C.S. Lewis, Naturalism & Idealism

After spending a good part of the past two years studying Idealism in one form or another (Kant, Hegel etc.), here are a couple of article i've read recently:

http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2009/04/its-just-so-obvious.html

http://www.stanford.edu/group/ww1/spring2000/Glenn/Lewis.htm

Edward Feser's piece is about how at the turn of the last (20th) century Idealism in some form was considered in academia as fairly obvious - so obvious, in fact, that no real argument was needed to be given for its truth.. interestingly Feser then goes on to compare this dogmatic attitude to present day naturalism - most academic philosophers (and academics in general) would today take the same stance: naturalism is so obvious it doesn't even need to be argued for anymore..

The second article is about C.S. Lewis' intellectual journey from atheism to theism, a significant part of which was his adherence to the Absolute Idealism of Hegel (and before that Berkeley and Plato), as a kind of stop-gap between the two worldviews.. it's interesting to note that Lewis was educated around the time that Feser is referring to in which Idealism was just 'taken for granted' as a worldview.. after studying Kant and Hegel myself, despite how impressive they are intellectually, i've found it extremely hard to see how anyone could really take their views seriously (and obviously most don't anymore, due to naturalism being the reigning academic paradigm)..

Interesting stuff.

GIG HISTORY

there was a devil sold his soul gig on tonight at the freebutt to which i was going to go but passed at the last minute (no particular reason).. anyway it got me thinking of all the notable bands ive seen live recently, so i compiled a list - i'm not sure if this'll cover all of them (probably not) but these are all the ones that i can remember i've seen over the past few years.. ive also seen quite a few of them (i.e. isis, norma jean, phi-life) more than once.. so in no real chronological order:

meshuggah
cult of luna
*shels
devil sold his soul
bossk
rinoa
latitudes
ghost of a thousand
dillinger escape plan
the ascent of everest
sons of noel and adrian
envy
boredoms
phi-life cypher
task force
ghostface killah
anthem of the century
the mars volta
thursday
hot cross
my awesome compilation
coheed and cambria
murcof
poison the well
beecher
killswitch engage
twelve tribes
all that remains
boy sets fire
death by stereo
johnny truant
earth
thrones
sikth
architects
dying fetus
zombi
isis
jesu
bloc party
mystery jets
norma jean
delirious?
send more paramedics
gallows
aped-bi-sapien
the icarus line
hondo maclean
nine
morgan heritage (reggae)
maylene and the sons of disaster
i am legend
the showdown
will haven
cat on form
unwed sailor
toboggan

of all these gigs which ones stand out the most? well i think as far as live acts go ISIS and the mars volta were by far the best - the epic kind-of sound they both have is much better experienced live than on cd.. unwed sailor & toboggan was notable for the fact that i set the gig up (that was about '02 at the freebutt in brighton).. i was at johnny truant's last ever show at the engine rooms.. i saw earth at the barfly mainly because i really wanted to see kurt cobain's best friend dylan carson in the flesh - and he spoke in the most high pitched voice i'd ever heard, twas like he'd inhaled some helium before coming on stage.. meshuggah were probably the most technically intense live act (closely followed by dillinger escape plan).. murcof was live in a cinema..

anyway i made another list of bands i would really like (or at least would have really liked) to see:
led zeppelin (back in the day)
metallica (anytime before 1990 and the black album)
mahumodo
at the drive-in (the greatest live show ever - or at least they looked that way)
texas is the reason
orphaned land
tool
nirvana
nick drake (even though he never did gigs)
jimi hendrix
mastodon
aphex twin
the gza
refused

A.N. Wilson reverts to theism

Famous ex-theist and now, it seems, ex-atheist A.N. Wilson explains his return to faith here:

http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2009/04/conversion-experience-atheism

I remember reading Wilson's highly negative biography of C.S. Lewis about 10 or so years ago.. as a youngster who was obsessed with Tolkien, Lewis & all things Inklings and without much critical apparatus I don't think I really grasped how atrociously bad the biography was.. but, as Victor Reppert remarks on Dangerous Idea, hopefully now he'll rethink some of it..

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/03/the_two_state_solution_is_87_y.html

a brief article by victor sharpe on the proposed two state solution and the history of the conflict over israel, with an emphasis on britain's role.. well worth a read