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

Look At How They Flock to Him

Well, it's the last day of the semester, rather, it's the last day of instruction for grad students: I do have one final that I do have to sit for on the 16th, but otherwise, I'm done! Time to drink! And sleep! I finished my second of two term papers last night. I ended up titling it: "Speaking with the Gods: The Role of Swearing and Invocation in Plato's Theaetetus and Apology." It weighs in at just under 20 pages, and I would have liked to have at least 2 or 3 pages more to write as I wanted to explicate further the role of de-mythologizing that postmodernism, mostly by Barthes, attributes to philosophy and the philosopher. But, that probably would have ended up turning into a completely new paper, so it's probably for the best that I couldn't extend that line of thinking. Here is the introduction of the paper, and if you want the whole thing, let me know, and include an email address and I will send it to you. Otherwise, skip over it.

One of man’s greatest gifts is his curiosity, his desire to look inward and outward with a sense of openness, a sense of wonder. However, upon much introspection, one comes to the realization that there are more questions to be asked than answers that are readily supplied by such introspection. The workings of nature, the presence of the soul, enquiries into death, and even into the depth of life, are profundities that arise from such a reflective existence. In light of this double existence – living, but also living-with these problems – man has historically reached out, and in most cases, created, many of the great problem-solving systems in human history: science, philosophy, art, mathematics, history, religion, etc. For that is what all of these systems, processes, and constructs represent: a searching beyond the human from within the human, a desire to have answers that come “from beyond” and yet are still relevant to our existential recognition. This searching and reaching-beyond is compatible with the life that questions, the life that seeks to enrich itself by stretching beyond itself. Nietzsche enriches this necessity of distance: “We had forgotten that some greatness, like some goodness, wants to be beheld only from a distance and by all means only from below.”
The development of these informative systems has further enriched society historically, introducing new concepts and helping to establish culture. Ancient Greece is one of the most fundamentally important cultures in the history of Western society as the Greeks found a great source of identity in philosophy, religion, politics, and art. Indeed Philosophy is considered to have begun with Thales who famously embodied the notion of human wonder and curiosity by extending his gaze up to the heavens; and of course, Thales fell into a well as he was gazing upward as he had fully extended himself beyond himself: he had become caught up within this extension, and instead of trying to bring the heavens to bear upon his humanity he forgot his humanity and that he was necessarily earthbound. Even though much of science, mathematics, drama, sculpture, politics, and ethics are attributed to Ancient Greek culture, it is the mythology of the Greeks that supplies a rich, imaginative outlet for human wonder. This supplying is also a replying: the mythological tradition of the Greeks is the foundation of their culture as it can be found in all facets of Greek life and heritage.
Even though Thales, the first Greek philosopher, attempted to transcend explanations of nature and life qua mythology, the philosophical tradition never strays far from the mythological, whether it be through allusion, metaphor, or allegory . When a religion is as fundamental and explanatory as that of the Ancient Greeks then the beliefs of that religion become enmeshed in the culture, in society, to the point that the difference between religious practice and religious influence become obfuscated. So, when Greek philosophy is under scrutiny there is a double-enmeshment: an intersection of philosophy and mythology, and mythology and culture. This chiasma becomes extremely important when considering the works of Plato as his work is considered the first complete Greek philosophical system; but also, by writing in the form of the dialogue Plato was able to keep many elements in dialogue with each other.
Plato’s work is perhaps one of the greatest examples for illuminating the effects of mythology in philosophy, and subsequently on culture, on the polis. Socrates as Plato’s philosopher par excellence is himself represented as imbued and inspired by Apollo, and thus Socrates becomes an improvised prophet – literally (and literarily as Socrates the character) he embodies the meaning of the Greek pro and phētēs: Socrates speaks for Plato; and, in living out the pronouncement of the Delphic oracle, Socrates disseminates the teachings and prophecy of Apollo. It is also in this way that Socrates takes on a double role in regards to the gods: he invokes them through speech – his logos – and by action – his ergon. This double role also helps to build on the role of the Philosopher as epitomized by Socrates.
So through the writings of Plato, as voiced by Socrates and his various interlocutors, at the culmination of Western philosophy (up to that point), the role of the divine, of the gods, of mythology in Platonic dialogues takes on new life, on new meaning. Plato never wasted words, and so the arrival by invocation of various deities and myths in his works deserves some amount of scrutiny. The current investigation will show both philosophical and literary usage by Plato of Greek mythos in his Theaetetus and Apology. This will further uncover what roles such invocations bring to bear in these dialogues, and finally, illuminate this interweaving of philosophy, mythology and culture.


