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In political ideology, what is the opposite of secularism?
Given the wp definition of secularism (belief that certain practices or institutions should exist separately from religion), I might take that to be an established church. But then, the opposite of an established church (eg. England) should be the separation of church and state, eg. USA/France. Not an question I can answer precisely, because I haven't heard of secularism as a political ideology before. Could it be a theocracy - ie. a country ruled by God, or clerics? martianlostinspace email me 00:51, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Well, if the opposite of the sea is the sky, and of big is small, then we might say that the opposite of whale is a hummingbird? A great sea mammal to a tiny bird! Or, if the spelling of "whale" becomes "wail", then I suppose "whisper". Actually, though: it makes sense that the opposite of b has to be a, if a is the opposite of b. You can't say that the opposite of a is b, and the opposite of b is c. So my point being, my logic doesn't fit together precisely. martianlostinspace email me 11:10, 13 August 2007 (UTC)
You know there is a word called MILF meaning Mother I'd to Like F***, right? can there be a word called TILF meaning Teen I'd to Like F***?
How much was money has been lost globally in the last month due to the market falling?
alright i worded the question wrong. something is lost when market goes down. what is it called and how much of it is now gone?
moved from Help Desk!
-what are the different asian ideologies? 124.107.20.90 03:20, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
There are a number of things that could be described as ideologies - religion, social constructs, politics.... However, the one that describes most of Asia most thoroughly is Confucianism, having spread across Asia like wildfire and shaped a good portion of the big three (Korea, China, and Japan)'s economic, social, and political landscape (I wrote my thesis on this, in fact). Confucianism primarily stresses a group-oriented social dynamic. Confucianism is an odd beast because it both enforces hierarchy (primarily familial) via the strong emphasis on loyalty and superiority of elders, but the principle of "rectification of names" also attempts to ensure that those "higher-ups" are called leaders on the terms of their leadership. Other "ideologies" might include Taoism, another important social "religion", Shintoism, ASEAN, pacifism (exhibited by post-WWII Japan and exemplified in South Korea's sunshine policy), the previously linked Japan's " Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere" (a euphemism similar to Hitler's "living space" to describe pre-WWII Japanese imperialism in Central and South Asia), and Islam (while not a completely East "Asian" religion, it is Middle Eastern, and Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world). Some more clarification on your definition of "ideology" might be in order if you need more help. - Woo ty Woot? [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 06:55, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Please tell me in what way the Perons used propaganda to support regime. TheLostPrince 10:50, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Could the UK public force revocation of an GBE, KDE etc. by petitioning the UK government? -- 212.204.150.105 14:09, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Anon, we have two issues here:
1) Can the British government withdraw honours, and 2) Can it be forced to do so by the British public?
I cannot answer the first, but certainly, the concept of the elective dictatorship, which seems to make HM government largely opinion proof - at least, to myself it seems like it, compared to other parliamentary systems. It would be difficult for the public to force this, unless it were a really massive issue which threatened the government's position of power. If they could do it, they would normally do it of their own accord rather than public initiative. Even if the government could not, though, Parliament certainly could (constitutionally speaking, by making a law to that effect), because of parliamentary sovereignty. martianlostinspace email me 20:27, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Also see [3]. martianlostinspace email me 20:32, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
And more to the point of your question, [4]. martianlostinspace email me 20:38, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Why is NYC taking threat information from websites? Shouldn't they get any serious threat information from the CIA or NSA before they act and start searching for things?
Can Thomas Hobbes properly be considered as an atheist? Martinben 19:55, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Well, many of his contemporaries certainly thought so. In October 1666 a committee of the House of Commons was empowered to examine the views expressed in Leviathan as part of the preparations for a bill intended to make hereesy a crime. Some even went so far as to suggest that Hobbes' doctrines were responsible for the Great Fire of London! His books were either banned or burnt, and the Catholic church placed De Cive on its Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1654. He was regularly attacked in the press of the day, which delighted in detailing the torments he would suffer in the after-life for his apparent lack of belief. It was his rationalism and materialism that tended to disturb people most; even God is reduced to a material level. Archbishop Tenison was to say of him "Yet for the very handsomeness in dressing his Opinions, as the matter stands, he is to be reproved; because by that means, the poyson which he hath intermixed with them is with the more readiness and danger swallowed." His views were certainly unsettling in an age not noted for latitude in matters of faith and belief: that there was no personal Satan; that the Pentateuch and many other books of the Bible were revisions or compilations from earlier sources; that few miracles could be credited after the Testament period; that witchcraft was a myth; and that religion was often confused with superstition. He was, as one writer has noted, 'anti-ecclesiastical, anti-clerical, anti-enthusiastic, anti-theology, anti-creeds and anti-inspiration.'
