what we have now...

people in their rooms, all by themselves, holding a camera in front of them and making a beautiful representation of themselves....

Self-knowledge Book idea

to learned, life-experiencing, psychoanalytic philosophers write biographies of themselves and one of the other person...then they each respond to the other person's characterization in both cases, and then they respond again...and again??

mostly something for personal gain, but maybe more??

"virtue of privacy"

Am I wrong, or did Stanford educated Tiger Woods misuse the word virtue in his thought-out tirelessly prepared apology....

"But for me, the virtue of privacy is one that must be protected in matters that are intimate and within one's own family."

Shouldn't "I value privacy" or "the value of privacy" or something.

If I'm right, it is the worst transgression I can see in this whole ordeal...

writen not done

it has always been characteristic of me to be able to much more easily write and tell people about the way I am the things i do (that are controversial on moral terms, or PC terms), than it is for me to actually commit the actions???

what could this mean...

New Nietzsche blog

Each Post an Aphorism or section one for every section....

Each has a comment section - vote up or down for each comment, the most popular will be shown first...open commenting...

Other features - each could have the original german, alternate translations, cross references (themselves with thumbs up and thumbs down ratings) related thoughts by other thinkers....

I am no philosopher

I am not morally good enough.

I want to be a writer and filmmaker...NOTHING ELSE!!!

think about a horror movie....someone is locked in the dungeon and tortured for fun, slowly over a really long time...this has to be an analogy for something...

VIRTUE ETHICS
FREE WILL
MARX, NIETZSCHE, FREUD
MORAL PSYCHOLOGY

make the most of these learning opportunities...must prepare oneself to the furthest possible extent...

movie idea

group of angry minority planning to do a library shooting, one of the, who earlier has to be reminded why they should do it, goes to the top floor, he is supposed to just hang out in the stacks, look like he is reading until he gets the signal....he picks up a book, he begins to read, he is transformed he stops the whole thing b/c of the power of the words....

Shattering Confidence (Book Idea)

play out the many reasons you have to not be confident....such as:

"Imagine a world were sex was everywhere, the opportunity for sex was everywhere. The hard-workers the suceeders in life would be the one's who weren't predisposed to be sex-crazy and sex-distracted: we would be lead by asexuals."

imagine all the other possible combinations, each one would produce a different world, a different value system, a different justice?

"Ethics" book abstract

First, before anything, we must ask ourselves what it means to have a successful life. Everything is on the table. This is each person's own task. The method about going about this task, a how-to, that is what philosophy can be, that is what this is.

It seems a natural way to start would be to examine the experiments. Look at the world, how different people are leading their different lives. See if you can who is the most "successful." What is it about them that makes them successful. What are the presuppositions of their success (I doubt it will be their "truth" or "rationality").

Don't be afraid of the absence of "common-sense morality." Besides the fact that no-one is listening to me to us, there is at base something functional about this morality (perhaps it has never been anything but functional at a certain level).

The final product, if there is one, will be a theory about how to best live in this world, with these people. 2009 - United States - Atlanta. How is it that such an obvious point is so obviously overlooked. It is fun to fantasize about what ethical theories would work if everyone was like you and followed "the" ethical theory, but wake up from your wet-dream, this won't happen.

Life is an experiment. Draw conclusions, try them out, experiment with life! Just think about all the many many different ways of life never even tried - true experimental philosophy. How is it, why is it, that we have only so far experienced one narrow sliver in the woods. But there are no other roads you say? well roads are the problem, we should be swinging from treetop to treetop!

Quiet Section of the Library

this just seems wrong. Someone who takes advantage of the benefits of the quiet section, while themselves not obeying the rules which make the section quiet.

what is it about me, about the way I CARE ABOUT what they think about me if i speak up and tell them to be quiet...they seem to have this QUALITY of not caring about what others think, or are they compeltely unaware of how other people are despising their cell-phone usage in a closed "quiet" space...

this inability to speak up for fear of being "disliked" is something i have battled with for so long. Is it a fundamental part of my being??

Libertarians, why are you so hard to love?

the ideas are convincing and appealing to me, I want to own them for myself, but the culture, it almost seems cult-like. This has served to make it less popular than it otherwise should be.

