“For those with a delicate sense of smell, a world sumptuously orchestrated was being resolved into nothingness; but right there the mystery began, because at the same time one was presented with the total nihilism of the work, a more careful intuition might suspect that this was not Morelli’s intent, that the virtual self-destruction found […]
Building is an activity beset by hindrance. Because builders are responsible for erecting structures that have to last, it’s never a good idea to proceed with a project’s next step unless you are certain everything is in place for that next step to be completed properly. Getting to this point requires a suite of mental […]
“‘To plunge one’s self into a reality or into a possible mode of a reality, and to feel how that which at first sight seemed to be the wildest absurdity comes to have some value, to articulate itself with others forms, absurd or otherwise, until the divergent weave (in relation to the stereotyped sketch of […]
“One can laugh, and think that it is not serious, but it is serious, laughter has dug more useful tunnels all by itself than all the tears on earth, even though it may barely be known to stiff-necked people, stubborn in their belief that Melpomene is more fruitful than Queen Mab. Once and for all […]
I almost quit reading this book after the first few chapters. Bernard Williams’ opaque arguments about metaphysics and epistemology––hardly my favorite philosophy subjects––are enervating to the point of somnolence. I’ve never enjoyed or been particularly enlightened by analytical philosophy, which typically deploys the tropes of formal logic to imbue philosophical arguments with an air of […]
“There is the question of what impression one gives of the subject in teaching it. Most students have no interest in becoming professional philosophers. They often take away an image of philosophy as a self-contained technical subject, and this can admittedly have its own charm as something complicated which can be well or badly done, […]
“There is one last set of problems which, particularly perhaps as we discuss these matters under the auspices of UNESCO, should be mentioned as peculiarly defying our understanding and revealing our ignorance: the problems, that is to say, of how to live together. No-one is going to deny, presumably, that there is such a problem, […]
“The assumption I am considering, as I put it, is that in cosmic terms human beings have a definite measure of importance. The most common application of that assumption, naturally enough, has been that they have a high degree of importance; and I have suggested that that itself can take two different forms: the Petrarchan […]
The Culture universe is an undeniably brilliant creation, containing more than one writer’s fair share of imaginative inventions and astonishing moments. I have been impressed with every Culture novel I’ve read, but often complete them wondering what Banks could have done to warm my heart the same way he enchants my brain. After this refreshing […]
“The best way to turn an individual––person or machine––is not to invade them and implant some sort of mimetic virus or any such nonsense, but to make them change their mind themselves, and that is what they did to me, or rather what they persuaded me to do to myself. They showed me all there […]