker  
who  is  so  high  up  in  our  cultural  heaven  supported  by  almost  nothing  but  a  little  thread  
which  seems  impossible  to  walk  upon:  and  yet  he  is  up  there  moving  across  the  space  of  
our  cultural  sky.  It’s  almost  as  if  he  has  wings.  This  is  why  Bach’s  music  is  religious  
music,  ladies  and  gentlemen.  When  one  reads  the  Bible  one  gets  the  same  feeling  from  
the  way  the  language  is  used.  It  is  used  like  music,  coming  from  writers  who  suffer  
infinitely,  moving  across  the  heavens  with  the  greatest  of  ease,  as  graceful  and  as  
purposeful  as  an  angel:  the  words  of  Solomon,  the  words  of  Ecclesiastes  may  sometimes  
land  to  the  sound  of  softly  flapping  angels  wings,  but  mostly  these  words  are  like  the  
swifts  flying  on  their  secret  missions.”  
 
The  second  lecture  is  taken  from  the  as  yet  unpublished  volume  two  of  the  trilogy  
subtitled    “The  Birmingham  lectures”.  It  is  a  lecture  given  by  Harry  Middleton  who  has  
moved  to  Birmingham  to  lecture  in  Psychology.  His  first  course  is  attended  by  Robert  
the  protégé  of    Jude  Sutton  who  died  in  a  canal  in  Venice.  Harry  too  is  in  mourning  for  
his  friend  and  has  himself  a  history  of    alcohol  and  drug  abuse.  He    has  embraced  Kant  
and  Wittgenstein  as  a  consequence  of    his  friendship  with  Jude  and    says  the  following  in  
his  first  lecture:  
 

“But what would be an example of a psychological investigation which took into

consideration a reflective philosophical approach? Toward the end of the 18th century, Kant
actually produced a text book for a discipline which he termed “Anthropology”. This work
was designed to facilitate the political task of preparing the citizen for a cosmopolitan
existence. Philosophy, for Kant, was a cosmopolitan affair which could be characterized by 4
fundamental questions: What can I know? What should I do? What may I hope for? and What
is a human being? This last question is the concern of Anthropology specifically but there will
be a relation to the first three questions too. The Anthropology claims that investigations into
human nature can take two forms: either physiological(what nature makes of man) or
pragmatic(what man as a free acting being makes of himself or can and should make of
himself). Physical anthropology is scientific and based on observation or introspection. Kant
is rightly suspicious of this latter line of investigation because of the difficulties of the fact
that the very act of observing changes the behavior that is observed(presumably introspection
also changes the activity it is relating to). If this is correct it is an amazing indictment of the
experimental psychology project that was to be launched in the next century almost a hundred
years later. The freedom of the will is not a variable that can be controlled or manipulated. It
is incredibly difficult if not impossible to grasp the essence of human nature. But almost
paradoxically Kant does think that we can profitably pursue the line of investigation
suggested by pragmatic philosophy, namely, the question of what man can or should make of
himself.”

The third essay is an excerpt from a forthcoming work “The World explored,
the World Suffered: An Introdution to Philosophy course”. The previous two
issues of this journal dealt with Pre-Socratic Philosophy and this issue deals
with Socrates and argues that the Historical Socrates exists very much as our
tradition has characterised him. The Introduction will attempt to construct a
thread of continuity between a number of the Great Philosophers beginning
with the Pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle continuing with Hume Kant
Hegel and Marx and resting with Freud, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Merleau
Ponty, Sartre, Arendt, and Ricouer.