the Vocation of the Scholar

This book [available from that link online for free] by Enlightenment-era German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte* is a rigorous examination of its title theme, as presented in a series of five lectures. They proceed as follows:

1. the vocation of man - in a general sense, being the harmonisation of the Ego so that it can intellectually & sensibly apprehend things in the world & also promote their harmonisation.
2. the vocation of man in society - expanding on the first lecture in application to the reality that all Ego finds itself in world where other free & rational beings exist: this being society, which through coordination of diversity & resultant cooperation leads us to mutual perfection.
3. the distinction of classes in society - a relatively convoluted attempt to discern the cause of social inequalities between free rational beings, followed by a moral exhortation that overcoming such is the chief end of society.**
4. the vocation of the scholar - a specific examination of the unique vocation of scholarship in promoting the cultural unity & moral perfection of humankind through progressive development & communication of knowledge in pursuit of truth.
5. a repudiation of Rousseau's doctrine that mankind's greatest good would be found in the state of nature rather than a developed culture.

   I found Fichte remarkably easy to read, many thanks to the translator - and overall this is a very stimulating & edifying book urging anyone engaged in the human vocation of scholarship to take seriously the responsibilities of their intellectual activity. Worth checking out if that sounds interesting to you, it's pretty short.

* He wins the prize for Most German Name of Enlightenment philosophers I have yet read.

** Karl Marx read Fichte, & it shows.

the Roots of Civilisation

This book by Abdullah Öcalan is an incredibly ambitious* attempt to sketch a holistic picture of the history of civilisation originating from, driven by, and leading to future questions/plausibilities for the Middle East specifically.

    Obviously a holistic history of civilisation is going to cover a lot of ground & I won't pretend that I'm going to be able to summarise satisfactorily every general thrust of argument & evidence in the book - but this blog is what it is, so I suppose I should at least give a rough outline of the contents. We start in what is typically considered the birthplace of civilisation - Mesopotamia: a new innovation in human relations, hierarchy, emerged & thus supercharged the development of complex societies out of prehistory. Gender norms calcified into patriarchy, class systems cemented themselves as cities became centres of activity, slavery boomed, & religious ideology developed to justify all of this as a new natural. These norms spread - in part organically, in part violently - across the ancient Mediterranean as other hubs of society matured. As states gradually shifted away from slave-owning to feudal systems, monotheisms like Christianity & Islam helped to ideologically & economically support & promote the status quo. These monotheisms had the side-effect of promulgating individualistic & humanistic modes of thinking & being, such that eventually feudalism gave way to capitalism: societies demanded a new relationship to the powers over them - and achieved a great deal thus, with democratic nations emerging as a new normal. However, capitalism being rooted in perpetual expansion & extraction, this trajectory could not be considered perfect in the long-term, ultimately being doomed to crisis & collapse. Öcalan argues that the concept of a democratic nation is poised to fill the void & provide the next step in humanity's civilisational journey. Finally, he takes up the implications of the history he's just walked us through to consider the ideological & socio-political challenges facing us in the 21st century - people must agitate & organise toward a democratic civilisation if we want whatever follows capitalism to be true progress rather than a deterioration: he obliterates the possible objection that "this is all simply theory" by applying these ideas to current situations facing the Kurds, Anatolia, Iran & Palestine (and makes a pretty solid case for his democratic ideology being a workable solution, imho).

   Without committing several years of research into ancient&since history, I admit it's impossible for me to properly assess how accurate the pictures presented in this book are. However the general shape of civilisational development as shown here rings true in its overlaps with what I do know, and I don't know how much access to resources Öcalan was given throughout the writing process** (as Imrali, the Turkish island where he's imprisoned, isn't renowned for its library facilities) but if this book is even half-true it represents a momentous achievement of synthesised interdisciplinary reflection. Postcolonial history done to the highest degree. Absolutely recommended reading for anyone interested in world history, especially from a non-Western angle.

* Especially since it was written entirely from a solitary prison cell. This is the first and most scholarly such book, since being followed by a second about the PKK informed by Öcalan's personal experience & a third proposing a path forward between Turkey & the Kurds. This first volume provides historical context for the theoretical & practical concerns for the contemporary Kurdish movement as attested in his other writings.

** I mean, he must've had some access, because there's 12 pages of endnotes & a smallish but significant bibliography, and though I believe him to be a pretty smart dude I doubt he had all those precise references squirrelled away in mere memory.