Oh, if only you didn't speak with those words and passion characteristic of what most believe is an unattainable certainty..

ahh yes, my calling, my VISION

Create my own perfectionsim, virtue ethics, my own view of the good life, defend it, as a creation of my own...then preach the only thing one can with this type of individual theory, the method, The Starting Point, the conditional truisms (if you care about the good life of understanding, insight, wisdom, then these are the steps...)

places to live

nice quiet space and land in the country...

small, functional place in the city...

addiction

I need to get addicted to the right things....to HEALTHY things, to PRODUCTIVITY, to ORGANIZATION.....not INTERNET BROWSING (like automatically opening my web browser when i turn on my computer and drifting where my mind takes me), not CIGARETTES, not SPORTS/SHOCK ENTERTAINMENT (college/pro football, golf, Kanye)

tausend reasons

The truth is that I can give a thousand reasons each to believe a thousand different ways of life....they all can't be right though.....how do we know which reasons are the right reasons?? well it involves understanding our biases, it involves understanding the character of truth.

reason i am into philosophy

when i was told right and wrong meant EVERYTHING and it was a question of HEAVEN or HELL I questioned the "good" of everything, every social interaction and realized all the thought that went into determining the good...was the good even more important to me than Jesus, did the "figuring out of the good" lead me away from Jesus?? it was definitely a truth drive, but a truth drive in an ethical sense/light..

Method reversnce for past and history Krigman

Species-being versus Alienation

so today I felt lonely a little bit and it got me thinking about Marx's idea that as pure self-interested living as the best way of living...

ahhhhh

so after long deep convo i am left completely unsettled and feeling as though i don't and can't know anything...

the things i do "know" all seem to be really depressing too.....the fact that I will die at some point....my time is limited here.....my experiences are limited....., also the fact that there is no way I will ever come close to the amount of self-knowledge and world-knowledge to be able to have the amount of understanding to know what is best....

where to go from here..??

You do have to create your own meaning in life and define for yourself what a successful life is.....the key to this may be to make sure it is broad and open enough that it can include new understandings and new knowledge, yet specific enough that it is meaningful and allows you to assertively act.....maybe this means you have to continually redefine a "successful life" as you gain more knowledge....this IS what it means.....

The first thing it seems is to understand what experiences have what kind of value to you. It seems like all that matters is accumulating moments and "experiences" that have value for you. An example would be if in defining a successful life I placed the highest value and singular value on sex than my actions should all lead toward the goal of maximizing the amount of sex experiences i have.

Can philosophical thinking have this value?? It is a pleasure but not a sensory one.

Things that carry value for me (not yet ordered)
- sex
- cuddling
- exerting effort
- understanding??


.....haven't I already talked about this....ya i kind of did

Inspirational quotes just made up

Do you have the courage to be a warrior for yourself, to overcome and defeat the question "But what will they think of me..? Will they think im a crazy, a pervert, a fool? If you are sincere the ones that think such things are not the ones for you.

I am not sorry, I do not regret it, I acted with full knowledge and with full courage, I am unconcerned whether or not you liked it, My only concern can only ever be my own self voyage.

maxims

Must gain more knowledge about these things...
-I how the world works...(you can't stay neutral on a moving train)
-II what makes a happy life

VALUE - you can't be neutral on a moving train

it's all about values....what does our current world value....what values are promoted (even if accidently)....what values are worth holding....you have to create a worldview that valuates everything and knows what is what and then forces that distribution of value and their perspective on the world.....ATTACKS

disapointing others

So I just got a response back from Texas Tech, after turning down their offer of admission. They were the first ones to offer me admission and an assistantship and I had been talking on the phone and emailing back and forth with an advisor about numerous details. Since I hadn't received a fiscally viable alternative I had started to think and get excited about going to Lubbock. About a week and a half ago I received an assistantship offer for GSU. While GSU is a better choice for me in a number of ways, my decision still wasn't easy becuase, again, fiscally, Texas Tech would be a lot cheaper.

On paper, and even in my mind I am confident I made the right decision, yet it still haunts me that maybe i didn't. It is tough because before there were all these possible tracks and now they have all been abruptly closed - but that is the nature of this sort of thing.

