18 October 2004
man vs. men
'The end of man as an entire species, i.e. that of fulfilling his ultimate appointed purpose by freely exercising his own powers, will be brought by providence to a successful issue, even although the ends of men as individuals run in a diametrically opposite direction. For the very conflict of individual inclinations, which is the source of all evil, gives reason a free hand to master them all; it thus gives predominance not to evil, which destroys itself, but to good, which continues to maintain itself once it has been established.' - Kant, 'On the Common Saying: 'This may be True in Theory, but it does not Apply in Practice' (1793)
After protracted discussion with various rationalists (both pure and cold), nihilists, small children, pretty girls (some reasonable, some not), and excessively drunk people of all conceptual and a/sexual persuasions (well, it was my party after all), it's back to Kant, sobriety and the continued attempt to chain the bad black horse to the stable wall.
I love my students though - today I was informed that 'Suburbia' was a country in Eastern Europe with a sex-trafficking problem.
The other day I was trying to make clear the Sartrean distinction between being-in-itself and being-for-itself, making reference (in the time-honoured way) to classroom furniture. 'What characterises the chair and what characterises James? What makes James different from his chair?' I demanded. One girl put up her hand: 'but Miss, it's not his chair is it? It belongs to the college.'.....Proto-Marxists, already steps ahead of Sartre who took at least 20 years to get round to thinking anything at all about property-relations (and even then...). Brilliant.
After protracted discussion with various rationalists (both pure and cold), nihilists, small children, pretty girls (some reasonable, some not), and excessively drunk people of all conceptual and a/sexual persuasions (well, it was my party after all), it's back to Kant, sobriety and the continued attempt to chain the bad black horse to the stable wall.
I love my students though - today I was informed that 'Suburbia' was a country in Eastern Europe with a sex-trafficking problem.
The other day I was trying to make clear the Sartrean distinction between being-in-itself and being-for-itself, making reference (in the time-honoured way) to classroom furniture. 'What characterises the chair and what characterises James? What makes James different from his chair?' I demanded. One girl put up her hand: 'but Miss, it's not his chair is it? It belongs to the college.'.....Proto-Marxists, already steps ahead of Sartre who took at least 20 years to get round to thinking anything at all about property-relations (and even then...). Brilliant.
