Post - Educationalism

I humbly ask that my readers/interpreters forgive the evolving nature of this text. I don't have much in the way of reporting these days (besides getting a B- on my japanese test; woohoo!), so instead, I implore. "You cannot know the answer to the question of worthwileness in advance of your own experience ...it is a commitment to being guided by our experience but not dictated to by it . I think of this as checking one's experience." " One learns that without this trust in one's experience -- expressed as a willingness to find words for it -- without thus taking an interest in it, one is without authority in one's own experience . I think of this authority as the right to take an interest in your own experience. I suppose the primary good of a teacher is to prompt his or her students to find their way to that authority; without, rote is fate. The world, under minimum conditions of civilizatoin, could not without our cooperation so thoroughly contriv

"... Then the question would be, as the question often is about philosophy, how to bring reading to an end. And this should be seen as a problem internal to criticism, not a criticism of it from outside. In my experience people worried about reading in, or overinterpretation, or going too far, are, or were, typically afraid of getting started, of reading as such, as if afraid that texts -- like people , like times and places -- meanthings and moreover mean more than you know." (Pursuits of Happiness, 35) Ah... isn't that just perfect? One of my friends recently described this man's oeuvre as a series of Chicken Soup for the Soul like adventures. However, I don't think it goes down as easy. More like steel-cut oats -- without fruit. But that doesn't detract from the warm feeling that it brings to the tummy once it gets down there. In other news...who am i kidding, there is no other news! Well, I did go to sushi dinner with the sister & co. on frida

Dear Applicant: You've been selected as an alternate (not a real boy) EAP in Japan at Meiji Gakuin University Fall 2006. Our campus did not have as many guaranteed spaces as applicants, so some students were designated as alternates (failures). Your chance for eventual placement (is abysmal) depends on selected students' withdrawal. Meh...I didn't want to go anyway! All those crazy cos-players, hentai-hito, and kireinaonna! (if you didn't understand all that, you don't want to). But...This is where I where I need to start moving again. Being on campus from 8-5 isn't so bad anymore. Do some yoga, do some japanese, get some breakfast, read for a bit, homework, office hours, snack, computer lab, more class. I suppose the point of all this would be so that I could go home and relax; well, i haven't gotten to that point yet. One day. Hmm...3 day weekend coming up. I want to: go home. I need to: work. sigh.

I aplogize, but this post will primarily be a "parasitism" upon others' words; it would be otherwise too difficult to describe my thoughts when all I have been doing this weekend is reading. (but hey, the 2nd snippet is about Super Mario...mario!!) "It is of immediate relevance to what I have been asking about Wittgenstein's view of language, and indicates one general and important limitation in my account, to notice that in moving, in Part II of the Investigations, to "figurative" or "secondary" senses of a word (which Wittgenstein explicitly says are not "metaphorical senses", cf. Investigations, p. 216), Wittgenstein is moving more concentratedly to regions of a word's use which cannot be assured or explained by an appeal to its ordinary language games (in this, these uses are like metaphorical ones). Such uses have consequences in the kind of understanding and communication they make possible. I want to say: It is such

"Skepticism about our knowledge of others is typically accompanied by complaceny about our knowledge of ourselves." - Stanley Cavell My latest little aphorism from my gem of a book: The Claim of Reason . However, my problem now is that I'm devoting too much time to this class to keep up with my analysis of 19th century America. Don't get me wrong, I love this stuff. Culture/Politics/Rhetoric...all the things that make people awesome or terrible. But again, when I find myself gerimandering the hours of my days into a very unbalanced map composed of "reading...reading....reading....reading...reading. eat. reading....reading...", I do at times think to myself: life is too short My point: I want (need) to drop Rhetoric of the Guilded Age. The only sad part I can think of...I will still probably attend many of the lectures. Given all these turns of events, I've been uselessly planning my future: Summer : take one rhetoric class (Only one!) to make up fo

The following may seem very esoteric, alienating, or in-understandable, or boring. There's nothing I can do about that. But I'd like to voice that this has been one of the most moving passages of philosophy I've ever read. To help summarize, Stanley Cavell (the author) is discussing the idea of "Skepticism" : (e.g. "how can you know that that really is a bird?" "it could be fake!" or "How can you know that you really know?" "The world may just be an illusion"). This particular passage bridges this view of "skepticism" with human emotions, transactions, and communications. If you're really lazy, please just see my highlighted portion. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "To withhold, or hedge, our concepts of psychological states from a given creature, on the ground that our criteria cannot reach to the inner life of the creature, is

Hmm.... I'm considering applying for the Honors Thesis program. It's a year long (2 semester) program for seniors. It's basically just another class in one's schedule, except you meet with your faculty advisor (of whom you choose), read a lot, and write a lot. Requirements: 3.7 major gpa, 3.5 career gpa and all pre-requisites finished. Surprisingly, I'm elligible. (I just have to *stay* elligible at this point). However, this would mean foregoing Japan. I won't know about my Japan app for a while, but the more I bury myself in the work of two highly esteemed professors, the more I'd like to attempt an honors thesis with either of them. (And, i'd be done with my major, giving me the time to devote to such a feat). If I don't get into the Japanese Program (40-50% chance) I will definitely apply for the Honors. Other than that, I'm trying to adjust to 6 hour class days, and the 3 hours of reading that follows class. Thank god I have monday and