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STEVEN PINKER MEETS 

SOCRATES

by Mark Shiffman1 . 4 . 22

PINKER: Socrates! We don’t often see you here in Harvard Yard.*

SOCRATES: No indeed, Pinker, for I do not wish to seem unreasonable by trespassing on the precincts of those who, like yourself, are highly reputed for superior knowledge, when I know very well how ignorant I am. But it is just this question—about what is reasonable—that has drawn me here. It seems you have written a book explaining what rationality is and what makes it good for us, which no doubt is a great service to those like myself who seek wisdom, and I was hoping I might question you on a few points.

PINKER: I’m flattered, Socrates.

SOCRATES: On the contrary, it’s you who have flattered me in your book, by extolling a conversation I had long ago with a certain Euthyphro.

PINKER: Yes, Socrates, I thought you brilliantly showed how incoherent it is to try to vest morality in a higher power, since to judge whether the alleged commands of a god are reasonable, we ultimately must look to reason rather than to the fact of the commanding.

SOCRATES: Thank you, Pinker—though I fear I may not deserve the credit you give me. By my recollection the discussion was simply about the just, noble, and good and their opposites. What you mean by “morality” is one of those things of which I am ignorant. Perhaps you can explain that to me later. But as for rationality, what do you say that it is?

PINKER: Rationality is generally taken to mean “the ability to use knowledge to attain goals.”

SOCRATES: Is reason then only the means to an end, or can it tell you what the end should be?

PINKER: Evolution has wired goals into our likes, wants, drives, emotions, and feelings. We deploy reason to attain those goals, and to prioritize them when they can’t all be realized at once. And the cooperativeness of the world when we apply reason to it is a strong indication that rationality really does get at objective truth.

SOCRATES: Are we justified, then, in believing something true if it reliably enables us to get more of what we want? 

PINKER: That’s a good indicator. But rationality also requires that we distinguish what is true from what we want to be true. That demands reflectiveness, open-mindedness, and mastery of cognitive tools like formal logic and mathematical probability. You can see in hunter-gatherer tribes that evolution hardwired our brains for assessing the kind of probabilities that their lives involved. Today’s conditions require us to develop different tools to master new challenges. We live in an era with unprecedented resources for reasoning; we just need to use them consistently and effectively.

SOCRATES: I must say, Pinker, that I was impressed with the way you explained all these logical and mathematical tools, so that even a man like myself with no expertise whatsoever could understand them. Your explanations of neural networks and deep learning systems; statistical decision theory; game theory and the prisoner’s dilemma; the distinction between nonrandom pattern and nonrandom process, which you call “one of the greatest gifts of rationality that education can confer”—I thought a man who understood such wonderful things must be truly blessed and living in a blessed age, and I admired the charming and public-spirited way you set out these wares for all to benefit. But tell me Pinker: What do you expect that benefit to be?

PINKER: Well, Socrates, the conscious application of reason improves our lives and makes the world a better place. And the power of rationality to guide moral progress is of a piece with its power to guide material progress and wise choices in our lives. Citizens should be educated to have some command of the intellectual tools of sound reasoning, because we’re best off as individuals and as a society when we understand and apply them. That’s what the Enlightenment is all about.

SOCRATES: Yes, but progress toward what? Do you think anything can be useful without adequate knowledge of the good?

PINKER: Look around you, Socrates! Reason and science have supplied people with an abundance of goods: improved lifespans, nutrition, health, safety, and knowledge of how to save for retirement. Our biggest problem today is not finding solutions, but convincing people to accept them.

SOCRATES: It seems, though, that I’ve somewhere heard progress defined as “improved means to an unimproved end.”

PINKER: But we have improved the end. Unlike your small polis-community, our larger and more anonymous modern democracies use enforceable laws and contracts to be more impartial and spread benefits to more people. And, to answer your earlier question, Socrates, it is precisely this impartiality—when combined with our self-interested sociality—that is the core of morality. Our intellectual heroes, like Erasmus and Locke and Bentham, advanced arguments that expanded the circle of our application of this impartial regard for the welfare of others. The Rationality Community identifies itself by these norms, but they should be the mores of the whole society. Yet despite the heroic and largely successful efforts of our champions of reason to disenchant the world, others continue to resort to mythic narratives in religion, history, and politics. The people who are open to evidence are resistant to these weird beliefs, like a personal God and creationism, and are more trusting in government and science, and hold more liberal political positions that are in the general direction that the world as a whole has been trending. The COVID-19 pandemic set these trends back, but almost certainly temporarily. The arc of knowledge is a long one, and it bends toward rationality.