So, was he an atheist? All I can really say here is that the evidence suggests not; and in his personal life he adhered to the Anglican Church, which, in any case, was for him a necessary instrument of Leviathan. He believed in God as First Cause, but denied most of the manifestations and attributes accorded to Him by organised religion; even holiness, goodness and blessedness, which in the Hobbesian view are all unknowable facts. His God, such as He is, is distant, cold, intellectual amd essentially unknowable. What did he really believe? That is a question that can only be answered by God, and by Hobbes! Clio the Muse 02:59, 13 August 2007 (UTC)
A household handbook I'm reading advises (on home ownership):
“ | A home won't necessarily make you rich, but houses, condominiums, and cooperative apartments tend to grow in value over the long term. Also, few other investments offer the opportunity to boost their value while you get day-to-day enjoyment from them. | ” |
[emphasis added]
My question is what other investment would fit that description? I'm coming up with a complete blank -- it seems to me, other than "art" which you can enjoy but not really "use", there is no " durable good" (some would argue a house is just that) that tends to appreciate, or at least often does. Are there any other examples? Is there anything I can buy and use, with the expectation that it has a good chance of appreciating in value even as I use it?
Thank you!
84.0.126.69 21:58, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Let's assume you're talking about purely financial value, and note that even real estate does fall in value occassionally. The market doesn't always rise all the time. Other than that, are there not many antiques of many things which increase as they go? Many quality yachts, for example, will last long, and hold their value for a long time. Much more than say - cheaper yachts, of similar size and performance which aren't really built to last. But then you could call that real estate to - you can live on boats, obviously. Vintage motors? Are they not useable/enjoyable (as any car) yet hold their value better than some? martianlostinspace email me 22:14, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
202.168.50.40 22:34, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
(edit conflict) Just a quick note that you've already disqualified the other obvious example the text was talking about: art. The quote does say enjoy, not use, after all. Other stuff that might qualify: jewelery, antiques, historical items, etc. To a limited extent, wines, cigars, whiskeys, and other age-able items might also qualify, though they're obviously less surely to increase in value compared to real estate. Matt Deres 22:41, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Some instruments like a well made Grand Piano.
192.53.187.183 15:26, 16 August 2007 (UTC)
Please i need a good poem that illustrate attitude and outlook in england just before first world war —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.177.38.137 ( talk • contribs)
Another approach might be to use
Rudyard Kipling's If, which first appeared in 1910. It was soon taken up to be read aloud in English schools, and even today many old people can recite a few lines of it, if not more. Not a great poet (but a fine writer of short stories and novels) Kipling was one of the most admired writers of his day, and If sums up the English admiration for self-reliance, coolness, truth, resilience and long-suffering, and for keeping the
stiff upper lip, which were the fabric of the old ordered society. The poem survived the
Great War, and although it looks old-fashioned, its heart stands outside time.
Read it
here.
Xn4 03:16, 13 August 2007 (UTC)
Loki, can I say without a trace of disrespect that Goodbye to All That is perhaps the very last book I would recommend here. I has almost nothing to say about the 'attitude and outlook' in England before the Great War, unless you think that Grave's rather limited experience at Charterhouse is somehow relevant to the question? Personally, I have always wondered by what right the 'War Poets'-always understood here to be a rather circumscribed group-are held up to be the 'voice of a generation', and what right they had to sit in judgement over Rupert Brooke or any other poet of the time. Brooke was as good a poet as any of them, and better than some. I will happily set The Old Vicarage, Granchester, and, yes, even The Soldier against all of the verses ever compiled by Graves. But this is getting too far off topic, which is the mood of England before the Great War. Graves hated Housman? Well, I think I can guess that most of the soldiers returning to England in 1919 would have understood and shared the sentiments expressed in what might serve the final epitaph of the 'long Edwardian Summer'. And if the original questioner is still around here it is;
Into my heart an air that kills
From yon far country blows:
What are those blue remembered hills,
What farms, what spires are those?
That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again. Clio the Muse 00:00, 14 August 2007 (UTC)
Humanities desk | ||
---|---|---|
< August 11 | << Jul | August | Sep >> | August 13 > |
Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives |
---|
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages. |
In political ideology, what is the opposite of secularism?
