Charles S. Sanders Peirce Society

The Charles S. Sanders Peirce Society just listed readingandphilosophy.blogspot.com and its post gathered from SAAP (Feminist Pragmatism in Place).  Nice! I have been thinking of joining that, with the limited resources on Peirce here in Manila.

Ludwig Wittgenstein: A Memoir by Norman Malcolm

For September, I have been rereading some things apart from the comics that I have been following. This October, I have just finished reading Norman Malcolm's account of his friendship with Ludwig Wittgenstein. There are parts of the book that would be better appreciated by familiarity with the Tractatus, Philosophical Investigations and On Certainty.
    But for the most part, having some familiarity with Wittgenstein's ideas ("picture theory of propositions", family resemblance etc.), difficult and varied as some of them might be, would be enough. I think some might be more interested in how Wittgenstein was as a friend, teacher and philosopher. I was not surprised with his dim view of "professional philosophy."

[Photo culled from:  http://www.amazon.com/Ludwig-Wittgenstein-Memoir-Norman-Malcolm/dp/0199247595/ref=la_B001HD19W2_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350060196&sr=1-1]

From Palahniuk's Invisible Monsters

[Not to worry, no spoilers here. This pasage is from Palahniuk (1999, 110-1), something I posted two years ago. I have not read the Remix yet.]

"Not a word, " Brandy says. "You're still too connected with your past. Your saying anything is pointless."

From out of her sewing basket, Brandy draws a streamer of white and gold, a magic act, a layer of sheer white silk patterned with a Greek key design in gold she casts ove my head.

Behind another veil, the real world is that much farther away.

"Guess how they do the gold design," Brandy says.

The fabric is so light my breath blows it out in front; the silk lays across my eyelashes without bending them. Even my face, where every nerve in your body comes to an end, even my face can't feel it.

It takes a team of kids in India, Brandy says, four-and five-year-old kids sitting all day on wooden benches, being vegetarians, they have to tweeze out most of about a zillion gold threads to leave the pattern of just the gold left behind.

"You don't see kids any older than ten doing this job," Brandy says, "because by then most kids go blind."

Just the veil Brandy takes out of her basket must be six feet square. The precious eyesight of all those darling children, lost. The precious days of their fragile childhood spent tweezing silk threads out.

Give me pity.

Flash.

Give me empathy.

Flash.

Oh, I wish I could make my poor heart bust.

I say, " Vswf siws cm eiuvn sincs."

No, it's okay, Brandy says. She doesn't reward anybody for exploiting children. She got it on sale.

Caged behind my silk, settled inside my cloud of organza and georgette, the idea I can't share my problems with other people makes me not give a shit about their problems.
[Photo culled from: http://chuckpalahniuk.net/books/invisible-monsters]

Albert Camus: From the Myth of Sisyphus

"If the world were clear, art would not exist." - Albert Camus

   I am reminded of this quote of Camus because of the films I have shown in class and the discussions we have about those films. I have anchored my classes' viewing on what are usually called existentialist themes or issues. Some might notice that the previous entry quoted Jack Nicholson. It was deliberate. In its most simplistic form, Nicholson and many other actors of his generation were aware of Camus. Camus was also an actor and playwright. Though some might not know that Camus did not consider himself an existentialist ( if I am not mistaken see "Camus on himself" in Lyrical and critical essays). But actors of Nicholson's kind and writers of Camus's kind, to paraphrase Kevin Spacey, get to ask questions that most people don't ask. Indeed, it appears that many people would rather not ask many of the questions that philosophers ask.

[Photo culled from: http://www.amazon.com/Camus-Romance-Elizabeth-Hawes/dp/0802118895. It's by Cartier Bresson].

Jack Nicholson on Camus's Existential Hero

"The actor is Camus's ideal existential hero, because if life is absurd and the idea is to live a more vital life, the man who lives more lives is in a better position than the guy who lives just one."
Nicholson's quote is from the 2nd edition of Robert Barton's Acting: Onstage and off.

[Photo culled from: http://www.amazon.com/Five-Easy-Pieces-Jack-Nicholson/dp/B00002VWE0]

Loeb and Sale's Haunted Knight: Another Recent Read for July

I've been busy. But this work of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale was another recent read for July.

[Photo culled from: http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Haunted-Knight-Jeph-Loeb/dp/1563892731]

Of Dossiers

    When someone mentions "dossier" to me I think of the different intelligence agencies. But of course this might be the one most are familiar with, a fictional one:

[Picture culled from: http://www.k1bond007.com/the-james-bond-dossier/]

So if we go with the "dossier" being circulated via email, does that mean they (the names listed there) are secret agents? Hehehe...

 Yes, some of us are secret agents working for a fictional intelligence agency involved in a global conspiracy that will fund a death ray obliterating all biological organisms...making way for silicon-based life...Hehehe....