“Life in itself is neither good nor evil. It is the place of...”
— Michel de Montaigne: Essays
— Michel de Montaigne: Essays
Dec 16th
“For it is one thing to know, and another to love; one thing...”
— Francesco Petrarca: De sui...
— Francesco Petrarca: De sui...
Dec 15th
“There are scholars for whom the history of philosophy...”
— Immanuel Kant: Prolegomena to...
— Immanuel Kant: Prolegomena to...
Dec 14th
Maurice Merleau-Ponty: By definition, it seems that there cannot be any consciousness of ambiguity without ambiguity of consciousness […] From the moment you assume that consciousness of ambiguity is perfectly clear […] and ambiguity is perfectly ambiguous, there is no more consciousness of ambiguity. You see ambiguity as an omnipotent thought might see it. In your eyes it’s no longer ambiguity […].
Umberto Campagnolo: Is there a notion of ambiguity which isn’t ambiguous?
Maurice Merleau-Ponty: I said that if one could conceive ambiguity with total clarity, it would no longer be ambiguous. Consequently, you’re right.
Umberto Campagnolo: Is there a notion of ambiguity which isn’t ambiguous?
Maurice Merleau-Ponty: I said that if one could conceive ambiguity with total clarity, it would no longer be ambiguous. Consequently, you’re right.
Dec 13th
“Almost all our discoveries are due to our violence, to the...”
— Émile Michel Cioran: ‘Thinking...
— Émile Michel Cioran: ‘Thinking...
Dec 12th
“The notion that truths external to the human mind may be...”
— John Stuart Mill:...
— John Stuart Mill:...
Dec 11th
Ernst Bloch, photographed by Ernst Bloch
Dec 10th
“Oh! I see my life clearly now […] a passionate, frantic...”
— Simone de Beauvoir: The Coming...
— Simone de Beauvoir: The Coming...
Dec 9th
“Structuralism’s basic ontological assumptions are as...”
— Carlos Ulises Moulines:...
— Carlos Ulises Moulines:...
Dec 8th
Philippe Nemo: In the face of the Other you say there is an ‘elevation’, a ‘height’. The Other is higher than I am. What do you mean by that?
Emmanuel Levinas: The first word of the face is the ‘Thou shalt not Kill.’ It is an order. There is a commandment in the appearance of the face, as if a master spoke to me. However, at the same time, the face of the Other is destitute; it is the poor for whom I can do all and to whom I owe all. And me, whoever I may be, but as a ‘first person’, I am he who finds the resources to respond to the call.
Philippe Nemo: One is tempted to say to you: yes, in certain cases. But in other cases, to the contrary, the encounter with the Other occurs in the mode of violence, hate and disdain.
Emmanuel Levinas: To be sure. But I think that whatever the motivation which explains this inversion, the analysis of the face such as I have just made, with the mastery of the Other and his poverty, with my submission and my wealth, is primary. It is the presupposed in all human relationships. If it were not that, we would not even say, before an open door, ‘after you, sir!’ It is an original ‘After you, sir!’ that I have tried to describe.
Emmanuel Levinas: The first word of the face is the ‘Thou shalt not Kill.’ It is an order. There is a commandment in the appearance of the face, as if a master spoke to me. However, at the same time, the face of the Other is destitute; it is the poor for whom I can do all and to whom I owe all. And me, whoever I may be, but as a ‘first person’, I am he who finds the resources to respond to the call.
Philippe Nemo: One is tempted to say to you: yes, in certain cases. But in other cases, to the contrary, the encounter with the Other occurs in the mode of violence, hate and disdain.
Emmanuel Levinas: To be sure. But I think that whatever the motivation which explains this inversion, the analysis of the face such as I have just made, with the mastery of the Other and his poverty, with my submission and my wealth, is primary. It is the presupposed in all human relationships. If it were not that, we would not even say, before an open door, ‘after you, sir!’ It is an original ‘After you, sir!’ that I have tried to describe.
Dec 7th
“And what we expect with certainty is essential to our whole...”
— Ludwig Wittgenstein: Remarks...
— Ludwig Wittgenstein: Remarks...
Dec 6th
“[W]e can […] come to know the human soul’s mode of...”
— Thomas Aquinas: Quaestiones...
— Thomas Aquinas: Quaestiones...
Dec 5th
“The investigation of the truth is in one way hard, in...”
— Aristotle: Metaphysics...
— Aristotle: Metaphysics...
Dec 4th
“Apparently [the value-based aestheticist] lacks...”
— Henryk Elzenberg, unsourced as...
— Henryk Elzenberg, unsourced as...
Dec 3rd
“If there is some point to everything we do, something we...”
— Aristotle: Nicomachaean Ethics
— Aristotle: Nicomachaean Ethics
Dec 2nd
Watch
Hunter Rawlings III: According to Ancient Greeks, You’re Not Free
Dec 1st