This Post serves as a window to another blog that features previous issue oriented public affairs writing. I elect to use this other blog because the frame of reference of this writing is more narrow than the wider Philosophical frame of reference that constitutes the writing on The New Citizenship blog.
http://mexicoessays.blogspot.com/2008/10/mexico-en-la-piel.html
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Warm Wishes to Rod Blagojevich and Richard Durbin- Lithuanian/Russian Heritage Affiliation
Warm wishes and support are extended to Governor Rod Blagojevich, his wife and his children. I met him at a Stripeik(my mother's family) family event in the early 1970's, and met he, his wife and his children at another such event before one of his elections. Even though he has Serbian heritage, this qualifies he and his family at least as honorary Lithuanian/Russian.
Warm wishes and support are also extended to Senator Richard Durbin and his family, who are also of Lithuanian/Russian heritage. I met him in the lobby of the Seneca hotel on Chestnut street in Chicago, just outside of the door of the restaurant where I worked.
May both elected officials of high government position from the State of Illinois find the strength and wisdom to guide them through the important and difficult decisions that continually confront today's leaders and their families- in their positions.
Warm wishes and support are also extended to Senator Richard Durbin and his family, who are also of Lithuanian/Russian heritage. I met him in the lobby of the Seneca hotel on Chestnut street in Chicago, just outside of the door of the restaurant where I worked.
May both elected officials of high government position from the State of Illinois find the strength and wisdom to guide them through the important and difficult decisions that continually confront today's leaders and their families- in their positions.
Vengeance As An Operative Concept in History Has Been Obsolete Since 1945
In a discussion in the last two years with an intelligent person, the question was posed as to what would I do, or how I would feel about it, if my family were the victim of some great injustice of the wars of History from over 100-150 years ago.
My answer to that was that if it were the case, there would be nothing that I could do in the present to rectify that, and that as the hypothetical posed was an INJUSTICE, that I would attempt to make the best contribution I could as a citizen in the present and not follow the example of the attacker.
My answer was met with considerable skepticism. I followed up with this rejoinder: but don't you think that the day of vengeance as a real operative force in history is past- done and gone. With the advent of ever advancing technology and control of Military weaponry through the concentration of superpower control, (effectively on the world stage as it is presented today, there is really only Nato, Russia and China as real military powers) and the institutions of law, isn't vengeance really an obsolete concept for practical application for the average citizen?? I said, At least for me it is.
For all intents and purposes hasn't vengeance as a functional concept really been done and gone since 1945?? And with GPS and nano-tech tracking of individual retail items that has been demonstrated in Wall Street Journal articles, don't tell me that our government, and therefore NATO, hasn't had every one of those weapons tagged for quite some time now, whether they inform us about it or not.
I said that I thought this was a good thing, that there hasn't been the big nationalistic race of the nation throwing itself as a war machine into the all-or-nothing war since then, and that the world has been much safer for it, and that there has been nothing like the total destruction that occurred in Europe with WWI and WWII.
I said that I thought this was a very good thing for the common citizen, to focus on working and making a living, contributing to his or her community and the lives of his or her family and it's members. The machinery of Vengeance has been institutionalized and concentrated and is out of our hands, so it doesn't make any sense to focus on it and live that way and poison the good things that can be done with one's time. These institutions don't operate perfectly, but I told the speaker that I wouldn't live that way. Better to focus on the good that can be done with one's freedom.
The day of Vengeance as an operative concept on the big stage of history in changing those and the institutions in control of the world order is done and gone, and has been since 1945. Citizens now need only to focus on contributing on whatever level they can and on improving their daily lives. Citizens need now only to focus on the good that can be done with their freedom.
My answer to that was that if it were the case, there would be nothing that I could do in the present to rectify that, and that as the hypothetical posed was an INJUSTICE, that I would attempt to make the best contribution I could as a citizen in the present and not follow the example of the attacker.
My answer was met with considerable skepticism. I followed up with this rejoinder: but don't you think that the day of vengeance as a real operative force in history is past- done and gone. With the advent of ever advancing technology and control of Military weaponry through the concentration of superpower control, (effectively on the world stage as it is presented today, there is really only Nato, Russia and China as real military powers) and the institutions of law, isn't vengeance really an obsolete concept for practical application for the average citizen?? I said, At least for me it is.
