Tag: Perception

• April 9, 2012

  All the present alone

  1 I believe that, for him [Plotinus], if philosophical life in fact prepares one for an eventual mystical experience, this philosophical life has value in itself. All things considered, Plotinus’ mystical experiences were extremely rare. Poryphyry [Plotinus’s student] tells us that the rest of the time–that is, almost all the time–he tried “to be present…
• March 20, 2012

  Ramble re: rest

  Auto-reply on: March 18 to March 19. Subject Line: Ramble I’m spending the day upstate. Rousseau would call this a reverie. Attending to the natural world seems to me a necessary feature of leading a philosophical life. I should be back in town by the evening; I’ll reply by Tuesday at the latest. Kindly, Andrew…
• December 24, 2011

  Aesthetics, ethics, and justice ask to be brought into harmony

  Beyond my bedroom window: pigeons atop a barren tree amid the autumn drizzle. * Beyond the living room window: a birch tree, leaves burnt by fire, hoary frost unworldly. Brief Reflections 1. To see an object properly, discriminatively, is to be attentive to its demands. 2. The object asks to be loved. Will you love…