0
Alright, I'm going to give this blog another go. This time I'm going to try to stick to the topic of the blog as much as possible. To my knowledge, on the last site, you could only have one blog at a time; this version isn't burdened with that limitation, which means blogs can be more project-based, which in my case is highly desirable.
Of the three categories of head, hand and heart, this blog is meant to be wholly within the category of hand, finding the latter too personal and the former not personal enough. Certainly, the category of head is about trying to see things for what they are, of coming to conclusions and making predictions, and while there is much value in that, little of that value is practical in the way that I need it to be. I can play philosopher as much as I want, but there is the stress in worrying about a life-wasted, and without it's earliest religious connotations philosophy can no longer justify itself. My life might be a waste anyway, but I don't have any desire to double that concern.
The category of heart, on the other hand, is all about evaluation and finding the inner-worth of things, in a way that the head is wise enough to be above. The head knows the difference between drawing a picture and coloring it; the heart says, "But I like color!" And when I say that there is plenty of time for coloring too, how could I be more gray? But, if I were to offer my own opinion, many of the self-described critics of government and society are really only eager to color events their way, not in describing them. Restaurants have critics too--their job is to comment on the taste.
In fact, my earliest concept of evaluation was that an evaluation was really but a tentative action, and for all I know this might be one of its elements. My idea was that it required a particular action to satisfy an evaluation, and of course then my mind was thinking of the problems of ethics. For instance, to say that murder is wrong meant, in my mind, that if I had the power to stop the act of one person murdering another, I would stop it; but because I don't have that power I evaluate instead, This is wrong. Something is tentative if it is latent in the sense of awaiting a particular set of circumstances in order to become active. But then I was still overestimating the value of critics as people who were eager to change things. There's a lot that I read that ultimately constitutes B&M, that is, Bitching and Moaning, and in most cases I would have rather chosen different colors.
But the other aim of this blog is to try to find opportunities for action between the public and private spheres. One small criticism I have of Deschooling Society, of which I'll have more positive things to say at a later time, is the list of laws he needs passed in order to de-institutionalize school. Maybe I'm too skeptical, but I have a hard time believing in the productivity of lobbying congress in order to attain our ends, especially without first engaging in even a rough draft of a political calculas. But it seems to me that a lot of articles are addressed publically, they are about public matters. Whatever action needs to be taken, everyone should take, and it certainly makes me feel helpless in not being able to do things without being accompanied by large masses of people.
Then there is one other element of trying to change things on the public sphere is that it seems to always involve performing in one way or another. Socrates in Plato's Gorgias seems to make a similar point:
This is how Socrates distinguishes the arts of rhetoric and dialectic. In the first case, you are performing to an audience, appealing to their prejudices and biases; but in the case of dialectic, "dialogue", instead you are appealing to your interlocutor's sense of honesty and decency not to take advantage of your. In dialogue, you are speaking to your interlocutor; in performance, you are using your interlocutor as a prop. Watch recordings of our Presidential debates to make the latter point clear.
Then, privately, there are all sorts of opportunities for action, but they are the dry, mundane things that we are already doing--managing our jobs and careers, managing our finances, getting married, having children, reading and writing. And I feel helpless in the private sphere for the inverse reason that I feel helpless in the public sphere, mainly because I'm alone, marginalized, and isolated. As an individual I can't change things, the best I can do is evaluate, say "this is the way things should be", try to convince other people, and hear them respond, "Ah, that would be nice. Too bad."
So that's one aspect that I would like to write about in this blog. I actually wanted to write about a whole other topic and this introduction kind of grew longer and longer, and I don't want to delete it to start over. In fact, I could go on, perhaps this entry isn't really finished, but it is late and I have to go to bed. Night
Of the three categories of head, hand and heart, this blog is meant to be wholly within the category of hand, finding the latter too personal and the former not personal enough. Certainly, the category of head is about trying to see things for what they are, of coming to conclusions and making predictions, and while there is much value in that, little of that value is practical in the way that I need it to be. I can play philosopher as much as I want, but there is the stress in worrying about a life-wasted, and without it's earliest religious connotations philosophy can no longer justify itself. My life might be a waste anyway, but I don't have any desire to double that concern.
