September was very busy for me in ways mostly not for public
discussion. But to recap some intellectual activities . . .
First, re my blog STUDIES IN A DYING CULTURE:
http://www.autodidactproject.org/my/blog-culture.html
I completed my reading of Jorge Luis Borges' fiction and essays in English,
writing up to my 12th installment on the subject. Other subjects covered
since my last report:
William Auld (6 Nov. 1924 - 11 Sept. 2006): Preeminent Esperanto poet dies
Leibniz
The Jazz Avant-Garde (3)
Music and the Avant Garde
Ernest Gellner
I finished reading Rebecca Goldstein's BETRAYING SPINOZA. I also attended
her book talk in Washington, which should be broadcast on cable--the
channel that does these is what, C-SPAN? She was extraordinarily eloquent
in stating the thesis of her book.
Other books partly or completely read this month:
Myers, Henry Alonzo. The Spinoza-Hegel Paradox: A study of the choice
between traditional idealism and systematic pluralism.
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm. Philosophical Papers and Letters, selection
translated and edited with an introduction by Leroy E. Loemker, 2nd ed.
Dordrecht, Holland; Boston: D. Reidel Pub. Co., 1976 [1969, 1st ed. 1956]).
xii, 736 pp. (Synthese Historical Library; v. 2)
Weisman, Karen A. Imageless Truths: Shelley's Poetic Fictions.
Adorno, Theodor W. Metaphysics: Concept and Problems.
Matthews, Michael R. The Marxist Theory of Schooling: A Study of
Epistemology and Education. Humanities Press, 1980.
Harris, Sam. The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason.
There is much to say about the latter three.
Adorno was quite interesting: on Aristotle (viz. Plato) seen through the
spectrum of Kant, Hegel, Husserl, Scheler, and Heidegger; and on
metaphysical experience today. For a couple of quotes see my web page:
Adorno on Philosophy, Sociology & History
http://www.autodidactproject.org/quote/adornometa1.html
Matthews is not terribly exciting, and probably dated, but it is
interesting in that it takes a philosophy of science approach to combat the
then-dominant Analytic Philosophy of Education (in Britain and/or
Australia). Interesting in that Matthews takes the best of Popper,
Lakatos, Dewey, and even a dash of Althusser in combination with Marx to
combat the dominant inductivism and empiricism.
Harris presents stretches of lucid argument against faith and religion,
even against relativism and pragmatism; but from a social and political
standpoint, the author is a reactionary liberal and a moron. The final
chapter in fact reveals what is wrong with the whole book: everything is
about consciousness, detached from material reality. There is plenty of
philosophy, cognitive science and neurobiology, history, ethical discussion
in the book, but no interconnected conception of social organization and
ideology, no social theory, and of course, no Marx. Because consciousness
is detached from material reality, the book comes down to a war between
Buddhist mysticism and Islam, with intervening criticisms of the history of
Catholicism, the Christian Right's interference in government, etc. And the
final chapter, containing flimsy arguments for nondualistic mysticism,
comes right after an argument advocating torture in the war on terrorism.
The man is schizoid, a petty bourgeois liberal freaked out by 9-11. And
this is about the best that the intellectual life of the USA is capable of
producing, apparently. It's sickening. I need to review this book in detail.
I saw the film "Half Nelson", which is about dialectics taught by a
cocaine-addicted teacher to inner city black kids. The web site
"Dialectics for Kids" is cited in the credits. I will review this film in
full, but for now I'll just say it is half-baked. Independent filmmakers
get a way with a lot of underdeveloped plots and thematic confusion,
because in spite of the subgenres's pretensions, its patrons are ultimately
no more sophisticated than people who go see "Freddy vs. Jason" or "Madea's
Family Reunion".
I put up another chapter from Phillip Frank:
Modern Science and Its Philosophy by Philipp Frank
· Chapter 13: · The Philosophic Meaning of the Copernican Revolution
http://www.autodidactproject.org/other/frank-MSP/frank13.html
This also proved to be of some use in combatting the current flood of
obscurantism attempting to legitimate the compatibility of religion and
science.
Much of interest on the cultural front. As for my contribution, I'm
reviewing a bunch of old Sun Ra recordings from 1965 to 1973, plus some
other music of the jazz avant-garde of that period.
September also brings some painful anniversaries for me. September 15 was
the 10th anniversary of the death of Lisa Rogers, a founding co-moderator
of the defunct Spoons Marxism discussion lists. She died suddenly just
after her 35th birthday--a life of great potential cut short in its
prime. And the 27th was my late mate's birthday. And now I'll remember
September 11 also for the death of a poet I knew.
In memoriam:
Lisa
Jim
Melvin
Evelyn
William
_______________________________________________
Marxism-Thaxis mailing list
[email protected]
To change your options or unsubscribe go to:
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
