Dad was right...

Pub after "class" this Wednesday?

Hello fellow philosophers,

while cleaning up after my son's 1st birthday party, i found a coupon for Koerner's pub! Only one, i'm afraid, so it won't go far, but it inspired me to wonder: maybe if a few of us are sweating away over our papers this Wednesday, we might get together at the pub to celebrate, procrastinate, pontificate and / or commiserate...?

I'm planning to write most of the afternoon and early evening, but i'll pack it in around 7 and head to the pub. Please feel fully encouraged to join me. If things go well, we can end the night with a song:

YouTube - The Philosophers' Drinking Song

Cheers,

Ryan

PS: since i'm not sure everyone checks this blog, i emailed as well. Cause i'm redundant (and repetitive) like that.

hello all,

I have to miss class on Wed. due to a family commitment and I'm wondering if anyone who usually brings their computer to class might be willing to audio record the class/discussion for me? Might be a long shot, but figured I'd ask! If so, please drop me an email at revkerri@yahoo.com

Thanks!

Kerri

Critiquing Critique -

During our discussion on critique we discussed how "functionally critical simulations, constantly making artificial meanings appear as if they are the real meanings, and pretending to discover insight when in reality they [create] the model that produced the insight ... [produce] more of a simulation of insight rather than anything novel" (bit.ly/dbQbEC). This reminded me of Slavoj Žižek's critique of charity, in which he argues that charity is a primary means by which capitalism maintains ideologic hegemony. The Royal Society for the encouragement of the Arts has stitched three different Žižek presentations together and added animation. I've used this clip in my social studies classes to great effect (i.e., it generated reflexivity), and maybe some of you might appreciate it too.

See: YouTube: Zizek - First As Tragedy, Then As Farce.

For bonus, this video came up in a chat with Dr. Ruitenberg. I suspect it might be good for some laughs?: Slavoj Zizek on the Horrors of Tulips.

ugh

I'm having a bit of trouble... any thoughts would be helpful.

I'm struggling with the line between the readings on hermeneutics and translation/metaphor. Is there one? Is it distinct? How on Earth did I miss it?

I think I felt that the transition from Phenomenology into Hermeneutics was pretty fluid. I understand the differences between Phenomenlogy and Translation...but I'm struggling to delineate between the most recent sets of readings.

... am I being silly in even trying to separate them?

VPL Fall Book Sale -

In the off-chance there are other bibliophiles in the class, I thought I'd give a heads-up that the VPL is having it's annual Fall Book Sale. It began on Thurs and runs through Sunday. New books are continually added to the pile so finding things can be a little random. Here are the goodies I picked up:

• Howard Gardner, Extraordinary Minds
• John Gray, Black Mass
• Barbara Ladouceur & Phyllis Spence (Eds.), Blackouts to Bright Lights: Canadian War Bride Stories

Learing Hermeneutics with South Park -

For the bittorrent-capable, see - http://torrent.zoink.it/South.Park.S14E02.The.Tale.of.Scrotie.McBoogerballs.HDTV.XviD-FQM.[eztv].torrent

For a lower-quality embedded version, see - http://www.tu.tv/videos/south-park-14x02-the-tale-of-scrotie-m

Hooray for pop culture + philosophy. :)

Atwood...

I know we are meant to hold up for discussion anything at all. I understand that we cannot declare it out of bounds for questioning, either by ourselves, or others. We agreed to this. That being said, I was uncomfortable with the anger and violence expressed last class in regard to Margaret Atwoood...I am unable to tell if it was the violent suggestions, the intrusion of such suggestions into a seemingly peaceful space, or the destruction of an icon that bothered me...I have no idea what was happening, and it was all over so fast.

SOOO - I was thinking about whether or not this kind of response is useful in a classroom. Okay, perhaps not exactly that response, but a very strong and emotional one, without any specific evidence to back it up. Saaaayyy, a teacher's response to a piece that students might really have enjoyed. A deliberately adversarial approach, which would inevitably become a part of the overlapping Hermeneutic circles within the room...In what ways does this kind of input alter one's relationship with the text? How much of that difference is founded in one's perception of the text of the other, the one *offering this input?

I'm still thinking about it.
I'm reading about all of this business too.
I'm interested in learning more.

http://www.haaretz.com/haaretz-authors-edition/the-shadow-over-israel-1.293653

Week 8 (October 27): Genealogy and Archaeology

Week 7 (October 20): Translation and Metaphor

Thought it might be time to post something. I actually liked the Smith article. I had similar experiences he described swimming at a lake outside of Halifax as a kid. We had a cottage, more of a shack really, and I would spend hours by myself feeling like a dolphin swimming under water I actually came up for air occasionallyJ Something Claudia said about how we can look at something through so many different lenses struck me. Smith was obviously using the lens of someone who had similar bodily at some point in his life, and the feelings of euphoria or ecstasy associated with these experiences. Smith was coming from the bodily experiences of movement, but what Claudia said made me think of the possibility of the lenses that bring into play other sensual experiences. Like having an ice cold beer when parched on an incredibly hot day, or a great piece of chocolate when craving something sweet, or being moved by an incredible piece of music at just the right moment. Or experiencing an incredible sunset. I once stood in front of a small Cezanne watercolour of Mount St. Victoire in the Guggenhein in New York, and the way he juxtaposed the primary colours made the trees and objects in the painting start to move after staring at it for a few minutes….an experience that sent shudders through my body in a physical reaction to what was going on in the painting. I’ve had so many experiences which have seemed to bring me outside the experiences of language, and into my body through one sense or another. I feel that this was what Smith was trying to get at, and viewed beyond the just the physical sense of touch it seemed to make more ‘sense’ to me.

Week 6 (October 13th): Hermeneutics

Week 5 (October 6th): Phenomenology

Week 4 (September 29th): Conceptual Analysis

Conceptual Analysis, The Analytic Tradition, and Professor Barrow