Month: July 2013
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Moderate risk/moderate gains model
Yesterday, I showed that the career, an all-or-nothing model, amounts to high-stakes gambling. Either you get and secure the $100,000-200,000/year position, or you do not. If you do secure the position, you fear losing it, fear being sick, fear being unable to pay off your debts, and so work yourself/are worked to the bone, thereby…
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The career as high-stakes gambling
If you conceived of a career as a certain kind of game and knew how the game worked, then you’d conclude before you even began playing that the house always wins. Consider how much you’d have to ante up simply to be able to come to the table: Time: Somewhere between 4 years minimum and 15…
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Coming to an inquiring state of mind (Part 3)
How can we get the hang of being surprised? In Part 1, I discuss the importance of being surprised, arguing that philosophical inquiring presents us with two kinds of surprises: perplexities and illuminations. In Part 2, I discuss the cultivation of lightness in the presence of surprise. Today, in the final part, I explore the difference…
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Becoming ‘hungry for surprises’: The cultivation of lightness (Part 2)
In Part 1, I discuss the importance of being surprised, arguing that philosophical inquiring presents us with two kinds of surprises: perplexities and illuminations. Today, I discuss the cultivation of lightness in the presence of surprise. 2. The Cultivation of Lightness One important benefit of learning the art of inquiry is that we become prepared…
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On the importance of being surprised (Part 1)
In the following series of posts, I’d like to say some things about the kind of genre philosophical inquiry is and about the kind of character the practice of inquiry can cultivate. First, I’ll say some things about the nature of surprises in general and about the kinds of surprises–perplexities and illuminations–that emerge during philosophical…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 