For all intents and purposes hasn't vengeance as a functional concept really been done and gone since 1945?? And with GPS and nano-tech tracking of individual retail items that has been demonstrated in Wall Street Journal articles, don't tell me that our government, and therefore NATO, hasn't had every one of those weapons tagged for quite some time now, whether they inform us about it or not.
I said that I thought this was a good thing, that there hasn't been the big nationalistic race of the nation throwing itself as a war machine into the all-or-nothing war since then, and that the world has been much safer for it, and that there has been nothing like the total destruction that occurred in Europe with WWI and WWII.
I said that I thought this was a very good thing for the common citizen, to focus on working and making a living, contributing to his or her community and the lives of his or her family and it's members. The machinery of Vengeance has been institutionalized and concentrated and is out of our hands, so it doesn't make any sense to focus on it and live that way and poison the good things that can be done with one's time. These institutions don't operate perfectly, but I told the speaker that I wouldn't live that way. Better to focus on the good that can be done with one's freedom.
The day of Vengeance as an operative concept on the big stage of history in changing those and the institutions in control of the world order is done and gone, and has been since 1945. Citizens now need only to focus on contributing on whatever level they can and on improving their daily lives. Citizens need now only to focus on the good that can be done with their freedom.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
First Quarter 2009 Blog Story Forecast- 'Contradictions in the Darwin/Hobbes Position' & Other Pieces...
First Quarter 2009 blog forecast...Here are a few of the story pieces that are to be posted on this blog over the next few months....
1) The true Magic Realism- the superabundant(as Paul Ricoeur terms it) calculus of human relationship and interaction.
2)Historical addendum on the unstated enormous impact of the development of both: A) the printing press, and B) the musket/rifle, that combined in the change of the balance of power between the government and the individual, demonstrated in the history of political events and ideas from 1700 to 1865.(period ends because of the development of the Gatling gun).
Part 2- C) In conjunction with the impact of the developments of the printing press and the musket/rifle, there was also the codification in law by the 2nd amendment of the right of the individual to bear arms that- at that time- had real and significant impact on the outcome of military battle. This in effect officially militarized the American household and American citizenship both in a material sense and in a psychological sense in ways that have no equivalent to life as we know it in the United States today.
What we can call the military character of United States citizenship from 1776 onward was transformed then into a more benign form only after the development of the Gatling gun, the ending of individual guerilla insurrection(indicated in 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' and 'The Assassination of Jesse James') and the restoration of order extended in the reconstruction period after the end of the Civil War in 1865, and in the reconstruction amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
As every man with a gun before 1865 literally had the power to make war, it gives a different and concrete connotation to the phrase (of the French Revolution) that "every man was a king".
3) Contradictions in the Darwin/Hobbes position of what is known on this blog as Philosophy Case #1- Darwin/Hobbes vs. Kant/St. Paul: 1) False- Heidegger conference attendees claim that the plaintiff system of law equals aggression/vengeance, 2) Sophie's Choice result merely confirms Mazlow's Hierarchy of Needs- when properly configured, and contradicts character flaw claim
4) Why are the Philosophical Positions of the Revolutionary War era group of founding American figures & Abraham Lincoln not taught as a bachelors degree core curriculum class of American Political Philosophy in American Universities?
5) Disagreement with S. Zizek's Interpretation in 'Tarrying with the Negative' of the Kantian formation of Radical Evil as evidence for the primacy of "the negative" in human life.
6) (maybe), Comments on poorly constructed and false Philosophical themes in the movies 'Seven', 'The Bourne Identity', 'The Hunted' & Other movies.
1) The true Magic Realism- the superabundant(as Paul Ricoeur terms it) calculus of human relationship and interaction.
2)Historical addendum on the unstated enormous impact of the development of both: A) the printing press, and B) the musket/rifle, that combined in the change of the balance of power between the government and the individual, demonstrated in the history of political events and ideas from 1700 to 1865.(period ends because of the development of the Gatling gun).
