Can You Be A Fortean?

[Anonymous]

In the "What do we mean by Fortean?" box in the mag there is the following quote "I concieve of nothing, in religion, science or philosophy, that is more than the proper thing to wear for a while." This has been bugging me for a while now and I just wondered what other people thought about it. Does this mean that it's impossible to be a true fortean or am I just missing the point?

 

[Anonymous]

I suppose many people describe themselves as Forteans simply to indicate an interest in unexplained phenomena, together with an ironic, slightly piss-taking attitude to them that distinguishes them from the more gullible self-styled 'seekers'. Ironic scepticism of both official scientific orthodoxies and of half-baked alternative theories.

But I don't think you can really call yourself a Fortean in the same sense as a philosopher might call themselves a Platonist, meaning they think Plato's ideas truly represent the order of things. This is partly because Fort himself never seriously advances an overarching theory that would explain and tidy his subject matter and would, I'm sure, have been very suspicious of any attempt to do so. As with Hume, another favourite sceptic of mine, Fort's main value seems to me negative - showing up others' dubious claims, rather than advancing any particular big ideas of his own.

Maybe the question is equivalent to 'Can you really be an agnostic?' Obviously the basis of the agnostic position is self-confessed ignorance, so in this sense you can't hold it as strongly as either theism or atheism, both of which claim to be based on knowledge. But obviously you'd hope to be allowed to call yourself an agnostic without everyone you met pedantically pointing out the logical inconsistency. From the agnostic perspective, anyone claiming too much certainty is deceiving themselves, and so the apparently weaker claim of ignorance is, in fact, much stronger.

These are just my half-formed initial thoughts, and I don't know if they really make much sense; I'll have to think about this a bit more.

 

[river_styx]

I think it means that our understanding of who we are as human beings, our role in this universe and how it all works is constantly changing. Therefore we never accept anything just at face value alone and never commit to any one definite explanation of a situation. There is always someone elses viewpoint to consider, it may not always be correct but it's always worth consideration.
I always thought a true fortean was 50% skeptic and 50% beleiver (The definition of those terms is up to you)

 

[brianellwood]

I thought the "fortean " outlook was simply to look again at any phenomena which orthodox science immediately rejected, simply because it didn't fit into current theory. Least, keeping an open mind is what I call Fortean.

 

[rynner2]

Fashions in clothing, music, religion, science, and social behaviour are always changing.

There is no absolute truth, or, if there is, we may be incapable of understanding it.

 

[Anonymous]

Forteana

I think that Forteans simply recognise the transience of all things, and the effects of this. Nothing that it will be forever; scientific theories change, fashions change, music styles change. Ideas, opinions, moralities and systems all change over time. Forteans see this and also see as a result that nothing is permanent and nothing thus can hold any sway over anything else. In this way, Forteana is rather like Buddhism, which is good Forteans also know to laugh at everything, for the universe is, inherently, crazy.

 

[Jerry_B]

Unless anyone talks about space lizards - then it seems any discussion will go up the creek...

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Forteana

In this way, Forteana is rather like Buddhism, which is good Forteans also know to laugh at everything, for the universe is, inherently, crazy.

I have always been a bit disappointed when I see people advancing this rather cynical view of Buddhism. When I have a visceral reaction that leads me to laugh, the purest experience of humor I have is when I observe something that makes me see the world in a different, delightful way. The universe is not crazy, it is harmonious and beautiful, and when true beauty strikes my soul, I laugh. One can only arrive at true beauty once one has eliminated that which is not beautiful, which are lies, conceits and distortions.