J'aime ma mere et mon pere!
Today at work, I have accomplished absolutely nothing. The day began with a discussion with Cheryl about Kant, graduate school, fellowship opportunities, and the bit of babysitting I did yesterday (read: entertaining her four-year-old brainiac daughter). Then I started working on my word lists (yes, I have returned to the indexing task) until Galen showed up. Then we chatted about philosophy and the profession for awhile. I'm trying to encourage him to write up his own ideas on certain subjects rather than interpreting Merleau-Ponty. He is a rather deep and brilliant person (and I'm not just saying that because of our personal relationship), and I would like to see him just knock one out of the philosophical ballpark.
Digression: Here is a contention: continental philosophers in America tend to become too fixated with the though of another figure to develop their own original insights. Part of our conversation was in how to avoid this pitfall myself: to get a job in a philosophy department, folks typically want their continentalist to be a bit of a historian as opposed to having original ideas. Their dissertation, therefore, should be on historical figures or interpretive issues. WE came up with the idea that I could make my project into a two volume piece: the first (the dissertation) the historical exegesis and scholarship necessary to the second volume which would be the constructive taking up of the problem and proposal of a solution. that way I have my first book finished as well by the time I get my Ph.D. Sounded good to me!
Back to the topic; my doing nothing today. Once Galen left, I photocopied a book so I wouldn't have to buy it, and then Anna called. We chatted about Spain and what a good time she is having and I told her about the road rage incident. Her concern was cute! Afterward, I had tea and cookies with Deb, the honors department administrative goddess. That brings me up to now.
I nearly forgot! To add to the overall leisure of the day,* I shot two roles of film this morning! I was so happy, I came into work filled with the feeling of connectedness to my environment...
To quote the sage Ice Cube: "I have to say it was a good day."
*: The root of the word "school" is "leisure"; a fact all to frequently forgotten as pragmatic minded individuals continue to suck the joy of learning out of the academy and transform them into trade-schools.
Digression: Here is a contention: continental philosophers in America tend to become too fixated with the though of another figure to develop their own original insights. Part of our conversation was in how to avoid this pitfall myself: to get a job in a philosophy department, folks typically want their continentalist to be a bit of a historian as opposed to having original ideas. Their dissertation, therefore, should be on historical figures or interpretive issues. WE came up with the idea that I could make my project into a two volume piece: the first (the dissertation) the historical exegesis and scholarship necessary to the second volume which would be the constructive taking up of the problem and proposal of a solution. that way I have my first book finished as well by the time I get my Ph.D. Sounded good to me!
Back to the topic; my doing nothing today. Once Galen left, I photocopied a book so I wouldn't have to buy it, and then Anna called. We chatted about Spain and what a good time she is having and I told her about the road rage incident. Her concern was cute! Afterward, I had tea and cookies with Deb, the honors department administrative goddess. That brings me up to now.
I nearly forgot! To add to the overall leisure of the day,* I shot two roles of film this morning! I was so happy, I came into work filled with the feeling of connectedness to my environment...
To quote the sage Ice Cube: "I have to say it was a good day."
*: The root of the word "school" is "leisure"; a fact all to frequently forgotten as pragmatic minded individuals continue to suck the joy of learning out of the academy and transform them into trade-schools.