SOCRATES: That’s an inspiring tale, Pinker, and you tell it like a true believer. But do you see any way to extend the power of this rationality over the recalcitrant remainder?

PINKER: Like I said, we children of the Enlightenment hold that all our beliefs should be subjected to the tools that assign their warranted degrees of credence, and we have a technocratic state that should, in theory, put these beliefs into practice. In fact, Socrates, maybe the most important practical application of research on cognitive biases and fallacies so far is what is called libertarian paternalism. Working through regulation, experts would engineer the environment of our choices to make it more difficult to do tempting but irrational and harmful things. They would leave us free to release ourselves from these fetters, but research shows that few people would make the effort, so we would produce more effective outcomes without impinging on democratic principles.

SOCRATES: This has all the appearance of the union of wisdom and rule such as I only painted in speech, though instead of relying on virtue and loyalty it seems you are counting on lazy compliance with an administrative state. Well, Pinker, I wish you the best—though what that truly is perhaps only a god knows.

* This is a lightly edited transcript of an encounter I recently witnessed, and which I recorded on my iPhone while pretending to check my inbox. To my surprise, I have since discovered that Pinker’s remarks here also appeared, in exactly or very nearly the same words, in his new book.

Mark Shiffman is associate professor in the Department of Humanities at Villanova University.

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Photo by Bhaawest via Creative Commons. Image cropped.

 

Pope Francis: Visiting the sick is a Christian imperative

By Hannah Brockhaus

Vatican City, Jan 4, 2022 / 05:05 am

In a message ahead of the World Day of the Sick, Pope Francis reminded Catholics that caring for the ill and infirm is not the calling of a few, but part of every Christian’s mission to show mercy.

“I would like to remind everyone that closeness to the sick and their pastoral care is not only the task of certain specifically designated ministers; visiting the sick is an invitation that Christ addresses to all his disciples,” the pope said.

“How many sick and elderly people are living at home and waiting for a visit,” he added. “The ministry of consolation is a task for every baptized person, mindful of the words of Jesus: ‘I was sick and you visited me.’”

The Catholic Church will mark the 30th annual World Day of the Sick on Feb. 11, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in southwestern France is associated with the sick because of the presence of a miraculous spring from which many people have obtained physical healing.

Pope Francis said that his predecessor John Paul II instituted the World Day of the Sick in 1992 as a way “to encourage the people of God, Catholic health institutions, and civil society to be increasingly attentive to the sick and to those who care for them.”

In his message, Francis focused on mercy in light of this year’s theme: “‘Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful’ (Luke 6:36): Standing beside those who suffer on a path of charity.”

God’s mercy “combines strength and tenderness,” he said, and “the supreme witness of the Father’s merciful love for the sick is his only-begotten Son.”

How many sick and elderly people are living at home and waiting for a visit! The ministry of consolation is a task for every baptized person, mindful of the word of Jesus: “I was sick and you visited me.”

 

Pope Francis, who spent 10 days in hospital last July after colon surgery, pointed out Jesus’ great concern for the sick and suffering during his earthly ministry. Jesus encountered many people suffering from disease and he performed miracles of healing.

It is a good idea for us to ask ourselves why Jesus showed such concern, the pope said, noting that one reason may be the loneliness that people can feel when they are sick or in pain.

Quoting the 20th-century French philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas, the pope said: “Pain isolates in an absolute way, and absolute isolation gives rise to the need to appeal to the other, to call out to the other.”

Jesus, Francis said, invites everyone — from physicians and nurses to laboratory technicians, support staff, and other caretakers — to show mercy toward those who are unwell.

While we thank God for the wonderful advances in medical science and technology, we must never forget “the uniqueness of each patient, his or her dignity and frailties,” he urged.

“Patients are always more important than their diseases, and for this reason, no therapeutic approach can prescind from listening to the patient, his or her history, anxieties and fears,” he wrote.

The pope also emphasized the importance of protecting and preserving Catholic healthcare institutions.

