ISSN 0014-1690 The Ethical Record Vol. 99 No. 5 £ 1 May 1994 BACK TO BASICS WITH TROLLOPE T.F. Evans 3 GOD AND THE BIG BANG Hyman Frankel 6 PERSONAL CONSTRUCT PSYCHOLOGY Marion Granville 13 CHARLES BAUDELAIRE AND "MODERNISM" John Good 16 Self-portrait. 1948. Gertrude Elias. On 8 May1994. Gertrude addressed the Society on her autobiography. The 'Suspect Generation' VIEWPOINTS HUMANISM ON THE WORLD STAGE Vivien Gibson, D. Baker, Bob Stuckey, Jerry W. Hardin 18 There are now over three million ethical, non-religious people from thirty-two countries linked to IHEU, the International Humanist and Ethical Union. So reports SPES member Matt Cherry from IHEU's OBITUARIES base in Utrecht, the Netherlands, where he has recently Rose Warwick 2 assumed the post of Secretary for Development and PR. Frank Ambrose Ridley 20 Matt is actively resisting the tendency in Germany today to blame the rise of Nazism on irreligion, calling this a "terrible misunderstanding of the lessons of history'. Many of the great moral responses to the WHY I DO NOT CALL horrors of Nansm were non-religious. Survivors such as MYSELF AN ATHEIST Primo Levi and Jacob Bronowski emphasised the need Prot Sir Hermann Bondi, to base moral and social principles on humanity rather F.R.S. 21 than on any `higher' authority, whether religious belief or totalitarian dogma. Increasingly, this humanist belief ETHICAL SOCIETY is under threat from fundamentalist religion. We hope PROGRAMME 24 Germany will resist this threat. He is also working with German humanists to alter the preamble to a proposed new German constitution so that it no longer implies all German citizens are responsible to God, which would violate the secularist principle of the separation of church and state." SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY Conway Hall Humanist Centre 25 Red Lion Square, London WC IR 4RL. Telephone: 071-831 7723 Appointed Lecturers Harold Blackham, T.F. Evans, Peter Heales, Richard Scorer, Barbara Smoker, Harry Stopes-Roe, Nicolas Walter. Officers Honorary Representative: Nicolas Walter. General Committee Chairman: Barbara Smoker. Treasurer Don Liversedge. Editor, The Ethical Record: Norman Bacrac. Librarian: Edwina Palmer. Registrar: Marion Granville. Secretary to the Society: Nina Khare. Tel: 071-831 7723 (The Secretary's office is now on the 2nd Floor, Bradlaugh House, 47 Theobald's Road) Hall Staff Manager:Stephen Norley. Tel: 071-242 8032 for Hall bookings. Head Caretaker David Wright. ROSE WARWICK It is with regret that we have to report the death of Rose Warwick on 7th April at the age of 90. Her funeral was conducted by Peter Cadogan. She was a long standing member of SPES, having joined before the Society moved to Conway Hall, and she and her husband Oliver played an important part in the affairs of the Society, especially in the earlier days at Conway Hall. They worked hard for SPES. Oliver was a Trustee and served for many years on the GC. Rose was supportive, a loyal member and attended and took part in our functions. She was a good speaker and would give talks to the Sundary afternoon Socials, and show slides of her travels abroad. Her sons too have played their part, Justin also serving on the GC and Conrad, like his father, leading rambles in Epping Forest. Rose was sensible, generous, kindly and interested in the rights of women. We admired her energy and spirit and were glad to have her as a Member of SPES. Louise Booker Members' Names and Addresses It has been our normal practice to print both names and addresses of our members in the Annual Report. If you do NOT wish to have your address published, please let me know, in writing, as soon as possible. Nina Khare, Secretary SOUTH PLACE ETHICAL SOCIETY Registered Charity No. 251396 Founded in 1793, the Society is a progressive movement whose aims are the study and dissemination of ethical principles based on humanism, the cultivation of a rational and humane way of life, and the advancement of research and education in all relevant fields. We invite to membership all those who reject supernatural creeds and tind themselves in sympathy with our views. At Conway Hall there are opportunities for participation in many kinds of cultural activities, including discussions, lectures, concerts and socials. The Sunday Evening Chamber Music Concerts founded in 1887 have achieved international renown. A reference and lending library is available, and all members receive the Society's journal, The Ethical Recordeleven times a year. Funerals and Memorial Meetings are available to members. Membership is £10 p.a. Please apply to the Secretary for Membership Application forms. The views expressed in this journal are not necessary those of the Society 2 Ethical Record, April, 1994 