Given the wp definition of secularism (belief that certain practices or institutions should exist separately from religion), I might take that to be an established church. But then, the opposite of an established church (eg. England) should be the separation of church and state, eg. USA/France. Not an question I can answer precisely, because I haven't heard of secularism as a political ideology before. Could it be a theocracy - ie. a country ruled by God, or clerics? martianlostinspace email me 00:51, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Well, if the opposite of the sea is the sky, and of big is small, then we might say that the opposite of whale is a hummingbird? A great sea mammal to a tiny bird! Or, if the spelling of "whale" becomes "wail", then I suppose "whisper". Actually, though: it makes sense that the opposite of b has to be a, if a is the opposite of b. You can't say that the opposite of a is b, and the opposite of b is c. So my point being, my logic doesn't fit together precisely. martianlostinspace email me 11:10, 13 August 2007 (UTC)
You know there is a word called MILF meaning Mother I'd to Like F***, right? can there be a word called TILF meaning Teen I'd to Like F***?
How much was money has been lost globally in the last month due to the market falling?
alright i worded the question wrong. something is lost when market goes down. what is it called and how much of it is now gone?
moved from Help Desk!
-what are the different asian ideologies? 124.107.20.90 03:20, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
There are a number of things that could be described as ideologies - religion, social constructs, politics.... However, the one that describes most of Asia most thoroughly is Confucianism, having spread across Asia like wildfire and shaped a good portion of the big three (Korea, China, and Japan)'s economic, social, and political landscape (I wrote my thesis on this, in fact). Confucianism primarily stresses a group-oriented social dynamic. Confucianism is an odd beast because it both enforces hierarchy (primarily familial) via the strong emphasis on loyalty and superiority of elders, but the principle of "rectification of names" also attempts to ensure that those "higher-ups" are called leaders on the terms of their leadership. Other "ideologies" might include Taoism, another important social "religion", Shintoism, ASEAN, pacifism (exhibited by post-WWII Japan and exemplified in South Korea's sunshine policy), the previously linked Japan's " Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere" (a euphemism similar to Hitler's "living space" to describe pre-WWII Japanese imperialism in Central and South Asia), and Islam (while not a completely East "Asian" religion, it is Middle Eastern, and Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world). Some more clarification on your definition of "ideology" might be in order if you need more help. - Woo ty Woot? [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 06:55, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Please tell me in what way the Perons used propaganda to support regime. TheLostPrince 10:50, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Could the UK public force revocation of an GBE, KDE etc. by petitioning the UK government? -- 212.204.150.105 14:09, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Anon, we have two issues here:
1) Can the British government withdraw honours, and 2) Can it be forced to do so by the British public?
I cannot answer the first, but certainly, the concept of the elective dictatorship, which seems to make HM government largely opinion proof - at least, to myself it seems like it, compared to other parliamentary systems. It would be difficult for the public to force this, unless it were a really massive issue which threatened the government's position of power. If they could do it, they would normally do it of their own accord rather than public initiative. Even if the government could not, though, Parliament certainly could (constitutionally speaking, by making a law to that effect), because of parliamentary sovereignty. martianlostinspace email me 20:27, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Also see [3]. martianlostinspace email me 20:32, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
And more to the point of your question, [4]. martianlostinspace email me 20:38, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Why is NYC taking threat information from websites? Shouldn't they get any serious threat information from the CIA or NSA before they act and start searching for things?
Can Thomas Hobbes properly be considered as an atheist? Martinben 19:55, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Well, many of his contemporaries certainly thought so. In October 1666 a committee of the House of Commons was empowered to examine the views expressed in Leviathan as part of the preparations for a bill intended to make hereesy a crime. Some even went so far as to suggest that Hobbes' doctrines were responsible for the Great Fire of London! His books were either banned or burnt, and the Catholic church placed De Cive on its Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1654. He was regularly attacked in the press of the day, which delighted in detailing the torments he would suffer in the after-life for his apparent lack of belief. It was his rationalism and materialism that tended to disturb people most; even God is reduced to a material level. Archbishop Tenison was to say of him "Yet for the very handsomeness in dressing his Opinions, as the matter stands, he is to be reproved; because by that means, the poyson which he hath intermixed with them is with the more readiness and danger swallowed." His views were certainly unsettling in an age not noted for latitude in matters of faith and belief: that there was no personal Satan; that the Pentateuch and many other books of the Bible were revisions or compilations from earlier sources; that few miracles could be credited after the Testament period; that witchcraft was a myth; and that religion was often confused with superstition. He was, as one writer has noted, 'anti-ecclesiastical, anti-clerical, anti-enthusiastic, anti-theology, anti-creeds and anti-inspiration.'