“Their presence has distinguished the history of the Church, showing her closeness to the sick and the poor, and to situations overlooked by others,” he wrote.

Pope Francis created a foundation in October offering financial support to Catholic hospitals in difficulty. The foundation, known in Italian as the Fondazione per la Sanità Cattolica, was established in response to requests for “direct intervention” by the Vatican to help Catholic institutions.

MORE IN VATICAN

On Dec. 24, it was announced that the new Vatican foundation had joined together with the Leonardo Del Vecchio Foundation to save and relaunch Rome’s historic Fatebenefratelli Hospital, which has been in dire financial straits since 2013.

The nearly bankrupt Catholic hospital on Rome’s Tiber Island is run by the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God.

Catholic healthcare is important both in poor countries, where people lack access to adequate care, and in the most developed countries, Pope Francis said, where, “in addition to caring for the body with all necessary expertise, they can always offer the gift of charity, which focuses on the sick themselves and their families.”

“At a time in which the culture of waste is widespread and life is not always acknowledged as worthy of being welcomed and lived, these structures, like ‘houses of mercy,’ can be exemplary in protecting and caring for all life, even the most fragile, from its beginning until its natural end,” he said.

Francis closed his message by entrusting all of the sick and their families to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, under the title Health of the Infirm.

“United with Christ, who bears the pain of the world, may they find meaning, consolation, and trust. I pray for healthcare workers everywhere, that, rich in mercy, they may offer patients, together with suitable care, their fraternal closeness,” he said.

 

 DETTERLING I WILL CONSIDER YOUR REQUESTS...

Detterling I will consider your requests when you issue a genuine, unequivocal and meaningful apology for all the abuse you have heaped on me since 2005. All the false allegations, foul insults, threats and name-calling.

The ball is in your court Detters.

GENE

 Pre-publication info for Granny Barkes fell in Woolworth's...

Internationally renowned satirist and novelist Gene Vincent offers provocative, revelatory answers to the biggest philosophical questions: Where did our universe come from? Why does anything exist? And how is it all going to end? 'Why is there something rather than nothing?' is the question believers and atheists are always asking, and until now there has not been a satisfying answer. Granny Barkes Fell in Woolworth's provide a new insight into this cosmological mystery: not only can something arise from nothing, but something will always arise from nothing. A mind-bending trip back to the beginning of the beginning, Granny Barkes... authoritatively presents the most recent evidence that explains how our universe evolved - and the implications for how it's going to end. It will provoke, challenge, and delight readers to look at the most basic underpinnings of existence in a whole new way. In the words of Richard Dawkins: "this could potentially be the most important  book since Darwin's On the Origin of Species". 

 

Miracles to Convince Atheists

In this season of Christmas, we celebrate the greatest miracle of all, the Incarnation of the Second person of the Trinity in human flesh. It is not easy for people to accept the reality of a stupendous miracle of this sort.  Historically, many people have become more open to faith in the Incarnation of Jesus by their experience of lesser miracles, such as unexplained healings.

The problem is that many stories of healings can be dismissed rather easily. The ChurchPop website a few years ago carried an article on atheism and miracles. The point being made was that atheists often find it relatively easy to reject Christian miracles. Cures of cancer or infections are generally hidden from view, making it difficult to confirm the presence of the supernatural. If, for example, a person goes to Lourdes with cancer and comes back cured, the atheist could reply, “Well, how do we know that the cancer didn’t go into remission spontaneously?”

 

A Class of Miracles that Cannot be Dismissed

The best type of miracle for convincing an atheist, according to the ChurchPop author, involves cures like the growing back of an amputated limb, for it would be impossible to explain away such a cure as an accident of nature. The author went on then to provide historical documentation for a case of the reappearance of an amputated leg following prayers for the intercession of Our Lady.

Even the most hard-headed and rational human being just has to accept that a miracle such as this points to the existence of the supernatural. But maybe miracles of this sort are extremely rare? If we look into the matter, though, there are actually no shortage of such historical cases in the armoury of the Catholic Church. We don’t have to limit our appeal to a single case of a regrown limb from a few centuries ago. Many of the healings that have been investigated by the Church for the canonisation of saints have involved the instantaneous regeneration of organs or skin, something that cannot be explained by natural means.

