domingo, 27 de junio de 2010

T minus 2 days:

Playlist:
Gimme Some Lovin' - The Toasters
Teardrop - Massive Attack
I Want You Back - The Jackson 5
Crazy On You - Heart (this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgFMy0bHqVQ)
Come On A My House - Nasty Tales
Rockin' Horse - The Allman Brothers
Can't Stop - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Hokay, so...
As we enter the red zone of the remaining time before my academic suicide (examen final de "las religiones de antiguedad"), I feel it necessary to share a completely unrelated quote found in a completely unrelated academic article I read a couple weeks ago...while evitando estudiar for a different final.

Some of you out there have already seen this; however, seeing as it has passed the mandatory period of personal subconscious contemplation, os presento a portion of the article "Heidegger on the Connection between Nihilism, Art, Technology and Politics" by Hubert Dreyfus.

"If you can commit yourself unconditionally - in love for instance - then that becomes a focus for your whole sense of reality. Things stand out or recede into insignificance on the basis of that ultimate concern. One does not discover a significance that is already there. there is no basis for this commitment in the cosmos. Indeed, such a commitment is exactly the opposite of belief in an objective truth. You are called by some concrete concern - either a person or a cause - and when you define yourself by your dedication to that concern, your world acquires seriousness and significance."

To give you a little context, Dreyfus was attempting here to explain the thinking of Kierkegaard to a semi-modern academically philosophical audience. Por eso, he does kind of dance around the God factor - which is kind of a necessary element en el pensamiento de Kierkegaard...

Nevertheless, the content of the passage is not necessarily what drew me to it (seeing as Kierkegaard's explanations of his own ideas would be the ideal here...); but rather the form. In the midst of an otherwise dry, verbose discourse on nihilism through the eyes of Heidegger (cue projectile vomiting), Dreyfus seems to channel a completely different speaker - one whose manner of thinking hasn't been rendered completely robotic and mundane by years of academic meandering.
Not saying that Dreyfus is by any means the epitome of prosaic academia - but he certainly has his moments. We all do.
This form coupled with the basic description of a beautiful Kierkegaardian idea definitely took me by surprise while reading the article.

::Please keep in mind that when I read this article I was wandering around in the darkest depths of nihilism for an exam on the topic later that week::

Anyway...one of the many surprises one encounters while hopelessly avoiding the necessary evils.
Sit on this for a while and let me know what you think.
Hope someone else out there enjoyed this as much as I did.

beccaniles

No hay comentarios:

Publicar un comentario