Bon Iver

Here's a review by Stephen Duesner of a really great album I recently ran across.

Bon Iver ( Justin Vernon) is originally from Eau Claire, WI.

Review (Pitchfork Media):

The biographical details behind the creation of an album shouldn't matter when it comes to a listener's enjoyment, but For Emma, Forever Ago, Justin Vernon's debut as Bon Iver, exudes such a strong sense of loneliness and remoteness that you might infer some tragedy behind it. So, to skirt the rumor mill, here are the particulars, as much or as little as they might apply: In 2005, Vernon's former band DeYarmond Edison moved from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to North Carolina. As the band developed and matured in its new home, the members' artistic interests diverged and eventually the group disbanded. While his bandmates formed Megafaun, Vernon-- who had worked with the Rosebuds and Ticonderoga-- returned to Wisconsin, where he sequestered himself in a remote cabin for four snowy months. During that time, he wrote and recorded most of the songs that would eventually become For Emma, Forever Ago.

As the second half of its title implies, the album is a ruminative collection of songs full of natural imagery and acoustic strums-- the sound of a man left alone with his memories and a guitar. Bon Iver will likely bear comparisons to Iron & Wine for its quiet folk and hushed intimacy, but in fact, Vernon, adopting a falsetto that is worlds away from his work with DeYarmond Edison, sounds more like TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe, not just in his vocal timbre, but in the way his voice grows grainier as it gets louder.

Vernon gives a soulful performance full of intuitive swells and fades, his phrasing and pronunciation making his voice as much a purely sonic instrument as his guitar. In the discursive coda of "Creature Fear" he whittles the song down to a single repeated syllable-- "fa." Rarely does folk-- indie or otherwise-- give so much over to ambience: Quivering guitar strings, mic'ed closely, lend opener "Flume" its eerily interiorized sound, which matches his unsettling similes. "Lump Sum" begins with a choir of Vernons echoing cavernously, which, along with that rhythmically rushing guitar, initiates the listener into the song's strange space.

For Emma isn't a wholly ascetic project, though. A few songs benefit from additional recording and input after Vernon's initial sessions: Christy Smith of Raleigh's Nola adds flute and drums to "Flume", and Boston-based musicians John DeHaven and Randy Pingrey add horns to "For Emma"; surprisingly, their company doesn't break the album's spell of isolation, but rather strengthens it, as if they're only his imaginary friends. Vernon turns the cabin's limitations into assets on "The Wolves", layering his falsetto, tweaking his vocal tones to simple yet devastating effect, and piling on clattering percussion to create a calamitous finale.

That passage contrasts nicely with the simple intro to the next track, "Blindsided", which builds from a single repeating note into a halting chorus melody that sells his skewed Walden imagery: "I crouch like a crow/ Contrasting the snow/ For the agony, I'd rather know." Vernon's lyrics are puzzle pieces that combine uneasily; his nouns tend to be concrete, yet the meanings slippery. On "Flume", the lines "I am my mother's only one/ It's enough" form a strong opener, but the song grows less and less lucid: "Only love is all maroon/ Lapping lakes like leery loons/ Leaving rope burns-- reddish ruse." It's as if he's trying to inhabit the in-between spaces separating musical expression and private rumination, exposing his regrets without relinquishing them. His emotional exorcism proves even more intense for being so tentative.

Be well,

JS

The Return

After several weeks of down time (so to speak), I am back at the business of blogging.

In truth, however, I have been quite busy. Moving back to Grand Rapids, arranging a new apartment, negitioting a new job--all of these things take time and energy. Even though it's something of a truism, I feel exhausted. But, life is calming down, finally. And, I'm finding myself getting back into a real schedule. Biking around town and to and from school and work has proven really rewarding. However, it's taken some time for my legs to get back into the game.

Because I've returned to Grand Rapids, the tone of my blog will change. I'll, rather than reporting on new and exciting discoveries around the UK, be bringing to readers attention decidedly more mundane occurrences. Yet, my hope is that what I have to say now will be stimulating in a different and sometimes in a similar way.

Stay tuned for much more.

Be well,

JS

Edinburgh and the winds of change...!

After another stress free week last Friday, we took our final class trip. This time the destination was blustery Edinburgh in order that we might get a feel for northern Britain.

Of all the cities I've visited, though, while here in the UK, Edinburgh was the most enjoyed.

The northern territories tend to feel like totally different regions of the world. London differs greatly from Scotland and York stands in stark contrast to Cardiff. And this is what interests me about Britain. That is, for such a small country, one wouldn't expect much topographical diversity. But, the UK has it. And it's great.

I kept trying to liken Edinburgh during our time there to places I've visited in the past. I concluded tentatively that it felt very Norwegian--from the hilly terrain to the strong ethnic pride.

Getting past the Kitsch of the place was a little difficult at first, though. With a bag-pipe on every corner, the city began to feel like a caricature of itself. But I suppose such civic ego keeps Edinburgh unique. It keeps it like few places I've been before--uniquely charming and subtly bent on preserving a rich history.

Be well,

JS

It's Warm Outside...

After the snow leaves and cabin fevers subside, it's nice to get outside and breathe.

Apart from the running I do during the spring, I tend to take walks in the afternoon when the sun blinds your eyes. But I like that feeling--to be surrounded by light. Spring in the UK can be lovely.

