The only thing I gleaned from an 8AM ancient history course 5 years ago was the following passage:

To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.
Confucius, The Analects Book 2

Nietzsche.  On the Geneology of Morality.  Third Essay.  Paragraph 25.

"Do you really think that, for example, the defeat of theological astronomy meant a defeat of that ideal? Has man perhaps become less in need of a transcendent solution to the riddle of his existence because this existence has since come to look still more arbitrary, loiterer- ( Read more... )

Life is a series of escapes punctuated by brief spasms of horrific clarity:

At the alter of fate I was presented before a creature who was half lion, half man.  It spoke to me without opening its mouth.

"We represent the collective mind of the universe."  The voiceless words permeated me.  "We have reached the conclusion that your identity is ( Read more... )

Marx did his PhD thesis in 1841, 7 years before the Communist Manifesto was published.  Marx's thesis was concerned with the Greek Materialists and the issue of determinism versus freedom in a materialist universe.

Marx represents one of the German philosophers identified as the "Young Hegelians".  These writers focus on the historical change and ( Read more... )

Now we're getting somewhere.  In my Philosophy course, we are reading "The Communist Manifesto" as part of political philosophy.  No one understands what the hell Marxism is in this country, its baffling how far off we are when we try to interpret it in everyday politics.  I love the irony in the US when reading this doctrine!  Several maxims of ( Read more... )

"Every man suffers from a narrow justification for existence.  The strong are not impenetrable; they are ignorant.  The brilliant are not content; they are distracted.  The compassionate are not selfless; they are alone."  

I just finished a three day weekend at Dinosaur State Park.  I feel numb.  It wasn't the job; at least I have no reason to think.

I had death anxiety at work today.  It was a lull in the day, I was writing about the evolutionary tree of life and the science behind it.  The task was for a upper high school target group, and I tried to imagine that ( Read more... )

I feel like this is a story I have told myself a hundred times.  I've told it to myself though; a voice in my head narrates.

The theme of this essay is inspiration.  If it makes you feel guilty, that is the first step.

About 10 months ago I traveled across the world to a tiny island.


( Read more... )

My brain is saturated.  It is time to vent.  I need to reach a solution concentration where more solute particles can dissolve.

Here are the precipitates.  They are just some ideas floating around my head.

[1] Over the course of the evolution of land vertebrates, aquatic forms emerged.  More importantly, obligate marine animals emerged from taxons ( Read more... )

I really don't like my Early Modern Philosophy course anymore. I think its poorly organized, dry, and almost completely irrelevant to my career. I thought that it would be a great addition to my understanding of the development of western thought, but the professors approach is so... vacuous. The philosophers we are studying all seem like ( Read more... )