I also finished my other term paper, which ended up being entitled: "The Ethical Imagination: Cain's Mark on Mankind." Seeing as how I offered to email that in a prior post, I won't do so again here.

I know that it has been awhile since I have written one of these, but I have been busy, and I am sure that you have been busy as well. My Thanksgiving went well, it was good to see my extended family and spend time with my older brother for several days. Though, the drive back from Va was terrible: it took me 13.5 hours to make an 8.5 hour drive. While I knew full well that a lot more people would be on the road the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I never expected such a vehicular clusterfuck. I mean, it did rain the entirety of the drive up the East Coast, but since when is that license to drive like an idiot, or at 20 miles under the speed limit? I think that I counted 10 accidents, but only 2 appeared to be actual collisions, which means that the rest were people who either a) weren't paying attention b) don't know how to drive on the highway in the rain, and therefore c) shouldn't be driving! At least, not when I have to deal with them. So I made it home at 3:30 early Monday morning and fully zombified by the ordeal: I still haven't recovered nor fully woken up, which of course has been brilliant for my last week of academia this semester.

I'm not sure how many more posts I will make before I come home for the holidays as I will be busy working as much as possible, and so, there probably won't be much for me to write about. So, yeah, I know that breaks your heart.

don't tread on me when you're floating downstream on a moonbeam,

philip

Burying Patterns in Your Chest

I am so damn tired. Seriously, I felt like I haven't been fully awake since Sunday, and I haven't even really done anything extra since then: Same work schedule, same school schedule, same sleep schedule. Maybe, I'll get to bed early tonight, maybe.

So, I think that my Plato paper is starting to gain some kind of form in my mind, or at least I think I know how I am going to structure the paper. I've done all of the research, and just need to get started. I have tons of material, so I don't think length will be a problem, just cohesion. And it's due December 4th, so it has a bit more of a sense of urgency than my Imagination paper. Other than that I am pretty much coasting until the end of the semester: my Imagination paper is done, I have an A in my Logic class, and I just need to keep my homework grades consistent through the end of December. Oh, and they do things pretty strange here...they don't offer "dead week" or "dead days" like at UNT, but the last mandatory assignment is always due a week and a half before finals week even begins. I am not sure if that means that they can teach new stuff, just not assign homework, or if they really dedicate a week and a half to review. Either way, my last day of class is December 4th, and my one and only final is December 16th. So I have like 12 days of break before my final...so strange. I will probably just wear myself out working during that time to make up for the three weeks of vacation that I will be taking. And both of my papers will be due by the 4th of December...so except for my Logic final, school will be done for me that on the 4th. And first day of instruction next semester is January 14th.

So it's getting cold here in Mass., and I think cold to stay. The highs have been in the mid-40s for about 5 days now, and I think that it is only supposed to get colder after this weekend. And that's fine with me, I love the cold weather. But what isn't fine with me is that my top button came off my brand new wool coat. I was in the grocery store today, unbuttoning it so that I could move better and not be so hot, and the damn thing just came undone. I have only been wearing that coat for like 4 days now...pisses me off. So, I purchased a sewing kit along with my groceries and am going to try and sew this button back on tonight. Don't get me wrong, buttons have definitely made my life better, but some time they piss me off to no end. And as many of you know, I don't get angry easily, but for some reason, a broken or unraveled button just sets me off. So, gotta get that button back on or things will get pretty drafty for me.