Part 2- C) In conjunction with the impact of the developments of the printing press and the musket/rifle, there was also the codification in law by the 2nd amendment of the right of the individual to bear arms that- at that time- had real and significant impact on the outcome of military battle. This in effect officially militarized the American household and American citizenship both in a material sense and in a psychological sense in ways that have no equivalent to life as we know it in the United States today.
What we can call the military character of United States citizenship from 1776 onward was transformed then into a more benign form only after the development of the Gatling gun, the ending of individual guerilla insurrection(indicated in 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' and 'The Assassination of Jesse James') and the restoration of order extended in the reconstruction period after the end of the Civil War in 1865, and in the reconstruction amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
As every man with a gun before 1865 literally had the power to make war, it gives a different and concrete connotation to the phrase (of the French Revolution) that "every man was a king".
3) Contradictions in the Darwin/Hobbes position of what is known on this blog as Philosophy Case #1- Darwin/Hobbes vs. Kant/St. Paul: 1) False- Heidegger conference attendees claim that the plaintiff system of law equals aggression/vengeance, 2) Sophie's Choice result merely confirms Mazlow's Hierarchy of Needs- when properly configured, and contradicts character flaw claim
4) Why are the Philosophical Positions of the Revolutionary War era group of founding American figures & Abraham Lincoln not taught as a bachelors degree core curriculum class of American Political Philosophy in American Universities?
5) Disagreement with S. Zizek's Interpretation in 'Tarrying with the Negative' of the Kantian formation of Radical Evil as evidence for the primacy of "the negative" in human life.
6) (maybe), Comments on poorly constructed and false Philosophical themes in the movies 'Seven', 'The Bourne Identity', 'The Hunted' & Other movies.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
'Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics'- How are Synthetic Apriori Judgments Possible?
I'm reading the corpus of Martin Heidegger's work right now to see if there are philosophical issues and stances that need to be addressed. As so many University philosophy departments throughout the U.S. and Europe since WWII have been influenced by his work, it is necessary to do a careful review of the work and the secondary scholarship surrounding it.
Of course the two main texts that lay out his early Philosophical positions are 'Being and Time' and 'Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics', which is a technical exposition of Heidegger's interpretation of 'The Critique of Pure Reason'.
Although I am still in the middle of reading the latter of these two works, there is one Philosophical issue that can be addressed. The nature of this address has nothing to do, right now, with Heidegger's interpretation, but addresses the central question of the 'Critique of Pure Reason'. This question determines the layout of the entire Kantian project of such a critique, and as such is one of the most famous questions in the history of Philosophy.
This question is 'How are synthetic apriori judgments possible?'
As Kant answers this question in the form of a Critique of Pure Reason, and as the technical issues of this question are complex, but also reductive to a few central focal points- as Heidegger demonstrates, this is not the time nor the forum to address at length these issues.
What I will say in way of a very general statement about Heidegger's treatment, is that he reduces what Kant calls the two pure intuitions of Time and Space into that of only Time, and then from this focuses on what Kant calls the "Power of the Imagination as a faculty of the Mind or Soul" as the main mental instrument of the core synthesis of what Heidegger calls "Pure Intuition and Pure Thinking". This, in a very general answer, is the overall approach Heidegger takes in his technical exposition of the Kantian elaboration of the answer of "How are synthetic apriori judgments possible?" that forms 'The Critique of Pure Reason'. The 'Critique of Pure Reason' is then Kant's demonstration, through an exposition of pure reason alone, of how synthetic apriori judgments are possible.
What I will say about the answer to this central question, of "how are synthetic apriori judgments possible?", is that way too much has been made about the formalistic charge against Kant by critics after the the turn of the 20th century. But then what would Philosophers and Kant's political opponents do if it were admitted that he really had it right?
There is a simple answer to this question that completely supports both Kant's approach and exposition- and this answer is one that is empiricist, pragmatic, and embodiedly realistic in nature. It does however every so slightly modify, or vary from, the original Kantian exposition, but it is an answer that will make it much simpler for students of Philosophy to understand. It was an answer I gave at a graduate seminar audited on the Critique of Pure Reason in SIU Carbondale somewhere between '83 and '85.
