Category: ethics
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On Beckett’s bad jokes
Beckett got it wrong because he got there too late. And then all he could do, all he could think to do was to tell a joke. The joke is that one must strive–with no view that toward which one must strive; that one must be patient without hope; courageous without reason; must keep to one’s…
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On the danger of sentimentality
To be sentimental is to feel more than one ought. The sentimental man has no good reason to feel as he does, and thus there is no depth, nor can there be, to his feeling. The emotion, like a sensation, flits over him, is cheaply had, and then readily returns to the air. He watches…
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Must one ‘make a sharp break with the academy’ in order to be a philosopher? A conversation
“[A] conversation is a dramatic work, even if a very short one, in which the participants are not only the actors, but also the joint authors, working out in agreement or disagreement the mode of their production.” –Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue — Early last week, I received a note from J. about my thoughts concerning Stanley…
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On Geoff Dyer’s anger; or, how to kill Rilke to dust
The following is an excerpt from Geoff Dyer’s book, Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling with D.H. Lawrence (New York: North Point Press, 1997), 99-103. Dyer’s rant—and it is a rant, in a very self-conscious vein—reminded me of my desire to vomit upon listening to a public discussion that was neither public nor a discussion, a…
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A mobile lab, a think tank, a community center, a gathering space
Just saw and starting reading about the BMW Guggenheim Lab on urbanism. Located on Houston St. in the Lower East Side. The tag: “A mobile lab traveling around the world to inspire innovative ideas for urban life.” Further Reading Misha Leptic, “Unwieldy Property,” 3 Quarks Daily —. “Would You Like People With That City?,” 3 Quarks…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 