The advisor I had been talking about said something like (Of course, I am disapointed, but I wish you the best of luck). I felt really bad even though there is no real good reason to and I would probably have had the same feeling had i turned down a different school. The root of me feeling bad, was of course "disapointing him" which can be seen as "having a 'not perfect'/good image in his eyes." I also felt tied to Texas Tech because I had been talking to them so much and they are trying so hard to make their program great and court people, I almost wanted to go there just so that I could say thank you and job well done with the admission process....of course, though, this is not how to pick a graduate school (I do wish there was some way I could rate how they handled the admission process - A+).....

Anyways this all comes back to the one thing that seems to be at the root of all my frustration and lack of success - my constant concern with other's perceptions of me....I simply can't handle people having a low opinion of me or people not liking me or respecting me.

This I must meditate on.

let's push things forrrrwwwwwaaarrddd

it is easy to get into the mode of PROVING others wrong or arguing/debating with others on points you are SURE are right....like why not to be a devout fundamentalist christian or something....but it is important not to get sucked in....to stay positive and work on creating (positively), establishing, and understanding (positively) your worldview

Important trait for Philosopher - Turn on/off questioning

To be able to turn on and off your deep hard questioning manner.....

Be able to complete give into an experience fully.....but also be able to later question it fully....this is the key for a philosopher....

The Slut versus The Saint

Why shouldn't I live for the moment. If all we can ever experience is the moment and there is no Final Judgment, than it seems the only thing with value is your individual feeling/emotion/mindset. If that is the case than why shouldn't we just spend every moment of everyday mindlessly indulging in our passions?

The reasons (1) I don't believe in being a slut (2) are because sluts inefficiently acheive their goal, the range of passion/experience is limited, and it is unsustainable.

1. Indulging in your passions every moment of every day will never successful satisfy or quench your passions. You have to be aware of deep-rooted passions/desires and exactly what it is you are passionate about (your mind makes ridiculous associations sometimes and you can think that you desire something but you really desire what it is that is associated with it in your mind).

2. The amount of passion/emotion you can feel is goin to be limited if you are never making achievements or moving past the moment. The feeling of summiting a mountain, for instance (metaphorically or not). Plus (almost worthy of another bullet) these of the moment pleasures/passions/emotions can be experienced anytime (for instance, after you discover that you don't like summiting a mountain as much), while the other longer term experiences/passions can't be experienced 'anytime.'

3. What I have called its unsustainability is really two major points. One is that you (probably) would get sick of all of the momentary pleasures. I think even a blumpkin could get old after a while. Secondly I have reason to believe that as humans we have a certain Ontological Interest that requires us to give long-term meaning to our actions. I elaborated on this more on a different blog.

My answer to the question "How should one live?" is that one should strive for knowledge about oneself, one's deepest passions and yearnings and as he continues to discover these he should courageously try to quench and satisfy these passions to the best of his ability (3). I don't believe in living for any other reason or goal, but in no way plan to defend that position here (Questions/Challenges of course welcomed) Is what I propose even sensical though? Can one be both the explorer and the subject explored? Whether these are contradictions or not, It makes sense to me and I currently know of no better way to proceed.


(1) At least the reasons I am conscious of. This question came about most forcibly when I broke up with my first real girlfriend and, although I hate to think about it, I am sure my emotions greatly influenced my conclusions. We had what I considered a really intense relationship and then it slowly died out and when we split ways, from what i could tell (she wouldn't really talk about it), she had come to despise me. This was devastating to me since I had (foolishly) come to associate my happiness and perception of self with her opinion of me. In order to dig myself out of this depression I (sometimes almost unconsciously) had to convince myself that her opinion was wrong, and as I think is common in a lot of relationships, that I was the 'better' one. Since she was a very passionate live-for-the-moment person, who didn't seem to think about her long-term happiness or goals, I WANTED (again whether consciously or not) to prove her outlook wrong, thus her opinion didn't matter and I didn't have to believe I was as pathetic as she thought I was. Although she wasn't a slut, this was only because (im guessing) she lacked the courage and feared being called one.

(2) By slut I am referring to someone who indulges in their passions each moment without concern for the long-term or anything other than the moment (I guess hedonism works too, but I am not as familiar with that). Maybe I choose slut because to me the number one passion/pleasure/moment one can have is in orgasm. Of course I do not consider sluts necessarily bad (at least at this point), in fact I think they are almost universally more commendable than those who get their sense of well-being by condemning/judging others (like those who use slut hatefully).

(3) I hope to do a post(s) explaining what these passions are, but I do belive they will be fluid, since nothing static exists.