How are synthetic apriori judgments possible? Kant answers the question from the position of utilizing only Pure Reason- from the what we know of thinking and experience from only thinking. From another angle it can be answered in only two words.....The Brain.
A Note on Heideggerian "Primordial Thinking"
In Being and Time Heidegger states the goal of reaching a more "primordial thinking". The way that this thinking is described in 'Being and Time', 'Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics', and the essay 'What is Called Thinking', renders this project nothing less than MYTHICAL. As Heidegger attempts to describe it, there is no such thing.
The goal of this project of Heidegger's is merely a contrarian reaction to the beginning of Kant's 'Foundation of the Metaphysics of Morals', which advocates a precise and careful approach to the study of the roots of Practical reason and morals, so that public discourse and thinking on these matters does not fall into "a barbaric state".
If there is such a thing as "primordial thinking", it is precisely using knowledge and expertise to advantage in practical situations- the use of practical reason- and the ever advancing increase in this knowledge and expertise.
This is indicated in 'the Kant Variations' in a couple of places, but for this note it is found specifically in the analysis of the root of math and numbers- of the number one which is derived from the ONE thing as the object of desire. Reason "zeroes in" on the object that is useful for need, and so desire is brought to the precision of action that meets specific need through the process of thinking. So then also FINDING the precision that is necessary for useful knowledge and action to be useful through study and research is equally part of this natural thinking. This is then TRUE "primordial thinking".
But this is nothing less than normal practical thinking, the analysis of which is found in the 'Critique of Practical Reason'.
Addendum 2: "Being There"- The Claim of the Problem of Translation
In 'Being and Time', Heidegger's formulation of Dasein(Being There)as a fundamental condition of human experience, led to a claim of a diminished transfer of the essence of experience in communication, and in later Heidegger scholarship to what was referred as the "problem of translation". This leads to the false conclusion that experience between humans is not really common, and that the experiences of others cannot really be understood.
It is a bizarre book that attempts to communicate that communication doesn't communicate, as the expression of writing is just as much experience as other experiences. Why even write a book if your belief is that experience and understanding cannot be communicated? The true believer in such a false theory doesn't even write the book, why would one waste their time?
In the pathological sense- the bodily sense- we know this to be false, as each of us with normal neurological activity must take our hand from the stove burner lest it be permanently damaged, as each of us do not see bone structure through only movement- as the t-rex did, as noone on earth possesses xray vision.
Paul Ricoeur rightly located this perspective in an overly self-absorbed and concentrated analysis of inner personal feeling, in the mistake that because experience is lived as "mine", that it is essentially unlike others. If this were true there would never be ANY human family connection, of love established between mother and children, or between sisters and brothers. Empathy works to help establish these connections- these connections that last, and these connections that we mourn if lost. But we do feel the pain when our mother cries, and we do feel the pain and are worried when our brothers are sick, and we feel the pain through the stories of these experiences of our loved ones.
Heidegger's formulation of Dasein as fundamental is incorrect, it describes the view of the conscious choice to stop connecting with others, and the view of self inner "feeling" as a priority over action. It was for this reason that Ricoeur did not subscribe to Heidegger's position. Ricoeur felt it led to an unnecessary self pity- I agree with his view.
Of course the two main texts that lay out his early Philosophical positions are 'Being and Time' and 'Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics', which is a technical exposition of Heidegger's interpretation of 'The Critique of Pure Reason'.
Although I am still in the middle of reading the latter of these two works, there is one Philosophical issue that can be addressed. The nature of this address has nothing to do, right now, with Heidegger's interpretation, but addresses the central question of the 'Critique of Pure Reason'. This question determines the layout of the entire Kantian project of such a critique, and as such is one of the most famous questions in the history of Philosophy.
This question is 'How are synthetic apriori judgments possible?'
As Kant answers this question in the form of a Critique of Pure Reason, and as the technical issues of this question are complex, but also reductive to a few central focal points- as Heidegger demonstrates, this is not the time nor the forum to address at length these issues.