BACK TO BASICS WITH TROLLOPE AND THE WAY WE LIVE NOW T.F. Evans Lecture to the Ethical Society, 10 April 1994 ... a certain class of dishonesty, dishonesty magnificent in its proportions, and climbing into high places, has become at the same time so rampant and so splendid that there seems to be reason for fearing that men and women will be taught to feel that dishonesty, if it can become splendid, will cease to be abominable. If dishonesty can live in a gorgeous palace with pictures on all its walls, and gems in all its cupboards, with marble and ivory in all its corners, and can give Apician dinners, and get into Parliament, and deal in millions, then dishonesty is not disgraceful, and the man dishonest after such a fashion is not a low scoundrel. Anthony Trollope An Autobiography 1883 If you come to grief and creditors are craving (For nothing Lhat is planned by mortal head Is certain in this Vale of Sorrow — saving That one's Liability is Limited), — Do you suppose that signifies perdition? If so, you're but a monetary dunce — You merely file a Winding-Up Petition, And start another Company at once! As a Company you've come to utter sorrow — But the liquidators say, "Never mind — you needn't pay", So you start another Company tomorrow! W.S. Gilbert Utopia Limited 1893 Major Importance It will be immediately apparent to all but a few exactly why Trollope has been chosen to start our thinking. Shortly after the present Prime Minister took office, he was given, among other signs of recognition and acceptance, the one unquestionable indication that he was to have an assured place in the hall of British fame. He was invited to appear as a guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme, Desert Island Discs! At the end of the programme, he was asked the three ritual questions: first as to which piece of music he would take, if he could take one only; second which book he would take and third, which luxury he would like. (The luxury he wanted was a full-scale replica of the Oval cricket ground and, to the surprise of all listeners, he was allowed this). It is the choice of book which interests us for John Major selected, surprisingly, a novel by Trollope, The Small House at Allington. Trollope has been a popular novelist during the present century and older members may recall the excellent serials made on BBC radio from the Trollope Barsetshire novels during the war years. Yet, there are always doubts about him. The Guardian columnist, Edward Pearce, remarked recently that Trollope is often the favourite writer of those who do not really like literature. Certainly, he is very readable and gives a credible picture of several strains of mid-Victorian society. The Small House at Allington is a pleasant enough Ethical Record, May, 1994 3 love story but, if the castaway had read it once, he would soon find, on second reading, that the fall of the waves on the shore would lull him to sleep before he reached the end. Political Views What is more relevant today is that Trol lope wrote a long novel called The Way We Live Now published in monthly parts beginning in 1874 and as a book in 1875. As the title suggests, Trol lope wanted to take a look at certain features of Victorian society. He was interested in politics but could not be called a profound political thinker. Despite the tone of the passage that has been quoted, he was no revolutionary. He greatly regretted the deepest divisions in society and wanted, as he once said, to do what he could, to bring the Duke and the dustman a little more closely together. He called himself a "conservative liberal" and, in case this title causes a wry smile, it has to be added that Gladstone still described himself thus after he had headed a nominally Liberal government. Trollope always felt that "to sit in the British Parliament should be the highest object of ambition to every educated Englishman". He fought one campaign as liberal candidate for Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire, hated every minute of it and finished at the bottom of the poll. Among the features of electioneering that disgusted him was the amount of bribery that went on on both sides. He noted that "there was something grand in the scorn with which a leading Liberal turned up his nose at me when I told him that there should be no bribery, no treating, not even a pot of beer on our side". It was no consolation to him after the poll that his Liberal associates brought a petition against the victorious Tories and had them unseated for improper practices during the campaign. He did not play any part in this. Commercial Profligacy of the Age Trollope wrote The Way We Live Now because he was struck by what he conceived to be the "commercial profligacy of the age".