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I'm inclined to believe that the truth of your observation is so undeniable as to almost go without saying, although I would broaden it to encompass the entire range of human experience of which...

It's a bit of a stretch, but Addie Bundren had been a schoolmarm before marrying Anse in Faulkner's As I Lay Dying. My favorite one to hate has already been cited: Wackford Squeers from Dicken's...

I suppose there will probably be just enough devil's advocates to validate your poll, but I would be more intrigued with Dostoevsky vs. Tolstoy, Chaucer vs. Milton, Dante vs. Cervantes, or any number...

I prefer that my children obey out of respect and reason rather than fear, but in matters of sufficient gravity, I'll settle for obedience period.

From a governing perspective, obedience is not...

I must say I'm at a loss how to respond. You seem to be in earnest, perhaps having misapprehended my meaning, in which case your concern is touching. What I call paralysis through analysis is not a...

Grammatically speaking, the eternal question is boundless, taking so long in the asking that it can never be fully articulated, let alone answered.

But seriously, the eternal question for me has...

Agreed. At the risk of sounding trite, teachers truly do hold the "whole world in their hands," and should therefore be afforded the necessary authority and control to adequately handle their...

I spent most of my youth, and some of my adulthood trying to anticipate what sort of characteristics would be most appealing to others. Even when I anticipated accurately and projected successfully,...

I started to wonder aloud how this thread veered into a discussion about corporal punishment, but then I stopped myself because it actually doesn't seem inappropriate at all in the context of my...

Nature, of course, has always known the way, but I don't see much evidence of natural selection at work in a social sense today. We, in our misguided notions of "progress," have simply installed too...

Do you, as a reader, prefer to read fashionably dressed works of dubious depth or profundity in rags?

I have always been eminently impressionable with respect to literary style and eloquence, but...

I'm 42, which means that corporal punishment was still a valid "teaching aid" when I was in school (I can testify to it personally). I did not then, and I do not now, view such methods as excessive...

I completely agree with you. Nevertheless, there is an undeniable decline in the work ethic. I don't pretend to know the cause(s), but over the last 20-25 yrs. I've found the workforce (of all ages)...

I can't speak for the classroom, but I have noted a significant decline in the work ethic of young Americans, most likely related and corresponding to the growing sense of entitlement, i.e., more...

Perhaps there is ultimately nothing miraculous about miracles. Perhaps "miracles" are phenomena that lie just beyond the absolute limits of our comprehension, in which case they will never be...

If I were to reduce my initial post to its simplest terms, which I should have done in the first place, I'd say I wasn't talking about reality at all, at least not in any metaphysical sense. I...

I really don't take myself as seriously as I come across sometimes. In fact, the best thing I ever did for myself was admit that I was a complete ****-up, and reconcile myself with that fact....

Most of my peers view me as a rather indolent and shiftless (some would even say pointless) soul. Perhaps they are right. My habits certainly lend themselves to such a characterization. But it hasn't...

More or less what I thought, and what I experienced during my Protestant upbringing. Make the external facts conform to the beliefs, in other words...

In the context of eternity, a human lifespan seems conspicuously short, especially if, on the strength of this all-too-brief audition, my soul risks everlasting damnation if I cut a poor figure. How...

Read the Overture to Joseph and His Brothers by Thomas Mann for an answer to your question better than any I might attempt.

Although moral relativism is inherently dangerous, especially when diverse cultures interact, since perceived reality is subjective, so, consequently, are ethics.

Apologies... you were the undeserving target of my growing frustation with responses in general (not only with respect to my posts). I never should have singled out and quoted you, as your response,...

Yes, there always does seem to be an inconsistent, if not contradictory, logic in my metaphysics. Try as I may, I can never quite eradicate my own ambivalence regarding these matters.

I suspect I...

It occurs to me, from what I've seen since joining this forum ~3 wks ago, that many members are more concerned with clever quips and contentiousness than with any serious exploration of literature...