What I will say in way of a very general statement about Heidegger's treatment, is that he reduces what Kant calls the two pure intuitions of Time and Space into that of only Time, and then from this focuses on what Kant calls the "Power of the Imagination as a faculty of the Mind or Soul" as the main mental instrument of the core synthesis of what Heidegger calls "Pure Intuition and Pure Thinking". This, in a very general answer, is the overall approach Heidegger takes in his technical exposition of the Kantian elaboration of the answer of "How are synthetic apriori judgments possible?" that forms 'The Critique of Pure Reason'. The 'Critique of Pure Reason' is then Kant's demonstration, through an exposition of pure reason alone, of how synthetic apriori judgments are possible.
What I will say about the answer to this central question, of "how are synthetic apriori judgments possible?", is that way too much has been made about the formalistic charge against Kant by critics after the the turn of the 20th century. But then what would Philosophers and Kant's political opponents do if it were admitted that he really had it right?
There is a simple answer to this question that completely supports both Kant's approach and exposition- and this answer is one that is empiricist, pragmatic, and embodiedly realistic in nature. It does however every so slightly modify, or vary from, the original Kantian exposition, but it is an answer that will make it much simpler for students of Philosophy to understand. It was an answer I gave at a graduate seminar audited on the Critique of Pure Reason in SIU Carbondale somewhere between '83 and '85.
How are synthetic apriori judgments possible? Kant answers the question from the position of utilizing only Pure Reason- from the what we know of thinking and experience from only thinking. From another angle it can be answered in only two words.....The Brain.
A Note on Heideggerian "Primordial Thinking"
In Being and Time Heidegger states the goal of reaching a more "primordial thinking". The way that this thinking is described in 'Being and Time', 'Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics', and the essay 'What is Called Thinking', renders this project nothing less than MYTHICAL. As Heidegger attempts to describe it, there is no such thing.
The goal of this project of Heidegger's is merely a contrarian reaction to the beginning of Kant's 'Foundation of the Metaphysics of Morals', which advocates a precise and careful approach to the study of the roots of Practical reason and morals, so that public discourse and thinking on these matters does not fall into "a barbaric state".
If there is such a thing as "primordial thinking", it is precisely using knowledge and expertise to advantage in practical situations- the use of practical reason- and the ever advancing increase in this knowledge and expertise.
This is indicated in 'the Kant Variations' in a couple of places, but for this note it is found specifically in the analysis of the root of math and numbers- of the number one which is derived from the ONE thing as the object of desire. Reason "zeroes in" on the object that is useful for need, and so desire is brought to the precision of action that meets specific need through the process of thinking. So then also FINDING the precision that is necessary for useful knowledge and action to be useful through study and research is equally part of this natural thinking. This is then TRUE "primordial thinking".
But this is nothing less than normal practical thinking, the analysis of which is found in the 'Critique of Practical Reason'.
Addendum 2: "Being There"- The Claim of the Problem of Translation
In 'Being and Time', Heidegger's formulation of Dasein(Being There)as a fundamental condition of human experience, led to a claim of a diminished transfer of the essence of experience in communication, and in later Heidegger scholarship to what was referred as the "problem of translation". This leads to the false conclusion that experience between humans is not really common, and that the experiences of others cannot really be understood.
It is a bizarre book that attempts to communicate that communication doesn't communicate, as the expression of writing is just as much experience as other experiences. Why even write a book if your belief is that experience and understanding cannot be communicated? The true believer in such a false theory doesn't even write the book, why would one waste their time?
In the pathological sense- the bodily sense- we know this to be false, as each of us with normal neurological activity must take our hand from the stove burner lest it be permanently damaged, as each of us do not see bone structure through only movement- as the t-rex did, as noone on earth possesses xray vision.
Paul Ricoeur rightly located this perspective in an overly self-absorbed and concentrated analysis of inner personal feeling, in the mistake that because experience is lived as "mine", that it is essentially unlike others. If this were true there would never be ANY human family connection, of love established between mother and children, or between sisters and brothers. Empathy works to help establish these connections- these connections that last, and these connections that we mourn if lost. But we do feel the pain when our mother cries, and we do feel the pain and are worried when our brothers are sick, and we feel the pain through the stories of these experiences of our loved ones.
