 Newton Garver was born in Buffalo NY, returning in 1961 to teach Philosophy at the University of Buffalo. There he rose through the ranks, becoming Distinguished Service Professor in 1991. At UB he chaired the Faculty Senate, published respectably, and traveled and lectured extensively. Now retired from active teaching, he lives nearby in a country house built by his grandparents, together with Anneliese Garver, his wife of 50 years. He continues to write and to give occasional lectures, but is more occupied with upkeep of the land and with various Quaker activities.
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Submitted by Newton on Sat, 11/26/2011 - 19:48.
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Friends seem generally in denial about our long-standing war against nature. The chief human accomplishment in this war has been the explosion of the human population. When I was born, no human had lived through a doubling of the human population. In my lifetime it has more than tripled, and I could still live to see it quadruple. All that growth has been at the expense of nature, that is, at the expense of other creatures and features of the natural world. How has that happened?
My extended thoughts about this dilemma were published in the November 2011 issue of SPARK, and are attached.
Submitted by Newton on Tue, 09/06/2011 - 06:40.
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Last year Evo Morales Ayma, president of Bolivia since 2006 and the first indigenous Amerindian elected president of any country in South America, published a volume containing his messages on economic and environmental policies. It contains highly challenging ideas, often deliberately confronting those of the United States. Some of what he says is political hype and some of it seems out of touch with scientific thinking. But the same can be said for most of what US politicians have to say about those matters, and some of what he says invokes deep moral principles. The shame is that Evo Morales has been ignored by the US media, although his ideas deserve thoughtful discussion. I have made some notes from his book, which are attached. Although I have occasionally paraphrased in my own words [in square brackets], most of the notes are direct quotations.
Submitted by Newton on Tue, 09/06/2011 - 06:36.
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Kwame Anthony Appiah has just published a new book, The Honor Code, which gives me occasion to recall both my connection with him and his connection with Fred Irvine, an old Quaker friend of mine and one of the distinguished Quaker scientists of the 20th century.
Submitted by Newton on Thu, 07/14/2011 - 07:27.
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This little vignette is what I remember rather than documented history. Even if others remember it differently, it is a good story. I have given New YorkYearly Meeting permission to publish it, but I do not know when or in what venue that might happen. Next year is the centennial of Bayard’s birth, and the following year the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, so there are plenty of coming occasions to hear about him.
Submitted by Newton on Thu, 04/21/2011 - 17:50.
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Iris Murdoch holds that proper attention both reduces choices and increases freedom. Wow! When we get our minds around that inspired thought, we will have put some distance between ourselves and the stultifying dogmas of our outcome-oriented civilization.
Paying proper attention, which is especially important with respect to other people, means appreciating the inherent reality of what we are attending to. Simone Weil took mathematics or formal logic to be good training for paying proper attention, because it is so difficult in these fields to hide reality under hopes or desires. Seeing other people as they really are is much more difficult than seeing mathematical reality.
Submitted by Newton on Thu, 04/21/2011 - 16:18.
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If I attend properly I will have no choices and this is the ultimate condition to be aimed at. -- Iris Murdoch
Submitted by Newton on Thu, 04/21/2011 - 16:16.
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Obsession, prejudice,envy, anxiety, ignorance, greed, neurosis, and so on and so on veil realityThe defeat of illusion requires moral effort. -- Iris Murdoch
Submitted by Newton on Tue, 04/12/2011 - 17:14.
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BOLIVIA TIME-LINE
1825 August 6 - - Bolivia becomes and independent nation
1825-1950 - - Five wars: Bolivia loses half its territory, including access to the Pacific.
1952 - - Reform government of Victor Paz Estenssoro, start of 12 years of decent civilian government under Victor Paz and Hernán Siles. First suffrage and public education for Indians; first land reform law
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