{"id":2111,"date":"2010-12-10T13:07:35","date_gmt":"2010-12-10T20:07:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2111"},"modified":"2010-12-10T13:07:35","modified_gmt":"2010-12-10T20:07:35","slug":"arguments-without-evidence%e2%80%94or-without-ethos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2111","title":{"rendered":"Arguments without Evidence\u2014or without Ethos?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I spent a big chunk of yesterday afternoon reviewing a book that purports to prove the existence of a self-conscious, Goddess-worshiping Paganism in 19th-century America. The evidence? An idiosyncratic reading of one writer’s literary output, writing that never uses the words “witch,” “Pagan,” “fairy,” “goddess,” or anything like that, but openly espouses Protestant Christianity.<\/p>\n

If I did not feel the obligation to walk the reader through through my thinking\u2014and if the journal’s book review editor involved had not argued persuasively that “to the degree that popular or self-published books inspire us to think more critically and innovatively then perhaps we should be more inclusive”\u2014I would have just written one sentence: “[The writer] is delusional.”<\/p>\n

Call it wishful thinking, call it unverifiable personal gnosis<\/a>, call it “I know that I am right even though there is no evidence.”<\/p>\n

Another example of UPG-fueld writing appears to be a book called Trials of the Moon<\/em>, which purports to challenge Ronald Hutton’s historical books on Paganism without, y’know, actually having to do the depth of research that he does.<\/p>\n

It’s sort of like wanting to bat against the San Francisco Giant Tim Lincecum’s<\/a> pitching but demanding that you get to keep swinging and swinging until you hit one over the fence\u2014none of that “three strikes and you’re out” stuff.<\/p>\n

Some people like it<\/a> even while admitting that it “offers no alternate theory or proposes any possible history” for Wicca.<\/p>\n

At The Witching Hour, <\/em>Peg starts out gently<\/a>,<\/p>\n

But I also noted a number of statements that don’t inspire confidence. By his own admission Whitmore is not an historian, nor even an academic. And this shows in his failure to observe the most rudimentary rules of objectivity and neutrality of stance.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But by the end of her review, she is reduced to “HUH? HUH?”<\/p>\n

If you can’t offer evidence, at least try for a believable enthymeme. Truly ancient Pagans, along with inventing the academy, invented a wide range of persuasive tools.<\/a><\/p>\n

As a Pagan in academia, I like learning those tools and using them.\u00a0 Of the old persuasive trilogy\u2014logos, pathos, ethos<\/a><\/em>\u2014maybe it is really ethos that is in short supply. UPG has a place, but this kind of writing is not it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent a big chunk of yesterday afternoon reviewing a book that purports to prove the existence of a self-conscious, Goddess-worshiping Paganism in 19th-century America. The evidence? An idiosyncratic reading of one writer’s literary output, writing that never uses the words “witch,” “Pagan,” “fairy,” “goddess,” or anything like that, but openly espouses Protestant Christianity. If […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-2111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-scholarship"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-y3","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1817,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1817","url_meta":{"origin":2111,"position":0},"title":"Wet Goddess","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Malcolm Brenner, author of Wet Goddess, his unique memoir of working with dolphins, has a new website, with an excerpt from the book, photos, purchase links, and related merchandise. Malcolm shopped Wet Goddess around to publishers for years before self-publishing it. (After all, one of my favorite novels, The Sea\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"writing\"","block_context":{"text":"writing","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=writing"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3210,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=3210","url_meta":{"origin":2111,"position":1},"title":"Mother Goddess Temple or Brothel?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"August 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"From the fascinating\"mortuary archaeology\" blog Bones Don't Lie, diverse explanations for the collection of babies' skeletons in a ruin from Roman Britain. Dr. [Jill] Eyers continues to argues for the brothel hypothesis, finding that further research and the combination of the human remains with archaeological evidence only further supports her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"archaeology\"","block_context":{"text":"archaeology","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=archaeology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11666,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=11666","url_meta":{"origin":2111,"position":2},"title":"The Morrigan, Therapy, and Female Self-Narration on Social Media","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"August 9, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"From The Pomegranate's special issue on Paganism, art, and fashion, here is a link to \u00c1ine Warren's article, \"The Morrigan as a 'Dark Goddess': A Goddess Re-Imagined Through Therapeutic Self-Narration of Women on Social Media.\" It and other Pomegranate articles are currently available as free downloads. Here \u00c1ine Warren talks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Goddess\"","block_context":{"text":"Goddess","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=goddess"},"img":{"alt_text":"Idealized interpreation of the Morrigan","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ectweb.cs.depaul.edu\/wcotterm\/pics\/hekate.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":985,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=985","url_meta":{"origin":2111,"position":3},"title":"Gallimaufry with Big Rocks","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 13, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00b6 My copy of Fire Child: The Life & Magic of Maxine Sanders, 'Witch Queen' arrived, and I will post a full review soon. Short version: Better than I expected.\u00b6 When the Goddess Ruled the Earth is a new quasi-documentary film on hypothesized Neolithic religion. The trailers are all shots\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"archaeology\"","block_context":{"text":"archaeology","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=archaeology"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chascli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1869928784","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":563,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=563","url_meta":{"origin":2111,"position":4},"title":"The White GoddessLee Gilmore writes\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 25, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"The White GoddessLee Gilmore writes of synchronistic experiences involving Robert Graves' \"historical grammar of poetic myth,\" The White Goddess.First published in 1948, it was for many people a \"gateway book\" to Goddess religion--it certainly was that for me. (Maybe we should devote a Pagan Studies session to it.)Lee also reports\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11887,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=11887","url_meta":{"origin":2111,"position":5},"title":"Why Is the Hippo Goddess Holding a Bull by a Chain in the Northern Sky?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"This carving comes from a Greco-Roman-era Egyptian temple in Esna,where decorated walls are being carefully cleaned and original colors seen again. 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