Any one thing is what it is because of it’s relationships with all the other things that define it. The building is the building, because of each of the parts that make it up, but the rafter is the rafter because it is part of the building. — excerpt Taking Back Philosophy A Multicultural…
I did not make the car show yesterday morning. I have a pang of regret. From this angle of view there is no sign of yesterday’s show from my table by the big Starbucks window. The white archway marking the grand entry to 3rd Street, to the promenade by the double line of parked,…
A magnificent morning graces Geneva. The air temperature is a touch cool, a reminder that we are on the cusp of Fall. Seated, by the big window at Starbucks I read this quotation from the ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi has been characterized as the Wittgenstein of Chinese philosophy. Once Zhuang Zhou dreamt he…
Questionnaire by Wendell Berry 1. How much poison are you willing to eat for the success of the free market and global trade? Please name your preferred poisons. 2. For the sake of goodness, how much evil are you willing to…
If you are offended when someone says you are wrong, you have no business claiming to be any kind of intellectual. There is a great difference between a sincerely reasoned argument and an unargued dismissal. As English clergyman William Paley (1743-1805) lamented, “Who can refute a sneer? Such attacks do their execution without inquiry.”…
Unsure of what to write this morning. I thought of posting some recently taken photos of a Porsche GT2RS. The photos of the exotic car which I greatly admired on the day the photos were taken, seem a bit obscene this morning. Showing a $350,000 sports car would be a radical disjunction with my…
The impartiality which,in contemplation, is the unalloyed desire for truth,is the very same quality of mind which,in action, is justice,and in emotion is that universal lovewhich can be given to all,and not only to thosewho are judged useful or admirable.Thus contemplation enlarges not only the objects of our thoughts,but also the objects of our…
Once one has worked through and been suitably impressed by Derrida’s perceptive and witty analysis of Nietzsche’s style, one feels, at the end of all the urbanity, an empty longing amounting to a hunger, a longing for the sense of difficulty and risk and practical urgency that are inseparable from Zarathustra’s dance….. Nietzsche’s work…
While the confrontation has turned entirely on political issues, it’s important to remember the frustrations of Hong Kong’s young people are broader. They live in one of the most unequal places on earth, with an astonishing proportion of the economy controlled by a few billionaires who dominate real estate, retail, utilities, telecommunications, and critical…
The warm cup of coffee comforts. The sky is solid with gray rain clouds. Driving through a stout downpour I was thankful. At last the smaller plants and the trees are getting a drink. More is needed, considerably more. Life and maybe even reality is a matter of maintenance. Rainfall maintains life. Life is…
