Pile 'o books

Originally posted by adam warlock
Even though I cringe at almost everything he says I have to agree with this. He sure is challenging.

But he was very loose on the historical record on Black Mass. Basically I thought that on 90% of the book he was being trivially right (while being grandiloquent beyond belief) or he was presenting the most fragile positions of the opposite camp in or ...[text shortened]... convenient for the argument he's trying to make.

What is the other philosopher, by the way?

I think that's why I like him.

You'e probably correct in your observation. Whether one ought to call him a philosopher as such any more is certainly open to question (notwithstanding his occasional analyses of people like Berlin, even in his later period). He's too broad-brush and has come to eschew philosophical rigour, becoming more of a political thinker/polemicist. That said, he's obviously very well read, but wears it lightly.

My other favourite, by way of diametric opposite and wilful eclecticism, is Simon Critchley. Very Little... Almost Nothing was an absolute tour de force, and undoubtedly his best. I have also been enjoying his work with Tom McCarthy and the Necronautical Society.

Originally posted by DrKF
My other favourite, by way of diametric opposite and wilful eclecticism, is Simon Critchley.

I have to say that I like your eclecticism.

And just to be on topic: My future readings will be The Darker Nations, a lot of stuff on Physics and Mathematics.

And at this moment I'm re-reading A People's History of Science. Just for the sake of the Greek Miracle chapter.

Originally posted by DrKF

My other favourite, by way of diametric opposite and wilful eclecticism, is Simon Critchley. Very Little... Almost Nothing was an absolute tour de force, and undoubtedly his best. I have also been enjoying his work with Tom McCarthy and the Necronautical Society.

The Book of Dead Philosophers makes a fantastic Christmas present.

My favourite living English philosopher ... apart from Terry Pratchett ... is probably Sir Roger Penrose. I was quite into Graham Harman, but have extricated myself somewhat. AC Grayling seems ... a bit of a grayling.

My favourite recently deceased one, JG Ballard.

Anyhow: Wittgenstein or Heidegger? huh? huh?

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
The Book of Dead Philosophers makes a fantastic Christmas present.

My favourite living English philosopher ... apart from Terry Pratchett ... is probably Sir Roger Penrose. I was quite into Graham Harman, but have extricated myself somewhat. AC Grayling seems ... a bit of a grayling.

My favourite recently deceased one, JG Ballard.

Anyhow: Wittgenstein or Heidegger? huh? huh?

Indeed it does. I think I may have recommended it as an ideal 'toilet book' on this very forum.

Heidegger for me, please!

Originally posted by DrKF
Indeed it does. I think I may have recommended it as an ideal 'toilet book' on this very forum.

Heidegger for me, please!

For you -- in what sense?

Is Critchley's book on Heidegger helpful, or would it be better to spend more time absorbeing the 'Ivory Tower Unabomber' himself -- in the (ab)original German, preferably, I take it?

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
For you -- in what sense?

Is Critchley's book on Heidegger helpful, or would it be better to spend more time absorbeing the 'Ivory Tower Unabomber' himself -- in the (ab)original German, preferably, I take it?

In the trivial sense - I like Heidegger better is all. (Then again, when I worked in academia, I spent a large amount of time steeped in continental philosophy, so he was pretty unavoidable...)

I must admit to not having read Critchley's book on Heidegger. I'd always recommend trying original works before commentary in any event - and if your German is up to the task (mine is most certainly not, having barely spoken a word of it in many, many years) I have little doubt you'd get more out of him in German. Then turn to the commentaries, to have the density illuminated a little...

Originally posted by DrKF
In the trivial sense - I like Heidegger better is all. (Then again, when I worked in academia, I spent a large amount of time steeped in continental philosophy, so he was pretty unavoidable...)

I must admit to not having read Critchley's book on Heidegger. I'd always recommend trying original works before commentary in any event - and if your German is up to ...[text shortened]... in German. Then turn to the commentaries, to have the density illuminated a little...

Each to their own burden. -- I expect you must have a pretty snappy explanation of the Fourfold, then? Let's hear it! Use examples from the world of RHP, if possible.

Heidegger's German is well nigh impenetrable. I suspect it's a performance.

I don't like fiction, but have decided there must be some intellectual value asociated with it (if not, there wouldn't be a category called "NOVELS" on Jeopardy!). So I asked the librarian what non-fiction book I should start with, being 52 and never having read those that were forced upon us in school, like Scarlet Letter, Huck Finn, etc. He suggested The Name of the Rose, and I just finished it.

Not bad.

Originally posted by PinkFloyd
I don't like fiction, but have decided there must be some intellectual value asociated with it (if not, there wouldn't be a category called "NOVELS" on Jeopardy!). So I asked the librarian what non-fiction book I should start with, being 52 and never having read those that were forced upon us in school, like Scarlet Letter, Huck Finn, etc. He suggested The Name of the Rose, and I just finished it.

Not bad.

Crappychoice for. Not bad, yeah, still a supermarket fave.

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
Each to their own burden. -- I expect you must have a pretty snappy explanation of the Fourfold, then? Let's hear it! Use examples from the world of RHP, if possible.

Heidegger's German is well nigh impenetrable. I suspect it's a performance.

Ugh. Is that what google throws up when you ask it for Heidegger's most impenetrable utterance?

It's interesting insofar as Heidegger turns increasingly towards poetry - and wilful obscuritanism - in his late period, presumably after his notorious 'whoops' moment with politics, and is (yet another) attempt to approach presenting Being.

whodey is an idiot.

(How did I do?)

Originally posted by DrKF
Ugh. Is that what google throws up when you ask it for Heidegger's most impenetrable utterance?

It's interesting insofar as Heidegger turns increasingly towards poetry - and wilful obscuritanism - in his late period, presumably after his notorious 'whoops' moment with politics, and is (yet another) attempt to approach presenting Being.

whodey is an idiot.

(How did I do?)

I don't know -- I've just looked at the image of Das Gevierte and read around it a bit and find it somewhat impenetrable. Apparently Graham Harman's forthcoming book on object-oriented ontology includes a 'path-clearing' exposition of the XXXX (have you read Harman?).

Do you think propositional calculus constitutes a threat to law and order?

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
I don't know -- I've just looked at the image of Das Gevierte and read around it a bit and find it somewhat impenetrable. Apparently Graham Harman's forthcoming book on object-oriented ontology includes a 'path-clearing' exposition of the XXXX (have you read Harman?).

Do you think propositional calculus constitutes a threat to law and order?

I haven't read any Harman to date, but added him to my list after your post above. Where best to start?

Originally posted by DrKF
I haven't read any Harman to date, but added him to my list after your post above. Where best to start?

You might want to look into his book on Heidegger; but you can access a free(!) pdf of a recent work showcasing his admiration and appropriation of Bruno Latour here http://www.re-press.org/content/view/63/38/

Introducing Heidegger ...

So he was responsible for Foucault.

Originally posted by DrKF
I haven't read any Harman to date, but added him to my list after your post above. Where best to start?

Come to think of it, maybe the essay he wrote here is a more fun beginning:

http://www.urbanomic.com/pub_collapse4.php