----- Original Message ----- From: "Luke Weiger" <lweiger at umich.edu>
>
> > Maybe it's you, Chuck, or maybe it's me with my relative success as a
> lawyer
> > and formerly a professor, but I don't experience this yawning void, etc.,
> of
> > which you speak. I think what's called for is materialist analysis of the
> > appeals of fundamentalism, not existentialism. jks
>
> What would a materialist analysis look like, in this case? If it were to be
> plausible, it would have to account for the vast psychic comfort of a)
> believing in God and b) believing yourself to be (infallibly) in the right.
>
> -- Luke
==============
Just what would a materialist analysis of indifference/hostility towards material well being consist of? Is there a hair shirt aesthetic that denies claims of being masochistic coursing through monotheisms?
Ian