“Why do you love me?” This is an impossible question that we can only answer with our flailing gestures and stutters and awkward false starts and pauses and frustrated faces. When I can tell you why, I already have ceased to love you. The Human is characterized by this enigmatic ontological indistinctness. Hence: “Whereof we … Continue reading Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there. (UChicago Supplement Sec.1)
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Ecstasy.
Ecstatic comes from the Greek word ekstatikos, of "unstable, inclined to depart from." Heidegger made a big deal about it by writing existence as ek-sistence. "Ek" as outside of yourself. This eksistence is characteristic of Dasein's temporality, because the present is always sandwiched between the past and the future, where we also, strictly, are. That … Continue reading Ecstasy.
Be Myself?
Hannah Arendt wrote about this in Between Past and Future: We are always subject to social pressures. When parents reject any form of discipline of the child, in fear of destroying their childhood innocence, of tyrannizing them, they are only leaving children to the tyranny of the larger social group. I can see this clearly … Continue reading Be Myself?
Two (interesting but diverging) Axioms
Recently I’ve been chatting about school choice with my friends. It is always a very frustrating topic because we are constantly talking past each other. What I saw in it, however, was two different core believes that we were operating under: The belief in the sovereignty and intelligence of each individual citizenThe belief in the … Continue reading Two (interesting but diverging) Axioms
The Saving Power (and destroying power) of Social Media
An answer to the essay question: Does social media make us more lonely? (Turns out that it does and does not—in true Hegelian fashion!) I. Introduction Two qualities distinguish social media from previous technologies: egocentrism and democracy. Social media is more egocentric than previous technologies because, rather than consuming information selected by others and for … Continue reading The Saving Power (and destroying power) of Social Media
Melting
I am melting, My skin is keeping my form. I am melting, The white flame is scorching my soul. I want to scream, Scream: “I am melting!” But what can they do? The weather is the weather, And it doesn’t. I am melting. The sweet melting ice cream of summer days, Dropping down, splashing onto … Continue reading Melting
Nicomachean Ethics, Book 1
This is my new project: Reading through the Nicomachean Ethics, add notes, add my own thoughts to it, and publish it to help others who want to study the classic work (and wonderully enjoyable work too). Nicomachean Ethics Book 1 The good is that which everything aims at, strives towards, pursues. Distinction between activities where … Continue reading Nicomachean Ethics, Book 1
Notes
(This is a short story written for a competition. Discussion about love and meaning. Enjoy.) Hi. Ben here, I just want to talk to you for a bit. Not for anything substantial really. Still, I’ve been thinking about these things for quite some time now, although I’ve never gotten around to saying them to you. … Continue reading Notes
The One Moral Question
This is taken from Hannah Arendt's brilliant book, Responsibility and Judgement. What is the most central moral question, the one that holds itself against evil's banality, is never the imperative: 'thou shalt' (either in the commandments or from Kant), nor the normative: "I ought", I "should", but the I can't, which stems from the categorical: … Continue reading The One Moral Question
The Duck-Rabbit (A Short Story)
A short story on responsibility, fatherhood, and love.