Heidegger's formulation of Dasein as fundamental is incorrect, it describes the view of the conscious choice to stop connecting with others, and the view of self inner "feeling" as a priority over action. It was for this reason that Ricoeur did not subscribe to Heidegger's position. Ricoeur felt it led to an unnecessary self pity- I agree with his view.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
JAN 20- Schopenhauer Was Wrong, and Has No Followers- (2nd Workout Mix)
Henceforth this post will serve to provide examples each week in music that clearly demonstrate the innaccuracy of the quote by Arthur Schopenhauer of the overly dark view of what he called the "real nature of the world".
It is my contention that the position outlined in the quote by Schopenhauer below has no genuine long term followers and adherents. This is because anyone who truly embraces the position outlined below is dead by their own hand shortly thereafter. Thus any thinker who claims to be a long-term adherent of this position in truth is really only an adherent of complaining about life. Schopenhauer has no real followers in Philosophy.
How do the songs with themes below belong in a post against the negative Philosophy of Schopenhauer?? Simple- one person's terrible and false philosophy of life is another person's awesome workout mix!!(below is the 2nd group of workout mix music)
And after an hour and a half of hard sports, anybody feeling "the edge" in these songs-of work or the commute- discovers that it goes away all by itself, with only endorphin release.
Who would have thunk that both one of the real weak points and in my mind the only real strong point in Schopenhauer's philosophy are both functionally connected and subordinate to endorphin release through healthy exercise??!!
In some places it's the season to hit the slopes...in the spring it will be time for putting on skates and rollerblading along Lake Michigan in Chicago, hitting the wave wall at Shedd Aquarium or the stairs at the Field museum, and asphalt basketball in the cities.
Green day- Basket Case
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ7PKybyoxc
Foo Fighters- Everlong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H0BMfqFP9c
Rage Against the Machine
Killing in the Name Of
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkuOAY-S6OY
Guerilla Radio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv3xM3v4-rI
Nirvana- Smells Like Teen Spirit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPQR-OsH0RQ
Evanescence- Bring Me to Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TILCIRspO0
Schopenhauer: "The purpose of this highest poetical achievement is the description of the terrible side of life. The unspeakable pain, the wretchedness and misery of mankind, the triumph of wickedness, the scornful mastery of chance, and the irretriveable fall of the good and the innocent are all here presented to us; and here is to be found a significant hint as to the nature of the world and of existence...The motives that were previously so powerful now lose their force, and instead of them the complete knowledge of the real nature of the world, acting as a quieter of the will, produces resignation, the giving up not merely of life, but of the whole will-to-live itself".
Previously Featured:
Linkin Park- Numb, What I've Done, In the End, Daughtry- Its Not Over, There and Back Again, Metallica- Enter Sandman, From Phantom of the Opera: Think of Me, Music of the Night, All I ask of You, Masquerade, Prima Donna, Colbie Caillat- Bubbly, John Mayer- Your body is a wonderland, Sting - Fields of gold, Sarah Mclachlan- Ice cream, Don Henley - End of the Innocence, Gloria Estefan- 'Oye Mi Canto', Juanes- 'La Camisa Negra', Chambao- 'Ahi Estas Tu', Ricky Martin & Mari de 'Chambao'- Tu Recuerdo, Sublime- 'Santeria', Counting Crows- 'Angels of the Silences', Led Zeppelin- 'Fool in the Rain', Tim McGraw- 'Something Like That', Jessia Andrews- 'Who I Am', Michael Jackson- 'I'll Be There', 'Never Can Say Goodbye', 'Black or White', 'Man in the Mirror', 'Thriller', Fifth Dimension/Marilyn McCoo-'Wedding Bell Blues', 'Stone Soul Picnic', 'One Less Bell to Answer'(her voice and the music are beautiful, despite the words), 'You Don't Have to Be a Star', 'Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In', Fleetwood Mac- 'Sarah', Pearl Jam- 'Even Flow', John Mayer- 'Daughters', Carrie Underwood- 'All American Girl', Pretenders- 'Show Me', Jackson 5- ABC, Eric Clapton- 'Wonderful Tonight', Elvis, Gloria Estefan- '1, 2, 3', , Stevie Ray Vaughn- 'Little Wing', Taylor Swift- 'Our Song', Stevie Wonder- 'Isn't She Lovely', Mariah Carey- 'Always Be My Baby'
It is my contention that the position outlined in the quote by Schopenhauer below has no genuine long term followers and adherents. This is because anyone who truly embraces the position outlined below is dead by their own hand shortly thereafter. Thus any thinker who claims to be a long-term adherent of this position in truth is really only an adherent of complaining about life. Schopenhauer has no real followers in Philosophy.