Elvira Moriano of Peru

One day, while at home, Elvira Moriano of Lima accidentally dropped an earthenware dish and it shattered into pieces. A shard of the pot struck her in the eye with such force that it pierced the cornea. All of the fluids emptied out of the eye, which became completely flaccid. Elvira was overcome with pain and began to cry out loudly. Neighbours arrived and a surgeon was called. When Elvira asked the surgeon if her eye would ever be restored, he replied that “Only God can restore the organs of the body”. News of the accident spread through the city and reached the monastery where St Martin de Porres had once lived and where Elvira’s son was a Dominican novice. The prior sent a relic of Saint Martin to Elvira. When the relic was held to her eye, the pain was alleviated and she fell into a deep sleep.

Next morning, when she awoke, her eye had regenerated back to normal and she was able to see again perfectly. This healing was witnessed by many people and was confirmed by her doctor in a sworn deposition. Eventually, it was one of the miracles used for the beatification of Martin de Porres in the 1830s.

Matheus Vianna of Brazil

Four-year-old Matheus Vianna was a very weak and malnourished child. He had a rare condition known as an annular pancreas in which the organ encircles the intestine, preventing proper digestion. He constantly vomited after eating. Only a transplant could save the child, but he was too weak for surgery. Doctors told his mother that he could not expect to live beyond the age of five. A local priest, Father Tenório, used to visit Assisi in Italy and developed a devotion to a young boy called Carlo Acutis who had died in 2006 after a short illness.

Carlo had great reverence for the Eucharist and his cause for beatification had been opened. Father Tenório received a piece of clothing that had belonged to Carlo from his mother. The feast day of Our Lady of Aparecida, Brazil’s patroness is October 12^th, which happened to be the date of Carlo’s death. Every year after the celebration of Our Lady’s feast, the priest would display the relic of the clothing of Carlo in his parish church. In 2013, four-year-old Matheus kissed the relic, and, according to his mother, he prayed for healing. Specifically, he prayed aloud that he would stop vomiting. Many people present witnessed this prayer.

When Matheus got home, he ate beef and French fries and did not vomit afterward. His mother later testified that this was the first time in his entire life that this happened. At the next ultrasound scan, the doctor confirmed that the morphology of the pancreas has completely changed and become normal. One doctor declared that it was now a textbook pancreas, an organ that was so perfect that it looked unreal. When Father Tenório saw Matheus’ tests, he reported the facts to the postulator of the beatification of Carlo Acutis.

The Vatican received the documents in March 2019. After stringent evaluation by a board of medical experts, the case was declared inexplicable by natural causes. The cure was used for the beatification of Carlo Acutis.

The Canonisation of Mother Cabrini

In 1880, Mother Frances Cabrini founded the Institute of Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The order ran a number of hospitals in the United States. In one of these hospitals, a nurse dropped a fifty percent silver nitrate solution into the eyes of a newborn child named Peter. The correct dosage should have been one percent and the result was disastrous. The child’s face was burned and became like charred wood, while the hollows of his eyes were completely filled with two grotesque swellings.

The medical professionals could do nothing for this child who was now totally blind and disfigured. In response, the nuns prayed all night to their foundress, seeking a miracle. The following morning, they found Peter had two perfect eyes, and his skin was healing without scarring. The miracle was used for the canonisation of Mother Cabrini. Peter attended the ceremony and eventually became a priest. 

 

The Lappanesi Miracles of Gemma Galgani

Elisa Scarpelli was a ten-year-old child from Lappano, Italy. In 1932, Elisa developed cancerous ulcers spreading from her left jaw to the upper part of her neck. She was first taken to the family physician, Dr. Augustine Intrieri, who initially treated it with a linseed poultice, without effect. He then decided to attempt a surgical operation to remove the ulcers, which failed. Afterward, several other doctors tried various remedies, without any positive effect.

Gemma Galgani was an Italian mystic who died in 1903. On the day of Gemma Galgani’s beatification (May 14^th, 1933), Elisa picked up a picture of Gemma. Full of faith and hope, she removed the bandages from her face, applying the picture directly to the cancerous ulcers. At the same time, she invoked Gemma for healing. The wounds were instantly healed. She looked into the mirror, astonished, and cried out “Mother!” Her mother, who was in another room, came in to see her daughter completely cured. Both mother and daughter were overcome by emotion.

