apeculiarunity.blogspot.com
a peculiar unity: August 2012
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Breaking Bad and Doxastic Voluntarism. As I work my way through the acclaimed television series Breaking Bad. An episode from Season 3 struck me. I have been a devotee to The Wire. Ever since I plowed through all five seasons back in 2008.and then again in 2010. The Wire. Is a masterpiece. I think it is best summarized as being about "the effect of institutions on individuals.". But what is Breaking Bad. I had enjoyed the first two seasons, but this was no Wire. Just as Karenin tells himself an improbabl...
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a peculiar unity: Hesse on Language
http://apeculiarunity.blogspot.com/p/hesse-on-language.html
Hermann Hesse: "Language" (1917), from My Belief: Essays on Life and Art. Trans D. Lindley (1974). Language is a detriment, an earthbound limitation from which the poet suffers more than anyone else. At times he can actually hate it, denounce it, and execrate it- or rather hate himself for being born to work with this miserable instrument. For one reason, however, the poet envies the musician constantly and especially profoundly: the musician's language belongs to him alone, it is just for making music!
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a peculiar unity: January 2012
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On Knowing Where You Are. How do you answer the question, Where am I? This post concerns this question in a broad sense, yet in a sense grounded in the concrete perceptual encounter with the world. Our sense of where we are in space is a primary form of how our world is disclosed to us. As Thomas Mann writes (and as I have cited him previously. Would probably do as well, but that term is typically invoked with historical and cultural meanings in mind. And this brings me back to Thomas Mann. A change ...
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a peculiar unity: March 2012
http://apeculiarunity.blogspot.com/2012_03_01_archive.html
The (dark) age of ideas? Attending TED, Davos, the Aspen Ideas fest, or one of their uglier cousins is the newest status symbol. Sure, there are other exclusive events and high priced restaurants.but going to TED means you care about ideas. In a recent article. For New York Magazine. Benjamin Wallace hits the nail on the head when it comes to summing up TED:. TED Talks, curated clips of the eighteen-minute lectures that are gathered on ted.com. So what shall we make of the TED phenomenon? Hermann Hesse, ...
apeculiarunity.blogspot.com
a peculiar unity: Why the Iliad?
http://apeculiarunity.blogspot.com/2014/10/why-iliad.html
We begin our study of the humanities with The Iliad. 1 It is of foundational significance for our culture. 2 It is one of the most famous stories of war. 3 It is a poem. I begin with (2), for it is the easiest to explain. Our theme for the year is war, and perhaps there are no more famous tales of war than The Iliad. As for (3), one might wonder, "why poetry? Poetry uses language for more than conveying information, or a message. This is not to say that it doesn't. Challenges us as a work of art that req...
apeculiarunity.blogspot.com
a peculiar unity: Looking at Screens
http://apeculiarunity.blogspot.com/2012/09/looking-at-screens.html
My life is dominated by screens. I look at my phone and laptop in bed. I look at my phone and laptop and TV in my living room. I go the office and look at my phone and laptop and another small-TV-sized monitor. There is rarely a waking moment when I do not have immediate access to a screen, usually multiple screens. The worry: fundamental change in form of life: now life is spent looking at things on screens instead of just things. Counter to the worry: why the nostalgia for things? There Will be Blood.
apeculiarunity.blogspot.com
a peculiar unity: July 2012
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Some cool/weird things I learned about the Olympics. Source: Esquire magazine, August 2012]. 1901: Sumner Paine's shooting medal keeps him out of prison: Accused of trying to shoot his wife's lover, Paine was released when police learned of his medal and realized he'd missed intentionally. 1912: George S. Patton, future general of the U.S. Army, competes in the first modern pentathlon. 1948: At age seventeen, American Bob Mathias wins the decathlon–after only four months of training[! I do not have any s...
apeculiarunity.blogspot.com
a peculiar unity: February 2012
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Decoding the Jargon: understanding the corporate model of the university. Recently published an article online titled "5 Ways to Make College Much More Affordable for All Americans". Written by a team of consultants at McKinsey and Company. The article addresses a well known problem, a problem of constant debate in the burgeoning field of scholarship (and rhetoric) concerning contemporary higher education. You know the one:. OK, familiar enough territory.wait, what? The top quartile of what? I suppose th...
apeculiarunity.blogspot.com
a peculiar unity: On the nature of evidence: revelation or gravitas?
http://apeculiarunity.blogspot.com/2013/03/on-nature-of-evidence-revelation-or.html
On the nature of evidence: revelation or gravitas? 5/12/13, 2:13 AM. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Pi-ˈkyül-yər 1 : characteristic of only one person, group, or thing 2 : different from the usual. Then there is presented in the case of that Ego a transcendency of a peculiar kind - one which is not constituted - a transcendency within immanency" (Husserl, Ideas I, sect. 57). View my complete profile. There Will be Blood. Science in general may b...
