Meeting Water at the Land

I always enjoy breakthroughs in life. These breakthroughs can manifest themselves in any number of ways, and I usually take them as some form of ekstasis, or maybe a draught from the Mead of Poetry. So I had a Hegel breakthrough last night: I had been sitting at my computer for about 2 hours trying to pound out the introduction to my forthcoming Hegel term paper. I got about two pages worth written, manifest in several paragraphs that were in need of some syntactual sutures, but overall good material. I even got a good quote from Plato as the opener to the paper, but I just couldn't get a beginning that I was satisfied with; so, tired and forlorn, I went to bed. I was just about asleep, like seriously, I could see a dream headed right for me, when, of course I got the perfect opening sentence and had to slough off all of that nice warm somniferousness (yes, it's a word) and heed the call of my Hegelian hymn! And I'm glad that I did, I slept like only the dialectically-induced can sleep. For all his writings of the activity of the mind, he usually just shuts mine down or pisses it off. But, a beginning is a beginning, and maybe I will be able to meet my goal of 10 pages for this weekend. It's supposed to rain through to Monday, so I'm feeling pretty good about my chances.

Not much more to update. My new job is going well, and I am far less stressed and sleep-deprived as I was when I was working in the pharmacy. On that note, it looks as if I will be able to come home this summer for about 10-14 days or so. I am not completely sure about that, I am still waiting on my income tax return from the state to see what kind of financial situation I am/will be in. But, things are looking good for me getting to visit for a little while. As was the case last semester, I will be posting my papers as I finish them, so be expecting that, though these papers will be a lot more rigorous than my two last semester, and longer for that matter.

My Hegel paper is over Hegel's subtle appropriation of ancient skepticism in his formation of the determinate negation and dialectic, so I will leave you with my opening quote from Plato's Sophist to ponder:

“And in their logoi they collect those opinions and compare them with one another, and by the comparison they show that they contradict one another about the same things, in relation to the same things and in respect to the same things.”

-Philip

a natural gathering of all being

So I've been trying to figure out what I am going to write my Hospitality paper about, and I had this thought today while walking around campus. Life, or more specifically, being, is like a magnet: it simultaneously, attracts, groups, repels, and polarizes. Being wants to be and being wants to be-with. I know that Nancy posited that all being is actually a being-with, but just as he said that Heidegger didn't go far enough with dasein, I say that Nancy doesn't go far enough with mitsein: There is a necessity for recognition of other being(s) in order to confirm our own being. I am not going to being to try and form some metaphysical or epistemological theory as to how this recognition occurs or can be proved. But, I do know that when being comes into proximity with other being a response is demanded. This is surely tinged with Levinas' take on hospitality: the face of the Other necessitates a response, but again, I think the pull is stronger, I think there is a more visceral recognition of being that requires response. Now I don't want to get all New Age and start talking about attracting life forces and other pseudo-philosophical concepts. But I do know that being recognizes being; being is pulled to being.

So to my paper. I've been thinking a lot about hospitality, radical hospitality and what that could actually entail. While Derrida talks about it in the analogy of always answering the door because the Messiah could be at the door, I think there are other avenues of hospitality that need to be extended, explored, expanded. What about hospitality to non-human animals? I'm not talking just animal rights, or the lessening of animal cruelty, but an acceptance and attempt to understand the being that pervades both human and non-human animals. Heidegger talks about non-human animals and their related to "world" and "worldhood." Or Nature, what about opening the door to Nature instead of continuing to live and operate in a mentality that treats Nature as a means to an end, and in Kant's terms, unethically. What about the face of the dog, of the cat, the mountainside; why are these beings subsumed and treated as human utility? I know the arguments: there are no souls in Nature, animals can't reason, man has dominion over Nature. But as I see it, having a soul isn't a precondition for existence, nor is the ability to reason: when was the last time you saw a 2 week old human child act rationally? So why are these then conditions for hospitality? While none of the philosophers that I have mentioned (except for Kant) have really spelled out how animals and Nature should be treated, I would argue that a lack of philosophical treatment is just as inhospitable as blatant disregard or misuse.

It seems to me that the analytic philosophers have had the most say in environmental philosophy and ethics, and it is now time for the Continental tradition to weigh in on this topic. Surely, these questions deserve a Continental treatment that can approach from the vantage point of history, literature, and a gathering together of all being.

"Nature stretches out her arms to embrace man, only let his thoughts be of equal greatness."

-Emerson

--Philip

spade and parade

Well after winter in Boston (which is still raging) and spring break in Virginia a determination must be made: My first winter in Boston brought the most snow (55.2 inches) since 1978. My first spring break in Virginia brought the most snow (a paltry 6 - 7 inches) since 1981. And, on my first day back to Boston the temperature dropped about 30 degrees and started dumping wintry mix all over the place. So, 1) it's all meteorological coincidence 2) global warming and weather patterns are converging with #1 for severe winters; or 3) I have superhuman influence over the weather a la Storm from the X-Men. I'm leaning towards #3 but it's a tough call.

I did have a very good time in Virginia over the last ~2 weeks. I spent most of time spending time with my extended, and now more extensive, family. If somehow you don't already know, my older brother Andrew and his wife Amy gained an addition to their family in the form of my kick ass nephew Brodie Cash Day. Brodie was born February 26 at 7:30 PM weighing in at 9 lbs 4 oz and 21 inches long. He is a wonderful being and I am blessed to have been able to experience his first days and weeks on this planet. For reasons of motivation I'm not going to post any pictures in this, but you can find a plethora on Amy's facebook site. Check them out! He's a a beautiful baby.

In matters of less though still strong importance, I only have 6 weeks left this semester. WTF! I still have 3 lengthy research papers to write and one fairly basic test to prepare for. I am still floundering on paper ideas, so if there are any Hegel scholars reading this please illumine this bit of obfuscation. I am throwing around a few preliminary ideas: 1) to examine Hegel's treatment and eventual refutation of empiricism and scepticism via his Logic, or to examine the concluding problem of the Logic in which the Absolute (Truth) of Religion becomes equated with Experience, which is a big no-no for idealism. Well, I just had an epiphany (which coincidentally for Levinas represents a manifestation of the divine) and maybe I will combine both ideas and topple both empiricism and religion in Hegel's Logic. Could work.

In my Aquinas class my professor wants me to write on the the intersection of philosophy and religion via the roles of the philosopher and theologian. There is an obvious supercession of theology over philosophy in the work of Aquinas (he is famously quoted saying that "philosophy is the handmaiden to theology") which I heartily disagree with, though it will take some eloquent arguments to clearly and persuasively tease the two apart. He wants me to take that idea and couple it with the idea of the recent theological turn in French phenomenology. I think it can be done, just will require some reading.

Lastly, in my Hospitality class, I am either going to revise and expand my essay on disorientation or write an essay on natural hospitality, or hospitality to nature inspired by Emerson's writing.

Whatever I end up doing, it's going to be a lot of work and I am so glad that I am starting a new, less stressful, less demanding job tomorrow because I am going to be reading and writing at breakneck speed. As with last semester I will post updates, snippets, and ongoing ideas as they develop regarding these projects.

-Philip