eternal sunshine of the spotted mind
for the nth time, im resurrecting (a) this blog.
life has been good lately, i'm finishing my MA thesis at my own pace and at relative ease.
no, it's not really at relative ease. thinking, the most burgeois of all jobs one can take in the world can be taxing too. especially if you think along the discipline of pure thinking: philosophy.
which brings me to the reason why im resurrecting this spot:
writing assists clear thinking. if thinking is all you have to do for at least the next 5-7 years of your life, you have to produce good writing with it. blogging, the most accessible (and public) site for writing is one clear way to create a presence. yes, this is a bit damaging to the sanctity of well-thought ideas only publishable in academic journals. but who really gives a shit with sanctity these days? nobody even pays enough and careful attention to ideas anymore.
thesis is doing well. at least now, i can rehearse the argument (s) i am forwarding more clearly in my head (and by next year, in paper). my elevator story is now ready: when someone asks me what the hell im writing on, i can tell it to her in a span of a minute, longer than an elevator ride. which makes my point to the point. and which makes writing about this story (in 150 long pages) seems like overkill.
the story is simple: thinker 1 accuses theory A of marginalizing element x by prioritizing element y. i say: actually NO. why? because in other accounts of theory A, such as delivered by thinker 2, we can see a different relationship between elements x and y. it is ofcourse a much much more complicated story than this (with twists and turns that would be a bit too boring to follow).
however, as for any story, the ultimate question begs: what is the point?
honestly, as of now, i cant tell exactly what the whole point is. i know i'm making a point here: but as for any philosophical enterprise, it rests on a quest to clarify certain tensions or in what i attempt to do, correct misreadings. i plan to give a better way of reading the tension-the surprising end of the story.
one thing that i realized today (at around 3am; after being boggled once again by hannah arendt, this time, her 'Promise of Politics'):
"philosophy is not a discipline that solves problems, rather it is one that reminds us what problems are worth solving."
when someone asks you, What is Philosophy? you can give this as answer but please be sure to quote me.
life has been good lately, i'm finishing my MA thesis at my own pace and at relative ease.
no, it's not really at relative ease. thinking, the most burgeois of all jobs one can take in the world can be taxing too. especially if you think along the discipline of pure thinking: philosophy.
which brings me to the reason why im resurrecting this spot:
writing assists clear thinking. if thinking is all you have to do for at least the next 5-7 years of your life, you have to produce good writing with it. blogging, the most accessible (and public) site for writing is one clear way to create a presence. yes, this is a bit damaging to the sanctity of well-thought ideas only publishable in academic journals. but who really gives a shit with sanctity these days? nobody even pays enough and careful attention to ideas anymore.
thesis is doing well. at least now, i can rehearse the argument (s) i am forwarding more clearly in my head (and by next year, in paper). my elevator story is now ready: when someone asks me what the hell im writing on, i can tell it to her in a span of a minute, longer than an elevator ride. which makes my point to the point. and which makes writing about this story (in 150 long pages) seems like overkill.
the story is simple: thinker 1 accuses theory A of marginalizing element x by prioritizing element y. i say: actually NO. why? because in other accounts of theory A, such as delivered by thinker 2, we can see a different relationship between elements x and y. it is ofcourse a much much more complicated story than this (with twists and turns that would be a bit too boring to follow).
however, as for any story, the ultimate question begs: what is the point?
honestly, as of now, i cant tell exactly what the whole point is. i know i'm making a point here: but as for any philosophical enterprise, it rests on a quest to clarify certain tensions or in what i attempt to do, correct misreadings. i plan to give a better way of reading the tension-the surprising end of the story.
one thing that i realized today (at around 3am; after being boggled once again by hannah arendt, this time, her 'Promise of Politics'):
"philosophy is not a discipline that solves problems, rather it is one that reminds us what problems are worth solving."
when someone asks you, What is Philosophy? you can give this as answer but please be sure to quote me.
posted by Lawrence at 10:48 AM
1 comments
