I very nearly re-wrote a post I already wrote in 2010, drawing out a chord from two passages from Nietzsche and Buber, both distinguishing between dialogue that takes place between individuals and discussion that takes place among members of a group — what Buber called interhuman versus social phenomena. The reason I was going to … Continue reading Introversion and extraversion strategies
Working in my wiki this morning, I found myself tagging this passage from Martin Buber with the theme “tragedy“: If a man were only guilty toward himself, in order to satisfy the demanding summons that meets him at the height of conscience, he would only need to take this one road from the gate of … Continue reading Tragically Jewish
If you interview a group, do not make the mistake of thinking you are efficiently interviewing many individuals at once. If you are interviewing a group you are interviewing a group. So make sure that the group you are interviewing represents a group who will be acting together in real life in whatever situation you … Continue reading Group interviews
From Richard Polt’s Heidegger: An Introduction: “A few days before his death, Heidegger penned a motto for his collected edition: “Ways, not works”. He explained this motto in some notes for a preface: The collected edition should indicate various ways: it is underway in the field of paths of the self-transforming asking of the many-sided … Continue reading Heidegger’s Te
I’m starting to disbelieve in the common belief that Levinas is the heir of Buber, who has somehow made Buber obsolete. I don’t believe they share moral vision. Maybe the most important evidence is the experience of reading them, which could not be less similar despite their common material. Buber is an electrifying read, where … Continue reading Questioning Levinas
We cannot directly control our perceptions. We can partly control our attention. Perceiving is passive; attending is active. * Relevance does not actually belong to perception. It belongs to attention. We do not perceive irrelevance in another person’s argument, but, rather, refuse to attend to the argument in a way that reveals its relevance. * … Continue reading Walk
People love to watch an artist draw. He draws a line and slowly it becomes a shape. He adds more lines, and introduces shading. So far, the relationships are all within the page; a composition takes form. But the drawing suggests that it is a drawing of something — but of what? Here is where … Continue reading Vision and voice
I’m thinking out loud here, so please forgive the tedium and unclarity. I’m also traveling, and that always messes me up pretty seriously. Just to get these thoughts out, I’m saying what comes to mind and not worrying excessively over how much sense I’m making much less how persuasive I’m being. So there’s even less … Continue reading Thoughts on double meanings
Quantity of reverence matters less than quality of influence. To revere someone excessively — to make a person an object of worship instead of a teacher with a relevant, practical and surprising lesson — can even be a defense against influence. * It is easy to revere something of one’s own invention, but the kinds … Continue reading Influence over reverence
Nietzsche: “What Homer says of it is so true and so terrible it pierces us through: ‘the muse loved him dearly and gave to him good and evil; for she took from him his eyes and bestowed upon him sweet song.’ — This is a text without end for the thinker: she gives good AND … Continue reading Observations
Social being can be experienced: From within/participatorily as a We — to which I am subject and reflected to myself, faithfully; From within/participatorily as a They — to which I am subject but from which I am alienated and reflected to myself, unfaithfully; From without/objectively as an Us — to which I belong, but seen … Continue reading Modes of the social
“No society can properly function without classification, without an arrangement of things and men in classes and prescribed types. This necessary classification is the basis for all social discrimination, and discrimination, present opinion to the contrary notwithstanding, is no less a constituent element of the social realm than equality is a constituent element of the … Continue reading Who and what
Singing sonar songs, we flit in the dark, not even flying, bouncing words off invisible ears arrayed in space, ascertaining where this other stands relative to ourselves in reality. * “Eyes are more accurate witnesses than ears.” — Heraclitus “What Homer says of it is so true and so terrible it pierces us through: ‘the … Continue reading Ear and eye
Buber, on the social vs the interhuman: It is usual to ascribe what takes place between men to the social realm, thereby blurring a basically important line of division between two essentially different areas of human life. I myself, when I began nearly fifty years ago to find my own bearings in the knowledge of … Continue reading Social and interhuman
Sketchy thoughts which might not make sense without the full context… Once again I’m thinking about Buber’s distinction between the social and the interhuman. I think the essential difference between the two is this: In an interhuman relationship two participants are involved, and through dialogue the participants can directly influence the relationship that binds them; … Continue reading Individual, interhuman, social
I need to go back and read Buber and see if he denied the validity of the I-It relationship. If he did, I disagree with him. As important as I-Thou is, I-It cannot be reduced to a mere corruption of I-Thou. * I-It is what mediates our I-Thou relationships. In my view I-Thou deepens in … Continue reading “To keep you is no benefit.”
I knew a dude (in the most precise sense) in high school who spelled out “Angus Van Osbourne” on his chest with band-aids, and then laid out in the sun in order to inverse-tan the words into his skin. (For the uninitiated, this was a concatenation of the names of the reigning trinity of hard … Continue reading Angus Van Osbourne
There is a huge difference between someone who seeks ways to measure things and someone who rejects the existence of anything he cannot measure. Measuring is a mysterious activity. * A Romantic correctly notes that some things are beyond the grasp of cognition, and positively values these things. The commonest form of Romantic, however, proceeds … Continue reading Overcoming Romanticism
Mediocre – ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from French médiocre, from Latin mediocris ‘of middle height or degree,’ literally ‘somewhat rugged or mountainous,’ from medius ‘middle’ + ocris ‘rugged mountain.’ Excellent – ORIGIN late Middle English : from Latin excellentia, from the verb excellere ‘surpass’, from ex– ‘out, beyond’ + celsus ‘lofty.’ * Are the excellent … Continue reading The rugged many, the vulnerable few
Yesterday I wrote this: Love is the active desire to share a world, to see with. Love pursues the accomplishment of perfect sharing despite futility. Some will point out the futility and on that basis to give up the pursuit, but this happens when love is lacking. – Would someone who loves chocolate refuse to … Continue reading Perfection