Another strange thing about living up here: after daylight savings time the sun sets around 4:30. It's so odd...I got off work today around 5 and the sun was completely down. I think that might be part of why I am so lethargic; my body thinks that it is later than it is. Which of course introduces a strange problem about my body knowing or thinking something other than my brain. Or at the very least, sending cues to my brain to go to sleep.

Speaking of which, time to make a pot of coffee and battle my body in the name of higher education.

--Philip

In a Battle for Belonging

Ok, so I finished the first draft of my imagination paper. It still needs some polishing and the inclusion of footnotes and the bibliography...but it's done! I wrote the bulk of the ending today, and at three different occasions I thought that I was done, but just kept coming up with more ideas that seemed to necessitate inclusion. It weighs in about 15 pages without footnotes...but yeah, if you want to read it, let me know and I'll email you a copy. Now, I drink!

Oh and have you ever thought about the fact that it's impossible to cut off your own hands? Strange huh?

--Philip

My Life Came Up Quick, Call It Your Asterisk

Ok, so I am re-reading Being Singular Plural by Jean-Luc Nancy, and let me say, it's as if I am reading it for the first time. I first read it about this time last year when Nancy was mentioned in my Postmodernism seminar, but apparently the time has surely been my aid in digesting this work. His premise is that existence is always already addressing itself as singularly plural and plurally singular; indeed, it is hard to think of existence as independent of other existents, especially in the case when existence addresses itself: the act of denying meaning has meaning. Out of nothing comes everything and, according to Nancy, out of everything comes nothing as being is circulation, a constant self-addressing that opens presence up to presence in all directions and by saying "we" all entities, all beings, all existence is gathered up and bound into this boundless circulation in all directions. He also extends this idea into an eloquent discussion on Nietzsche's "eternal recurrence."

The first thing that jumped into my mind as I was reading this (and I am sure into yours too) was phenomenologically, or maybe ontologically, which comes first: "I" or "we"? I can't remember if Nancy deals with this, and I will find out when I make it through the book, but I don't recall him dealing with this in-depth. The problem, as I see it, is one of a violent differentiation of being. Do I posit two "I's" into a "we" or do I extract at least one "I" from the recognition that "we" is constituted by multiple entities? Surely, in keeping with Nancy, he holds that being is singular and plural at the same time: a multiplicitous singularity embodied by saying "we." But, my question in all of this is where is the Other? This assimilation of all existents into a unity of multifarity seems to (at some level) subvert Otherness into sameness. Truly, an ethical treatment of the Other requires a commitment, a com-passion, but I don't know how I feel about the ethical implications of this "we." Maybe my questions will be answered as I read, but these are at least preliminary ideas and foci.

Ok, so if you have made it this far I applaud you and your determination to wade through a paragraph saturated with...strange musings. On to other matters. I started my training today for my incoming promotion, and it was fairly simple. The weather has been oddly temperate here lately: highs in the low 60's, lows in the high 40's. I am waiting for winter to descend and knock me on my ass one unexpected morning. But not yet, brother, not yet.

It's amazing how fast time is flying! I know I remark on this every other post or so, but I can't believe that the first week of November is almost over. Time is such a strange thing to me...but that's a post for another...time. Dammit, not using "time" is almost as hard as not using "is." Being and Time indeed. Oh, and I know he isn't going to read this, but I must say happy birthday to my (assimilated) brother Drew Riley: 23 and going strong! Everyone call him and wish him happy birthday...and call him an asshole for me. Seems like only yesterday we were 14 and playing Final Fantasy in his living room...ahh sweet memories of nerddom and nerderiferousness.

Well, I am going to get back to my reading and my High Life.

"Ah, whom can we ever turn to in our need? Not angels, not humans, and already the knowing animals are aware that we are not really at home in our interpreted world."
- Rilke

They didn't give me anything, then they took half of that,

-- Philip