How do the songs with themes below belong in a post against the negative Philosophy of Schopenhauer?? Simple- one person's terrible and false philosophy of life is another person's awesome workout mix!!(below is the 2nd group of workout mix music)
And after an hour and a half of hard sports, anybody feeling "the edge" in these songs-of work or the commute- discovers that it goes away all by itself, with only endorphin release.
Who would have thunk that both one of the real weak points and in my mind the only real strong point in Schopenhauer's philosophy are both functionally connected and subordinate to endorphin release through healthy exercise??!!
In some places it's the season to hit the slopes...in the spring it will be time for putting on skates and rollerblading along Lake Michigan in Chicago, hitting the wave wall at Shedd Aquarium or the stairs at the Field museum, and asphalt basketball in the cities.
Green day- Basket Case
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ7PKybyoxc
Foo Fighters- Everlong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H0BMfqFP9c
Rage Against the Machine
Killing in the Name Of
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkuOAY-S6OY
Guerilla Radio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv3xM3v4-rI
Nirvana- Smells Like Teen Spirit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPQR-OsH0RQ
Evanescence- Bring Me to Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TILCIRspO0
Schopenhauer: "The purpose of this highest poetical achievement is the description of the terrible side of life. The unspeakable pain, the wretchedness and misery of mankind, the triumph of wickedness, the scornful mastery of chance, and the irretriveable fall of the good and the innocent are all here presented to us; and here is to be found a significant hint as to the nature of the world and of existence...The motives that were previously so powerful now lose their force, and instead of them the complete knowledge of the real nature of the world, acting as a quieter of the will, produces resignation, the giving up not merely of life, but of the whole will-to-live itself".
Previously Featured:
Linkin Park- Numb, What I've Done, In the End, Daughtry- Its Not Over, There and Back Again, Metallica- Enter Sandman, From Phantom of the Opera: Think of Me, Music of the Night, All I ask of You, Masquerade, Prima Donna, Colbie Caillat- Bubbly, John Mayer- Your body is a wonderland, Sting - Fields of gold, Sarah Mclachlan- Ice cream, Don Henley - End of the Innocence, Gloria Estefan- 'Oye Mi Canto', Juanes- 'La Camisa Negra', Chambao- 'Ahi Estas Tu', Ricky Martin & Mari de 'Chambao'- Tu Recuerdo, Sublime- 'Santeria', Counting Crows- 'Angels of the Silences', Led Zeppelin- 'Fool in the Rain', Tim McGraw- 'Something Like That', Jessia Andrews- 'Who I Am', Michael Jackson- 'I'll Be There', 'Never Can Say Goodbye', 'Black or White', 'Man in the Mirror', 'Thriller', Fifth Dimension/Marilyn McCoo-'Wedding Bell Blues', 'Stone Soul Picnic', 'One Less Bell to Answer'(her voice and the music are beautiful, despite the words), 'You Don't Have to Be a Star', 'Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In', Fleetwood Mac- 'Sarah', Pearl Jam- 'Even Flow', John Mayer- 'Daughters', Carrie Underwood- 'All American Girl', Pretenders- 'Show Me', Jackson 5- ABC, Eric Clapton- 'Wonderful Tonight', Elvis, Gloria Estefan- '1, 2, 3', , Stevie Ray Vaughn- 'Little Wing', Taylor Swift- 'Our Song', Stevie Wonder- 'Isn't She Lovely', Mariah Carey- 'Always Be My Baby'
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