The category of heart, on the other hand, is all about evaluation and finding the inner-worth of things, in a way that the head is wise enough to be above. The head knows the difference between drawing a picture and coloring it; the heart says, "But I like color!" And when I say that there is plenty of time for coloring too, how could I be more gray? But, if I were to offer my own opinion, many of the self-described critics of government and society are really only eager to color events their way, not in describing them. Restaurants have critics too--their job is to comment on the taste.
In fact, my earliest concept of evaluation was that an evaluation was really but a tentative action, and for all I know this might be one of its elements. My idea was that it required a particular action to satisfy an evaluation, and of course then my mind was thinking of the problems of ethics. For instance, to say that murder is wrong meant, in my mind, that if I had the power to stop the act of one person murdering another, I would stop it; but because I don't have that power I evaluate instead, This is wrong. Something is tentative if it is latent in the sense of awaiting a particular set of circumstances in order to become active. But then I was still overestimating the value of critics as people who were eager to change things. There's a lot that I read that ultimately constitutes B&M, that is, Bitching and Moaning, and in most cases I would have rather chosen different colors.
But the other aim of this blog is to try to find opportunities for action between the public and private spheres. One small criticism I have of Deschooling Society, of which I'll have more positive things to say at a later time, is the list of laws he needs passed in order to de-institutionalize school. Maybe I'm too skeptical, but I have a hard time believing in the productivity of lobbying congress in order to attain our ends, especially without first engaging in even a rough draft of a political calculas. But it seems to me that a lot of articles are addressed publically, they are about public matters. Whatever action needs to be taken, everyone should take, and it certainly makes me feel helpless in not being able to do things without being accompanied by large masses of people.
Then there is one other element of trying to change things on the public sphere is that it seems to always involve performing in one way or another. Socrates in Plato's Gorgias seems to make a similar point:
Quote
So now, in the present case, nearly everybody, Athenians and foreigners alike, will agree with you, if you want to introduce witnesses against me and the truth of what I say. You may have, if you like, the testimony of Nicias, the son of Niceratus, and his brothers too, whose votive tripods stand row to row in the Dionysium; of, if you like, Aristocrates, the son of Scellias, the donor of that beautiful offering at Delphi; or you may have the entire household of Pericles or any other family at Athens that you care to choose. I alone stand out against you, and you will not force me down though you bring clouds of false witnesses against me to dislodge me from my stronghold, which is the actual truth. But for my part, if I fail to produce you yourself as my sole witness to testify to the truth of my statements, I shall think that I've accomplished nothing of importance toward solving the matter under discussion; nor, I imagine, will you believe in your own accomplishment if you don't procure me as your sole witness and leave all others out of account.
This is how Socrates distinguishes the arts of rhetoric and dialectic. In the first case, you are performing to an audience, appealing to their prejudices and biases; but in the case of dialectic, "dialogue", instead you are appealing to your interlocutor's sense of honesty and decency not to take advantage of your. In dialogue, you are speaking to your interlocutor; in performance, you are using your interlocutor as a prop. Watch recordings of our Presidential debates to make the latter point clear.
Then, privately, there are all sorts of opportunities for action, but they are the dry, mundane things that we are already doing--managing our jobs and careers, managing our finances, getting married, having children, reading and writing. And I feel helpless in the private sphere for the inverse reason that I feel helpless in the public sphere, mainly because I'm alone, marginalized, and isolated. As an individual I can't change things, the best I can do is evaluate, say "this is the way things should be", try to convince other people, and hear them respond, "Ah, that would be nice. Too bad."
So that's one aspect that I would like to write about in this blog. I actually wanted to write about a whole other topic and this introduction kind of grew longer and longer, and I don't want to delete it to start over. In fact, I could go on, perhaps this entry isn't really finished, but it is late and I have to go to bed. Night
