Earlier this term I wrote a list of ten topics that I need to write on. These are not topics on which I have complete expertise, but they are issues on which I have opinions which ought be communicated. I thought I could write on one a day, or one every few days, and that [...]
Archive for the ‘writing’ Category
On Topics for Writing: “Hot Cognition” and Play
Posted in Ethics, Philosophy, Pragmatics, beginning, writing on November 24, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
“Chic-ness” and Cheapness – the materiality of the modern aesthetic
Posted in Body Phenomenology, Capitalism, Ethics, Food, Pragmatics, Pubs, Technology, Things, coffee, writing on November 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
We find today everywhere examples of mass produced luxury. Sitting in a coffee house atop dark wood chairs, next to a floor to ceiling fireplace adorned with an exotic artwork, I am both everywhere and nowhere. Starbucks, or Second-Cup, even the new-look Macdonalds embrace an architecture of bare wood, rock and leather wingback chairs alongside [...]
On Rememberance Day
Posted in Capitalism, Ethics, God, Philosophy, writing on November 11, 2009 | 1 Comment »
On Remembrance Day we are expected to honour soldiers. Soldiers who made individual sacrifices, for the sake of us – so that we can partake in the value(s) they defended. This is what is asked of us “in return” for their “gift”.
But is this demand without political, contemporary interest? Are we expected to value the [...]
“The Highest Values as Categories”
Posted in Being, Capitalism, Ethics, Technology, beginning, writing on March 12, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Concerning Nietzsche 4, page 40.
How we encounter things is contingent upon how we orient ourselves towards them. Because we encounter things as existing for-themselves, as self-standing on their own, we can say of them that they are a “thing”, i.e. a door. The counterfactual implication being, if we did not encounter things as standing-on-their-own, we [...]
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (Robert Pirsig)
Posted in Art, Body Phenomenology, Ethics, Philosophy, Pragmatics, Technology, writing on November 14, 2008 | 1 Comment »
On one level, Zen is a book about a motorcycle journey taken by John and his son Chris from Chicago to San Fransisco. On another, it’s a treatise about how mechanics ought be practiced. On another it’s a recollection of John’s previous life before a nervous breakdown, when he pursued the ghost of reason, and [...]
The Un-Romantic Return of Steam Locomotives
Posted in Capitalism, Ethics, Pragmatics, Technology, beginning, writing on November 4, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Steam trains are wonderful to behold – to watch one go by is to experience the power of the machine. Unlike modern diesel locomotives which start instantly, never make a fuss, Steam locomotives take hours to get going, and must let off steam when being shut down – literally spewing energy away in a wondrous [...]
Decadence, Wonder, Love
Posted in Ethics, Philosophy, beginning, writing on October 7, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Sitting in futures, I read from a 1922 lecture course in which Heidegger discusses German decadence and decline, and the factical-life situation of the University.
Sitting in futures, I recognize my own life-situation as decadent, savoring the pleasures of a civic existence. Nuit Blanche, Coffee shops, (occaisional) dining out, many friends. Basically, there is little denying [...]
Remarks on Rilke and Metaphysics
Posted in Ethics, Philosophy, Technology, beginning, writing on October 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I wanted to work on re-writing Nichomachea ethics, understanding agathon not as a pre-given plenum, but as the existential horizon whose unity and logical priority is a product of ambiguous and erotic lived existence. There was only one problem – that is exactly the project of Being and Time.
Tonight I read Rilke’s Eight Elegy to [...]
Happy in Toronto
Posted in Ethics, Philosophy, Pragmatics, Technology, beginning, writing on September 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I realize I havn’t written in a while, but now that the school year has begun, I hope to post more often. I’m happily settled in Toronto, in a PhD program, living in an awesome house. Also, I feel that I have a lot of friends in Toronto now, something that is a welcome change [...]
Cabin Feever Four
Posted in Capitalism, Pragmatics, Technology, writing on July 14, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Cabin Feever four, as expected, was a great success. The group was smaller this year – Nick and Emmerson arrived from their Naramata/Nelson adventure, Neal drove up with Hillary and Drew, and I brought Erin and Scary. We arrived, as usual, late on Friday night.
It’s difficult to express CF in propositions, so I will mention [...]