Stage Invasion

This book by Pete Bearder is a multi-disciplinary investigation in poetry and "the spoken word Renaissance" that has been taking place in the west in recent years. I've actually met the author* (stage name Pete the Temp) at a fracking site a few years ago, where he performed some radical poetry - but his scholarship shown here is just as fine as his capacity for crowd-rousing verse.

   The book itself drives a complex path across its many disciplines to explicate the nature and trajectory of spoken word. After an introduction setting up the intent of the book, we are first given a glimpse into the world of slam poetry, its origins, popularity, and benefits and drawbacks.** We then dive into a definitional chapter discussing exactly what spoken word is and isn't - from the ancient concept of oral tradition to "live literature"; reflections on style, and then finally a consideration of the social format itself in which this art form generally takes place and its uniquenesses. Then there's a history chapter, starting with the Romantics through the Beat generation up to contemporary hip-hop, and how all of these have left their mark on the art form as it's evolved. The next chapter digs into DIY renewal culture; how the grassroots nature of poetic space necessarily creates room for creators to create, interact and share in innovative ways. Following this are three chapters building on the same idea - first how a poem inhabits and leaves the body of the performer during performance; second how this inhabits and shapes the experience of bodies in the crowd listening to said performance,*** and thirdly how if done well this can all lead to spoken word performances bringing out transcendent states of shared consciousness between audience and performer. The final chapter is about how this can be, and often is, utilized to great effect in harmonising sympathies in crowds for transformative political ends - poetry can be remarkably effective propaganda if written and shared correctly, as long as recognition and empathy are at its heart.

   The blurb quote on the front of this book claims it is the book "we have all been waiting for", and as a member of the many spoken word communities in the UK today, I couldn't agree more; Bearder's scholarship is deep and wide and his love of the craft evident on every page. The poetry he samples for quotes to make his points is eclectic and wondrous, and his core argument that spoken word is a social force of uniting and driving emotional communal activity toward understanding and the forging of better worlds is tangible throughout. If you're a spoken word artist craving to know more about the artistic world you inhabit, this is absolutely the book for you - if you're skeptical about it as an art form, this would be a challenging but wholesome read that will make you think twice about what you do or don't seek out and listen to. A fantastic book.

* And again [edit December 2024] as he was performing at The Shakespeares, and I got my copy signed; he says "this book - in your hands - a powerful weapon". I hope I live to prove him right.

** As the host of a spoken word night myself which is very much in its culture antithetical to slam, I found much to disagree with in this chapter, but much worth bearing in mind too.

*** This chapter has a section which delves into the role of the MC of a spoken word event, a role which I myself have held for Guerrilla since 2019, and so this was of much encouraging inspiration to me.

Against the Flow

This book by John Lennox is an examination of the core themes of the biblical prophetic book of Daniel, and extrapolating ideas from this to apply to how we as God's people might continue to live faithfully in a world that is increasingly secular and idolatrous. I bought this book as a gift for my dad's birthday, so I'm actually quite late in vetting it (which usual readers will know I do for all books I intend to give people, to make sure they're up to scratch) - but I've not seen him since the actual occasion so it's probably alright.

   Anyway, sorry, the book, yes. It's okay, I guess. The scholarship is rigorous - both in biblical and historical terms; Lennox demonstrates having done a great deal of thinking into the text of Daniel and the ancient context of 1200ish BCE Babylon, which makes for a great deal of well-footnoted and illuminating insight into exactly why certain points in the text work well. He also spends a fair amount of effort explicating why and how certain themes in the original prophet's writings apply to trends in modern society - I think his heart is in the right place here, but in my opinion most of these arguments come across as a bit heavy-handedly out-of-touch with the pulse of secular culture. Almost as if this were a book written to aid people in apologetics by someone who hadn't actually needed to apologise for over a decade because everyone else he knows is a devout and well-read biblical scholar. I mean, I don't know you, John Lennox, so forgive me if that seems like a harsh reading, but that's how it came across to me. I can't really imagine any non-Christian perusing this text to have a mind-blowing revelation of "wow that's what I'm missing from God", nor any juvenile believer studying your book to pick up anything from it that makes them think "wow now I can really convert all my apostate friends". It's deep yes, but it's scholarly more than anything; and while that is far from worthless - especially with a book as prophetic and rich as Daniel - Christians, study that all you can - I don't think this would be the top of my list of recommendations for people of any or no faiths.

