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...
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...
Meta: Two days previously I had been writing about my study of Bentham. Before continuing I wish to bring attention to two points related to this effort. The first is tangential, and concerns this project perceived from a more generic stance. What I have code-named “Philosopher Briefs” is a didactic monad I’ve wished to establish against a temporal framework extending...
Meta: Before I continue onto my target subject, let me acknowledge that it has been more than a few days since I was last a frequent writer at this local. The fault, guilt, responsibility… they’re all mine to bear and label within the paradigm of my reality. That said, there is no final sin here. In fact, I would hazard to posit that the worst that has happened has been a loss of...
I woke up from a passing loss of conscious motor control. I had dreamt, which is one thing I have severely preferred to avoid. Oh my, how time does pass me by as I stare off into the dreamless horizons, which promise stagnant vistas and microcosm by which one could lose themselves for sheer anonymity (viz. the anonymous nature of those who do nothing, aim for nothing, and by heaven’s grace...
