Monthly Archives: August 2006

News

I will be back home in December it looks like. This is a very good thing. All my coursework should be complete by then, and all that will remain are exams – language and comprehensives, and, of course, the dissertation. Things are good, but busy. The courses I have this semester are going to be …

August 26, 2006 – 10:53 pm | By ashok | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments (2)

Note on "Perpetual Peace"

What makes Kant’s short essay remarkable is the light it sheds on Rousseau’s “general will.” For Kant, reason is the general will – hence, Rousseau’s talk of a legislator begins to make more sense. There can be one person who understands what is best for the many; the trick is to bring the many to …

August 22, 2006 – 4:35 pm | By ashok | Posted in kant, philosophy | Comments (2)

Does Power Corrupt?

“That kings should be philosophers, or philosophers kings is neither to be expected nor to be desired, for the possession of power inevitably corrupts reason’s free judgement.” – Kant, Perpetual Peace Kant is an amazing thinker, but this quote is nowhere near subtle enough to get at the truth. The truth is that someone must …

August 17, 2006 – 10:51 am | By ashok | Posted in kant, philosophy | Comments (2)

On Frost’s "Mowing:" Death, Love and Dante

Mowing Robert Frost There was never a sound beside the wood but one, And that was my long scythe whispering to the ground. What was it it whispered? I know not well myself; Perhaps it was something about the heat of the sun, Something perhaps, about the lack of sound– And that was why it …

August 14, 2006 – 6:08 pm | By ashok | Posted in frost, poetry | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)

Learning (a poem)

for Nancy – happy 21st birthday in pennsaukenfiremen always comforta suited gentlemanblankly staring once there wereno stares. king george’s menmarched in redordered, purposedto the battlebleeding. the heart movesas it will.thisall gentlemen know.

August 11, 2006 – 12:01 pm | By ashok | Posted in poetry | Comments (4)

The Problem of Knowledge and Action in Aristotle’s Poetics

Davis says, regarding Aristotle, that there are “four possibilities for the action in tragedy:” 1. “A character may intend to do something knowing what he is doing, but because of some accident not do it – this is not really drama.” 2. “A character may intend to do something knowing what he is doing and …

August 10, 2006 – 5:04 am | By ashok | Posted in aristotle, philosophy | Comments (1)

At Ground Zero

From Jeff Jarvis’ Buzzmachine: There are moments in the film that mesh and do not mesh with my memory. As the Port Authority Police squad arrives downtown, we see that first piece of paper floating down to a corner of the screen. That white, cold blizzard of lives interrupted, falling from the painfully blue sky …

August 10, 2006 – 2:30 am | By ashok | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Who Needs School?

They sometimes claim college was not an option for them. At other times they will say they could not afford to stay there, or it didn’t work out because of circumstance. Finally, there will be those who finished and are working who probably learned nothing, as their behavior and thought patterns demonstrate. The value of …

August 9, 2006 – 9:58 am | By ashok | Posted in education | Comments (0)

Musee des Beaux Arts

First published 7.13.03 at another blog of mine. Musee des Beaux Arts W.H. Auden About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters: how well they understood Its human position; how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along; How when the aged are reverently, passionately …

August 7, 2006 – 11:05 pm | By ashok | Posted in auden, poetry | Tagged , | Comments (2)

Regarding Michael Davis, and the Political in Aristotle

“The highest of the spurious forms of courage is political courage; its goal is honor. For examples Aristotle quotes Hector and Diomedes worrying about what will be said of them if they do not fight. But just what is it that differentiates this from acting “for the sake of the kalon [the noble, the beautiful]?” …

August 6, 2006 – 8:49 pm | By ashok | Posted in aristotle, philosophy | Comments (0)