   At least my dad doesn't read this blog. He's still getting it (albeit late) for his birthday.

the Poet, the Warrior, the Prophet

This book by Rubem A. Alves is an absolute masterpiece of experimental poetry-prose blended theology. It is beautifully crafted, so eloquently argued that you barely notice the intellectual cogs spinning until you're caught up in their imaginative wake like a thrall to transfixing, almost blinding in places, truth: God is love, and life, and all good, and we get by grace to participate in his nature through faith, acceptance as we are accepted... I'm rambling but this central point of enliveningness as central to the Gospel imperative makes up the core of this book, only Alves unpacks it in such glorious terms that it seems petty, redundant even, to try to do better justice than a zealous quasi-anonymous blurb.

   Strongly recommended for people who are spiritually exploring the world more; you will meet an incredible Jesus presented here even if you've never opened a Bible... I'm stopping short of saying this book is 'divinely inspired', but then what is divinity, and what is inspiration? And if you cannot show me how to draw the line between the two, then I will remain trusting the enforcement, theologically speaking, of that boundary to God and Him in Trinity alone.

The Human Animal

This book, from zoologist Desmond Morris, was recommended to me in August of last year in some frankly bizarre circumstances. Long story short, I was talked to by an insanely sane stranger on a bus, he told me I should read this book, and in stumbling across it in a bookshop's bargain bin last week and reading the whole of it in three days I have kept my promise; and I am thoroughly glad that I did.

   It's an immensely eye-opening book, trying as it does to compose a rough examination of humanity from the perspective of zoology - and by dissecting human behaviour and lifestyle into animal explanations, some extraordinary insights into the nature, history, character, behaviour and needs of man are revealed.

   The book was written alongside Desmond Morris's 6-part BBC documentary series on the same topic (yeh, they had TV in 1994) and so the book's 6 chapters focus on the central themes of each episode of that. There are far too many fascinating observations and "oh wow so that's why X is X"-provocations in each section for me to be able to give any sort of overview that does justice to the sheer interestingness of the vast panorama of humanity that is exposed, but here's a vague guide as to the chapters' themes:

1. Body language - how basic gestures and movements are rooted in tribal-social origins of humans, and despite enormous various in ethnic culture and spoken language, these communicative foundations are generally much the same across the world.
2. Evolutionary origins - how humans grew distinct from other apes, and through the winning combination of bipedal stance, dexterous hands, and advanced intelligence, we were able to dominate the hunting-grounds and flourish.
3. Urbanisation - how as thriving human communities grew, we became more distanced from the wilderness that had birthed our species, and as societies coalesced into larger organisations such as towns and cities, while allowing for progress to accelerate this also forced territorial aspects of our animal nature into conflict.
4. Reproduction - how (left free from constraints of social convention) human sexual pairings all follow a remarkably similar pattern, and how physical and psychological developments in intimate relationships have given human sex a higher and less brutish place in our species' way of life (a certain degree of detachment advised if reading this chapter - the biological descriptions are as fundamental to understanding the topic as they are graphic).
5. Childcare - how human births and babies differ developmentally to other animals, being far more vulnerable and thus dependent on parental affection, which are ensured by strong emotional bonding; essential for proper mental and physical wellbeing in our life cycle.
6. Recreation - how the cognitive surplus of humans leaves us with a glut of spare time; being able to satisfy our basic survival needs easily, we can divert our vast intellect into other pursuits that benefit or entertain the community - from this springs science, art, literature, music, technology, philosophy and basically all culture: the root of which is our ability to think in abstraction, to see something as something else and create meaning from it, fueled by our insatiable curiosity to understand life.

   This book is a veritable treasure-trove of glimpses into why humans are as they are, with many uncoverings of evolutionary psychology and biology that throw up radical prompts to rethink much of the philosophical-as-religious way we perceive humanity today. One of my main itches reading it was how we should respond to the news that we are animals, or how we should act knowing that our evolution has already determined particularities into our bodies and minds. Part of me wants to carefully draw out all the links between what Morris's explanations of human development implies is good alongside similar implications from liberal christian ethics and anthropology and sociology and in doing so weave a consistent impenetrable scientific-philosophical picture of how humanity should be. But part of me knows that this would have feeble legs to stand on - what has evolved is simply what survives best. Having ascended by evolutionary means to a plateau from which we can rationally assess the world we're in, the arguments we rely upon to justify aspects of our lives are seldom grounded only in our animal natures, and I'm not sure whether they should be either. It's a headscratcher, to be sure.

   Nonetheless, this is a fascinating read, and for anyone interested in the origins of human biology, psychology, sociology and anthropology, plus all the philosophical quandaries unearthed by this exposition, I would (as that eccentric guy on the 52 did to me) wholeheartedly recommend you read this book.