So, was he an atheist? All I can really say here is that the evidence suggests not; and in his personal life he adhered to the Anglican Church, which, in any case, was for him a necessary instrument of Leviathan. He believed in God as First Cause, but denied most of the manifestations and attributes accorded to Him by organised religion; even holiness, goodness and blessedness, which in the Hobbesian view are all unknowable facts. His God, such as He is, is distant, cold, intellectual amd essentially unknowable. What did he really believe? That is a question that can only be answered by God, and by Hobbes! Clio the Muse 02:59, 13 August 2007 (UTC)
A household handbook I'm reading advises (on home ownership):
“ | A home won't necessarily make you rich, but houses, condominiums, and cooperative apartments tend to grow in value over the long term. Also, few other investments offer the opportunity to boost their value while you get day-to-day enjoyment from them. | ” |
[emphasis added]
My question is what other investment would fit that description? I'm coming up with a complete blank -- it seems to me, other than "art" which you can enjoy but not really "use", there is no " durable good" (some would argue a house is just that) that tends to appreciate, or at least often does. Are there any other examples? Is there anything I can buy and use, with the expectation that it has a good chance of appreciating in value even as I use it?
Thank you!
84.0.126.69 21:58, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Let's assume you're talking about purely financial value, and note that even real estate does fall in value occassionally. The market doesn't always rise all the time. Other than that, are there not many antiques of many things which increase as they go? Many quality yachts, for example, will last long, and hold their value for a long time. Much more than say - cheaper yachts, of similar size and performance which aren't really built to last. But then you could call that real estate to - you can live on boats, obviously. Vintage motors? Are they not useable/enjoyable (as any car) yet hold their value better than some? martianlostinspace email me 22:14, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
202.168.50.40 22:34, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
(edit conflict) Just a quick note that you've already disqualified the other obvious example the text was talking about: art. The quote does say enjoy, not use, after all. Other stuff that might qualify: jewelery, antiques, historical items, etc. To a limited extent, wines, cigars, whiskeys, and other age-able items might also qualify, though they're obviously less surely to increase in value compared to real estate. Matt Deres 22:41, 12 August 2007 (UTC)
Some instruments like a well made Grand Piano.
192.53.187.183 15:26, 16 August 2007 (UTC)
Please i need a good poem that illustrate attitude and outlook in england just before first world war —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.177.38.137 ( talk • contribs)
Another approach might be to use
Rudyard Kipling's If, which first appeared in 1910. It was soon taken up to be read aloud in English schools, and even today many old people can recite a few lines of it, if not more. Not a great poet (but a fine writer of short stories and novels) Kipling was one of the most admired writers of his day, and If sums up the English admiration for self-reliance, coolness, truth, resilience and long-suffering, and for keeping the
stiff upper lip, which were the fabric of the old ordered society. The poem survived the
Great War, and although it looks old-fashioned, its heart stands outside time.
Read it
here.
Xn4 03:16, 13 August 2007 (UTC)
Loki, can I say without a trace of disrespect that Goodbye to All That is perhaps the very last book I would recommend here. I has almost nothing to say about the 'attitude and outlook' in England before the Great War, unless you think that Grave's rather limited experience at Charterhouse is somehow relevant to the question? Personally, I have always wondered by what right the 'War Poets'-always understood here to be a rather circumscribed group-are held up to be the 'voice of a generation', and what right they had to sit in judgement over Rupert Brooke or any other poet of the time. Brooke was as good a poet as any of them, and better than some. I will happily set The Old Vicarage, Granchester, and, yes, even The Soldier against all of the verses ever compiled by Graves. But this is getting too far off topic, which is the mood of England before the Great War. Graves hated Housman? Well, I think I can guess that most of the soldiers returning to England in 1919 would have understood and shared the sentiments expressed in what might serve the final epitaph of the 'long Edwardian Summer'. And if the original questioner is still around here it is;
Into my heart an air that kills
From yon far country blows:
What are those blue remembered hills,
What farms, what spires are those?
That is the land of lost content,
I see it shining plain,
The happy highways where I went
And cannot come again. Clio the Muse 00:00, 14 August 2007 (UTC)