Monthly Archives: May 2007

Statement of the Problem

Arguments making a case for complexity and hybridity, usually formulated in response to previous over-simplifications, are by definition hard to refute–but they can also be hard to get excited about. Alison Shell

27 May 2007, 14:25 Comments (0)

Yasushi Utsonomia

From the notes to Jon The Dog meets Mad Scientist Utsunomia : I believe that place cannot be separated from performance and sound as a factor in music. Until quite recently, it was necessary to travel some distance to enjoy music, which would be performed at some specified place and time, and I believe there [...]

25 May 2007, 22:37 Comments (0)

Jerry Fodor on Galen Strawson on Consciousness

Seven points me to Jerry Fodor’s assessment of Strawson’s plainly named Consciousness and Its Place in Nature: Does Physicalism Entail Panpsychism?. Some very hasty thoughts on the following: There are three philosophical principles to which Strawson’s allegiance is unshakeable. The first is that the existence of consciousness (specifically, of conscious experience) is undeniable; that we [...]

18 May 2007, 08:04 Comments (1)

Brendel on Furtwängler

Lean, bent slightly backwards, and with an elongated neck, Furtwängler in front of an orchestra gave the impression of overlooking vast spaces. His beat had very little in common with that of present-day conductors. In stretches of pianissimo it could be minute and extremely precise; elsewhere, outstretched arms undulated downwards in total physical relaxation, so [...]

10 May 2007, 23:02 Comments (6)

ANTIFESTO

No art without art, no text without text. No mention of institutional affiliation. No discussion of the publishing industry. No discussion of academia or academic careers. No attacks on critical theory. No arguments with or over print media. No blog triumphalism. No “literary” vs. “non-literary” classifications. No arguments from authority. No false objectivity. No aping [...]

9 May 2007, 19:14 Comments (7)

Thomas Hardy and the Emotion-Sensation Connection

Hardy suffered from synaesthesia, though being Hardy he saw the days of the week in rather less Technicolor hues than others with the same condition: “Monday was colourless, and Tuesday a little less colourless”, while Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were slightly differing shades of blue. TLS Now, was it that he saw those particular objective [...]

7 May 2007, 14:52 Comments (5)

Wittgenstein’s Confession

In 1936, Wittgenstein took it upon himself to prepare a confession to which he would subject his closest acquaintances. I say “subject” because…well, read on. For both Rowland Hutt and Fania Pascal, listening to the confession was an uncomfortable experience. In Hutt’s case, the discomfort was simply embarrassment at having to sit in a Lyons [...]

2 May 2007, 22:15 Comments (2)

Gadamer on Hegel and Language

What [Hegel] calls dialectic and what Plato calls dialectic depends, in fact, on subordinating language to the “statement.” The concept of the statement, dialectically accentuated to the point of contradiction, however, is antithetical to the nature of hermeneutical experience and the verbal nature of human experience of the world. In fact, Hegel’s dialectic also follows [...]

1 May 2007, 22:13 Comments (0)