"Transcending all goals, reflection wonders, "What's the use?" There then blazes forth the absurdity of a life which has sought outside of itself the justifications which it alone could give itself. Detached from the freedom which might have genuinely grounded them, all the ends that have been pursued appear arbitrary and useless."Simone de Beauvoir in … Continue reading Freedom to Give Meaning
Role of Imagination: Social Imaginary
What is the source of our imagination? Where do the images or representations of our imaginations come from? Are we entirely autonomous and self-governed in terms of what we (can/not) imagine? Is it perhaps a unique talent that some are born with while others are considered ‘less creative’? Or is imagination a skill that can be trained … Continue reading Role of Imagination: Social Imaginary
Miranda Fricker on Epistemic Injustice
In her 2007 book, Epistemic Injustice: Power and Ethics of Knowing, philosopher Miranda Fricker develops a concept of epistemic injustice. Fricker suggests that to be epistemically wronged means having the credibility of one's capacity as a knower prejudicially deflated. She differentiates two ways in which such injustice can occur: Testimonial injustice - when a person … Continue reading Miranda Fricker on Epistemic Injustice
Revisiting: Quote About Truth and Its Seekers
An inspiring quote about truth and how to seek it
Crisis of Meaning as Crisis of Imagination
If storytelling is the human way of creating a meaningful whole out of fragmented moments, then a crisis of meaning signals a crisis of story - in other words, a crisis of narrative. But how do we come up with stories? I do not mean this or that particular content, but the plots and combinations … Continue reading Crisis of Meaning as Crisis of Imagination
Melancholy: Brief History
What does melancholy mean? That depends on whom and when you ask. For example, the Cambridge Dictionary tell us that melancholy is "sadness that lasts for a long period of time, often without any obvious reason". If we consult the word's etymology - Greek melankholia, from melas, melan- ‘black’ + kholē ‘bile’ - we are brought back to its long history of medical theory, as it developed from the ancient, … Continue reading Melancholy: Brief History
Food For Thought From Baruch Spinoza
What is your usual way of reacting to another person's actions or words? Where do you start? If we are honest with ourselves (at least ourselves), how often do we begin with a genuine effort to understand the other? “I have striven not to laugh at human actions, not to weep at them, nor to … Continue reading Food For Thought From Baruch Spinoza
Whose Monster Is It Anyway?
“Most strangers, gods and monsters - along with various ghosts, phantoms and doubles who bear a family resemblance - are, deep down, tokens of fracture within the human psyche. They speak to us of how we are split between conscious and unconscious, familiar and unfamiliar, same and other. And they remind us that we have … Continue reading Whose Monster Is It Anyway?
A Thought on History and Identity
“The past is a cemetery of promises which havenot been kept.”Paul Ricoeur Paul Ricoeur (1913-2005) was a French philosopher who contributed to combining phenomenological descriptions of human reality with hermeneutic interpretations. The way I experience something and the way I make sense of it influence each other and are interwoven into one whole. This thinking … Continue reading A Thought on History and Identity
Problem With Scapegoating
Have you noticed how, sometimes, a little too often, scapegoating someone or some group of people is used as a political solution to a national identity crisis? It seems the hope is that finding an external 'foe' and offloading all 'our' problems on them as the purported cause of our woes should help bolster people's … Continue reading Problem With Scapegoating
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