by John Calvin | April 30th, 2009
It is now Spring Term here at W&L, and that means two things: more free time, and awesome classes! I’m taking a fascinating course in the Poetry of Political Philosophy with Professor Velasquez (more on that later) but I also have the free time to post things like the song below.
Last week one of my classmates introduced us to a most interesting song by Irish band Guggenheim Grotto, Philosophia.
When we’re young we set our hearts upon some beautiful idea
Maybe something from a holy book or French philosophia
Upon the thoughts of better men than us we swear by and decree a
Perfect way to end the war of ways the only way to be a…Work of art, oh to be a work of art
But in time a thought comes tugging on the sleeve edge of our minds
Perhaps no perfect way exists at all, just many different kinds
Oh but if it’s just a thing of taste then everything unwinds
For without an absolute how can the absolute define…A work of art, oh to be a work of art
The end of the second verse is excellent…it refutes the central tenet of post-modern relativism in only two rhyming lines! If you deny absolutism (the existence of an absolute truth, virtue, or moral standard) than you self-refute your assertion–how can a statement (the absence of universal truth) then be universal? The video is also quite significant–it’s not just random images or eye candy–the director and DP were very aware of the meaning of the song.
You can find Philosophia on iTunes or on Amazon MP3 here.
…without the absolute how can the absolute define…
John Calvin Young