Editorial notes: The content below is what looks like the beginning of a collection of quotes and thoughts gathered from Florian Coulmas’ [I] Writings Systems; an introduction to their linguistic analysis“[II]. Chapter 1 Aristotle “On Interpretation” : Words spoken are symbols of affections or impressions of the soul; written words are symbols of words spoken. And just as...
Biography 1730-1788 (58) Born and studied (although without completing) university in Königsberg. Took a job with a friend (Berens), but failed at some mission, which after living a high life was left impoverished, alone and lonely. In this state, in a rented attic, depressed, he read the Bible and had a conversion. He returned to Berens, was forgiven but forbidden to marry Berens’...
Contents: Some scribblings Per IEP article. Per SEP article. Per NDPR: The Kantian Sublime and the Revelation of Freedom. Some Scribblings… It’s not a priori obvious why Kant should concern himself with beauty, especially not with the regard and the significance with which he describes it within his overall architectonic. There are of course historical reasons for his focus (esp...
Thomas Paine; a story Background, some of it relevant and some of it decorative: Paine was born in Norfolk 1737, as England was beginning its industrial revolution. He received basic schooling, but was forbidden to learn Latin by his father (curious “A.” because this is a bias he would hold onto, considering it a useless and wasteful effort, and “B.” because it suggests...
To you whom this concerns, I don’t know where to start. Which reminds me of how I began one of my journals. And so, to quote myself:* There’s something satisfyingly indulgent about copying words that had already been finished, but are being given a new meaning in a new context. So: Allow me to pause the proceedings – really no more than a preface, an elaborate digression into...
Editorial notes: This Essay was found as a ‘draft’ entry in Everything2. It seems to be a continuation of the thought process recorded a few days earlier in A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful and it ends with a number of points for future consideration. It is published here with minor changes. I had first considered illustrating the...
Editorial notes: This Essay[I] was found as a ‘draft’ entry in Everything2 and it is not clear whether it was complete and ready for publication. It is published here with minor changes. A follow-up draft was recorded a number of days later, containing further thoughts on this matter. Beauty. The grandest of human values is beauty. It is the experience of the beautiful that brings...
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) was born in Geneva. His mother died about a week after his birth, and after his father had to leave the country due to the risk of imprisonment, he was raised by an uncle. He abandoned his education as an engraver due to his bully employer, and at the mere age of 16, moved to France where he met the first major female figure in his life (Mme de Warens). He was...
Editorial notes: This is Shai’s first reference to the French philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry, Emmanuel Levinas. Levinas’ ideas appear to have made an impact on Shai’s outlook as he refers to him 11 more times in the following three and a half years, most notably in a post entitled “Perceptions of wisdom in the Talmud with Emmanuel Levinas“. Levinas[I] says that we come to be ourselves...
Quotes from Bentham’s[I] An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation[II]: Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to...
