"The character of teaching, à la Descartes, is to speed up the process of understanding or to give the impression that you can speed it up."

Seth Benardete

Experience and Knowledge – Encounters and Reflections: Conversations with Seth Benardete, p. 197 – Rethink.

tumblr business card (make your own!)

A bunch of new followers, so I’d better say hi. I’m Ashok. I’m a graduate student in political philosophy. Some things you might find of interest:

• I blog at http://ashokkarra.com - you can read this interview with me to see what I’m about.
• I help run a classical music blog, http://classically-sound.tumblr.com
• I help run a subreddit devoted to philosophy, http://reddit.com/r/academicphilosophy
• I read lots of poetry and occasionally write it. The latest post on Ungaretti is a good example of how careful reading can merge with trying to write one’s own stuff.
• You can feel free to add me on facebook or twitter. If facebook, do let me know who you are, and I prefer that we’ve talked some.
• Oh, and this is awesome.

"‘As to that,’ said I [Socrates], ‘how could I presume to correct a perfect gentleman, I who am supposed to be a mere chatterer with my head in the air, I who am called — the most senseless of all taunts — a poor beggar? I do assure you, Ischomachus, this last imputation would have driven me to despair, were it not that a day or two ago I came upon the horse of Nicias the foreigner. I saw a crowd walking behind the creature and staring, and heard some of them talking volubly about him. Well, I went up to the groom and asked him if the horse had many possessions. The man looked at me as if I must be mad to ask such a question, and asked me how a horse could own property. At that I recovered, for his answer showed that it is possible even for a poor horse to be a good one, if nature has given him a good spirit."

Horses, Wealth & Virtue: Xenophon, Oeconomicus 11.3-6 – Rethink.

John Koethe, “Book X” – Rethink. →

This short comment is on another comment about Plato’s Republic. I think it’ll be helpful in terms of thinking about the structure of the book as a whole. Thanks to http://arexandriuhrae.tumblr.com/ for mentioning Plato & Socrates.

"So why not leave the ancient city behind? Well, it emphasizes aspects of political life we tend to neglect. Unity is one of those. Modern democracy nowadays tends to place greater emphasis on a libertine freedom centered around the individual. There are good reasons for this, of course, but older thought may prove useful for finding a way to unity and pride in that unity which involves respect for the rights of all."

Notes on a Lecture of Susan D. Collins – “E Pluribus Unum: Citizens, Friends, and Free Thinkers in the Ancient City” – Rethink.

"In a way, how “we think” traces back to an “I;” political phenomena are traceable, in some strange way, to self-knowledge. This linkage is almost useless for practical purposes and highly suspect theoretically. Consider the “big letters” vs. “small letters” metaphor of the Republic, that if one looks at the city carefully, one sees the written law as an indication of the soul. That would mean if the Torah is written on one’s heart, it should be visible in the larger community. The Bible and Augustine and a million others are rightly cynical about the whole of a civilization reflecting the truth of an individual. Socrates joins that skepticism and is also not clear whether a thorough examination of one soul can tell us anything about politics, about humanity. And yet, something about this link between “we” and “I” is indispensable."

Leo Strauss, “Memorial Remarks for Jason Aronson” – Rethink.

(Editing this, adding some neat stuff, hoping people have the patience to work through it carefully).

"What, after all, does education offer to people if not a greater sense of being human?"

Alan Smith

In prison, education is a route to self-respect | Education | The Guardian

Experience and the World's Own Language: A Critique of John McDowell's Empiricism // Reviews // Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews // University of Notre Dame →

I don’t understand everything here, but when I was an undergraduate looking for relevant, interesting topics in analytic philosophy, this would have been of huge use. The question is how experience works: ideally, we want to have a thought and then use experience to test whether it was true or not.

That sounds simple, like 99% of life. The problems are manifold. Give it a read and let me know what you think.

Emily Dickinson, “Perception of an object costs” (1071) →

Perception of an object costs
Precise the Object’s loss —
Perception in itself a Gain
Replying to its Price —

The Object Absolute — is nought —
Perception sets it fair
And then upbraids a Perfectness
That situates so far —

"All the subfields of philosophy are home to large questions, but there is something both immediate and universal in focusing on the relationship between humanity and the natural world. There seems to be a power to this sort of inquiry that often escapes our notice. It is as if, prior to any social contract, investigation into ethical norms, or considerations of the uses and abuses of technology—a point of contact exists where an individual simply meets the world around her. Myth might arise from such contact, but saying that does not do full justice to an original fear, awe, or wonder. One might be curious how we have buried this, as no less a philosopher than Aristotle saw the human soul as somehow continuous with the souls of plants and animals."

Environmental Philosophy and the Question of Origins | Z e t e o