Ethics of the Infinite: The Origins of Radical Responsibility in the Thought of Emmanuel Levinas
Born to Jewish parents in Lithuania on January 12, 1906, the life path of Emmanuel Levinas led him across several countries and through two world wars. He passed away on December 25, 1995.
Simone Weil on the Generosity of Attention in Gravity and Grace
In Gravity and Grace, Simone Weil offers supernatural insight on attention and suffering and how to live in contradiction.
Paul Valery on the Common Material of Poets and Philosophers
Paul Valery challenges the arbitrary divide between the poet and the philosopher while considering the intellectual rigor of the poet.
Susanne Langer on Creative Philosophy in a New Key
In Susanne Langer’s 1942 book, Philosophy In a New Key, the first American female philosopher challenges thinkers to embrace a new creative philosophy.
The Invisible in Haruki Murakami’s Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
In Haruki Murakami’s short story, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, he offers insight into the phenomenology of sound taught by Maurice Merleau-Ponty.
Ludwig Wittgenstein on the Ladder Illusion
Keywords Ludwig Wittgenstein, Wittgenstein’s Ladder, Tractatus Logico Philosophicus “Pay attention to the patter by means of which we convince someone of a truth of a mathematical proposition. It tells us something about the function of this conviction. I mean the patter by which intuition is awakened.” Ludwig Wittgenstein For Rudolf Otto, silence anticipates the numinous, […]
How Time and Space Converge to Evoke Walter Benjamin’s Aura
“The concept of aura which was proposed above with reference to historical objects may usefully be illustrated with reference to the aura of natural ones. We define aura of the latter as the unique phenomenon of a distance, however close it may be. If, while resting on a summer afternoon, you follow with your eyes […]
Walter Ong’s Psychodynamics of Orality and the Reader
Keywords Walter Ong, Psychodynamics, Orality and Literacy “Until writing was invented, men lived in acoustic space: boundless, directionless, horizonless, in the dark of the mind, in the world of emotion, by primordial intuition, by terror. Speech is a social chart of this bog.” Marshall McLuhan When we trace language from orality, characterized by the pre-socratics and […]
Henri Bergson on the Cinematographic Mechanism of Thought
Keywords Henri Bergson, Cinematic Mechanism of Thought, Intuition, Cognition, Creative Mind, Elan Vital “In its entirety, probably, it follows us at every instant; all that we have felt, thought and willed from our earliest infancy is there, leaning over the present which is about to join it, pressing against the portals of consciousness that would […]
William Covino on the Art of Wonder in Philosophy
“The art of rhetoric underlines the ambiguity of language; to practice the art, one remains mindful that all conclusions are provisional, tentative. The art lies not in the completion of a text, but in the transfiguration of one text — one system of possibilities — into another.” William A. Covino, The Art of Wondering REVISING […]
Hyperreality: Tracing the Evolution With Jean Baudrillard
Keywords Hyperreality, Jean Baudrillard, Jorge Luis Borges, Lewis Carroll, Alfred Korzybski, The Matrix “Today abstraction is no longer that of the map, the double, the mirror, or the concept. Simulation is no longer that of a territory, a referential being, or a substance. It is the generation by models of a real without origin or […]
Truth and Lie With Friedrich Nietzsche
“Here the ways of men part: if you wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then believe; if you wish to be a a devotee of truth, then inquire.” ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Letter to His Sister, 1865 Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), the German philosopher and professor of philology, wrote the essay, “Truth and Lie in […]
Critical Theory & Philosophy Reading Group
Critical Theory & Philosophy Reading Group I am excited to announce the reading list is finalized and our Critical Theory & Philosophy Reading Group is open for enrollment. We will read and discuss over 30 thinkers in 2018 with a special focus on 20th century theoretical and philosophical thought. You can enroll HERE. Our Critical Theory […]
Introducing the Reading Beyond Murakami Course Series
I’m excited to introduce a brand new way to engage with Haruki Murakami’s mind-bending stories. The Reading Beyond Murakami Course Series is a systematic approach to understanding the author in a whole new way. Life-long learners will delight in learning and re-learning what makes literature so profound. The first course launches March 20 and is an in-depth look […]
How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read
How many books have you lied about reading? When I first encountered this question in a Buzzfeed post, I sat back in my chair and gave the question serious consideration. I haven’t exactly lied about reading books, but I do talk about books I haven’t read in my classroom. Is that the same thing? This […]