In the same town of Lappano, Natale Scarpelli (who was unrelated to Elisa) was a farmer with a wife and child. In 1935, a painful festering ulcer appeared on his leg after an accident. This condition did not respond to professional medical treatment. Natale became bedridden. As the sole breadwinner, this was a very serious situation for the family. They began to pray to Gemma Galgani, using a relic which they possessed of the mystic.

At one point, the daughter took the relic of Blessed Gemma, making the sign of the cross over the ulcer. Mr. Scarpelli soon grew very tired and fell into a deep sleep, something he rarely did because of the severe pain in his leg. The following morning, the family awoke to discover that he had been miraculously cured. Fresh skin had regenerated and filled the large ulcerous cavity. All pain was gone and he was able to get out of bed and walk normally.

Medical professionals later testified that “this miracle is not only incomprehensible but it upsets all the physio-pathological laws of the medical field.” Both miracles were used for the canonisation of Gemma Galgani in 1940.

Miracle for St Bakhita

St John Paul II gave great impetus to the canonisation process of Sister Josephine Bakhita (who died in 1947) when he visited Sudan on one of his papal journeys. The miracle used for her beatification in 1992 involved the healing of a nun from Bakhita’s own congregation. The nun suffered from a complete disintegration of her knees, known as arthritic synovitis. For nine years she suffered terribly and was bedridden. In 1948, while waiting for surgery, she prayed a nine-day novena to Bakhita.

The night before her operation, she awoke with a clear voice saying to her, “Get up and walk!” The nun obeyed and started walking around normally, something she hadn’t done in years. The doctors performed an x-ray and found no trace of the disease. An operation was no longer necessary.

The miracle for Bakhita’s canonisation in 2000 also involved the instantaneous cure of a highly visible condition. Eva de Costa from Brazil was afflicted with diabetic ulcers in her legs. After praying fervently to Bakhita, the ulcers and pain disappeared instantly. The cure was investigated and confirmed to be naturally inexplicable by medical experts.

The Tumour of Consiglia De Martino

The miracle used for Padre Pio’s beatification process was the case of Consiglia De Martino, a married woman with three children from Salerno, Italy. In 1995, she developed a very rapidly-progressing growth in her neck. Following scans, the examining doctor determined that Consiglia’s thoracic duct had ruptured, forming a huge lump containing approximately two litres of lymphatic fluid. Consiglia was told that she would need to undergo a very difficult and risky operation on November 3^rd of that year. She immediately began to implore the intercession of Padre Pio. She phoned Fra Modestino — a friar stationed in Padre Pio’s friary in the south of Italy. Fra Modestino prayed at the tomb of Padre Pio on November 1^st and 2^nd. On November 2^nd, Consiglia’s pain diminished greatly, followed by a rapid reduction of the swelling in her neck.

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The next day, Consiglia was examined by the doctors prior to the planned operation. The x-rays showed the complete cure of the rupture of the thoracic duct, the disappearance of the large liquid deposit in Consiglia’s neck, and the disappearance of other liquid deposits in her abdomen. The surgery was cancelled. Consiglia had been immediately and inexplicably cured of a dangerous condition—without medical intervention of any sort.

This is just a selection of cures that have all been rigorously verified by medical commissions. In many cases, these commissions have included doctors of various faiths and none. In places like Lourdes, of course, there are many other cures that are more difficult to substantiate. It is a sad truth that cases of spiritual healing, even those involving radical conversions of life, can easily be dismissed by atheists as natural or purely psychological developments. Cures such as those listed above, however, involving rapid, visible transformations from diseased tissue to healthy tissue, are not amenable to a natural explanation.

Reflection on supernatural healings can aid our faith in the Incarnation of Christ. Our faith does not depend on miracles, but for those who have difficulty believing, or do not believe at all, genuine miracles are a valid place to start. Jesus tells us so himself.

“But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father” (John 10,38).

 

 An olive branch to Detters on New Year's Day...

Detterling on this blessed New Year's Day I offer you the following olive branch: I hereby offer you the position of associate editor on GENE... a voice in the wilderness. You are free to publish anything you wish provided it is within the law.

Let's put all animosity behind us. I wish to get back to the good old days of 2005 and all that banter and badinage and rip-roaring, rollicking good fun.

Wishing you every blessing in 2022.

GENE

 PAINTING OF THE DAY...

WINTER by Luuk van der Drift