Category: education
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On awkwardness and accountants
The word ‘awkward’ fascinates me not least because it implies that there is a recognizably crucial connection between goodness and beauty. Derived from ‘awk,’ which means ‘directed the other way or in the wrong direction, back-handed, from the left hand’ (OED), the word applies to persons who lack ‘dexterity or skill in performing their part’ (OED).…
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Design ethics: The good life and the art of inquiry
I’ve been invited to write two chapters for a forthcoming collected volume on design ethics. The first chapter will be concerned with philosophical inquiry and the good life, the second with three different conceptions of ethics: conviction, responsibility, and attention. In my first chapter, I’ll be arguing, at least in part, that (a) philosophical inquiring…
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Radiance in the key of graceful action
I define radiance as virtue manifested in the ‘keys’ of natural eloquence, a gentle demeanor, and graceful action and resonating throughout the entirety of one’s being (Episode 1. Manifestation Thesis). Dissonance is the name I use to designate the lack of harmony evinced when one has become naturally eloquent but lacks of gentle demeanor, etc.…
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The effects of another’s demeanor: Draining and diminishing
I argued yesterday that a demeanor just is the manner in which one ‘conveys’ or embodies a specific form of life. By saying this, I sought to clear a space for the consideration of demeanor, quite apart from that of behavior, conduct, action, and discourse. In the final paragraph, I suggested that this definition gives…
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The meaning of demeanor
‘To see a world in a grain of sand.’ (my italics) –William Blake One’s demeanor may dampen our spirits or raise our powers, exhaust us or enliven us, diminish or dilate us. Most of us have had salutary experiences with individuals whose demeanors are gentle as well as exhausting experiences with those who, despite having failed to…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 