So soon enough, though, my time here will be finished. The semester has gone amazingly quickly. And sometimes I feel like I'll miss out on good things in the future. Not because I won't seek opportunities but that I'll not be around when something great happens.

In reading John Keats, I've come across some real chestnuts; but none as aesthetically dignified as his sonnet When I Have Fears which expresses these anxieties really well:

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain,
Before high-piled books, in charactery,
Hold like rich garners the full ripen'd grain;
When I behold, upon the night's starr'd face,
Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
And think that I may never live to trace
Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;
And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
That I shall never look upon thee more,
Never have relish in the faery power
Of unreflecting love;--then on the shore
Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.

A good poem can open up new conceptual space. And this is what's nice about Keats; he's able to express certain sentiments in ways that are new and inventive.

Be well.

JS

David Klinghoffer and the trappings of "Intellectual Freedom"

So I've "pasted" a short essay here that has been born out of a recent intellectual skirmish centered around Orthodox Jewish author David Klinghoffer. I've tended to think lately that the author of the piece that follows is correct in calling Klinghoffer out on several issues (including, primarily, a sociological one pertaining to eugenics). But, I (perhaps more importantly) also wish for the end of these sorts of debates. Each side tends to beg all of the important questions and unintentionally or not move farther and farther from progress (however much of a non-starter "progress" may seem to be).



Here ya go. Read carefully:

If you can’t argue for your position on intellectual grounds, try politics. If you can’t succeed with legitimate political argument, resort to ad hominem attacks. That’s what the Intelligent Design (ID) movement has been reduced to, especially in Expelled. ID creationists have produced no credible argument against the theory of evolution, let alone positive evidence for design, a point to which I’ll return. Politically their fortunes have been devastated ever since the 2005 Dover, Pennsylvania court decision in which a George W. Bush-appointed Church-going judge found ID to be religious dogma that cannot legally be introduced in public school science classes. So now we are presented with a new line of attack: because natural selection was invoked by the Nazis in support of genocide, the theory of evolution must be false. To this, David Klinghoffer adds a new twist: if you believe in the theory of evolution, you are an anti-Semite.

That evolutionary theory, especially natural selection, has been abused by various groups for nefarious political ends is old and well-worn history. In the United States it inspired Social Darwinism in the late nineteenth century which was used to justify the greed of the robber barons and the appalling conditions in which the poor were forced to live. In many regions of the world it was used to promote eugenics, including the involuntary sterilization of the “unfit.” In the United States, such sterilization continued until 1981. And, yes, natural selection was invoked by the Nazis.

What this history tells us is that science does not occur in a socio-political vacuum.We Have Moral Faculties *Because* We Evolved Them The results of science may be abused, just as they may be used to benefit society. Biology is particularly prone to such use and abuse because its domain includes humans. Scientists should recognize their moral responsibility to guard against the misuse of their work. By and large, biologists have acted responsibly in this respect. In the 1930s, the great British evolutionary biologist, J.B.S. Haldane exposed the fallacies of eugenics and anti-Semitism in his brilliantly argued Heredity and Politics. In the 1980s, Not in Our Genes, by Dick Lewontin, Steve Rose, and Leon Kamin, played the same role after illegitimate political claims began to be reintroduced in the name of behavioral genetics and sociobiology. When the Human Genome Project was initiated in the early 1990s, biologists took care to ensure that adequate resources were deployed to address its ethical, legal, and social implications.

Returning to the theory of evolution, there is no “inner logic” of natural selection that leads to any moral or political implication. It is value-neutral. We have evolved a mind and, with it, culture as well as moral capacities and what we think of as free will. Some biologists think that this was all due to natural selection. Others suspect that a variety of natural mechanisms were involved in mental evolution. This is one of the exciting unresolved issues in evolutionary biology, and the subject of ongoing research. Biology may constrain our physical and mental capacities but, in normal individuals (those whom the courts would consider as “legally competent”), biology has never been shown to determine moral choices. We are responsible for our actions. For instance, if we choose to use our religious or political dogmas to harm science education for children, we must bear the moral responsibility that entails.

Note, moreover, there was antisemitism before Darwin and it persists today in many religious fundamentalist circles which are entirely hostile to the idea of evolution. The theory of evolution is thus obviously not the source of antisemitism. Given the long history of Christian antisemitism, is particularly odd that apologists for Christianity, as most ID creationists are, should try to use disgust with antisemitism for their own rhetorical and political purposes. Note, also, that what inspired Hitler in Mein Kampf as much as biology was the example of the United States. By Klinghoffer’s logic, we should also reject much of our own heritage simply because it inspired Hitler.

The evidence for evolution is overwhelming and available from a wide variety of sources including the National Center for Science Education. ID creationism has presented no viable alternative. Its main argument has been that complex life forms could not have evolved. In response, biologists such as Jerry Coyne, Richard Lenski, Ken Miller, H. Allen Orr, and many others have routinely pointed out the variety of mundane mechanisms by which complex systems can emerge through natural selection. I have recently summarized these arguments in Doubting Darwin? Creationist Designs on Evolution. In fact, what has surprised most of us is how rapidly complexity can evolve: For instance, it took less than seventy years for bacteria to evolve resistance to some pesticides even though it required concerted changes in several different enzymes.

Worse, ID creationists have never laid out what their theory is supposed to be, besides vague mystical invocations of “design.” We have never been given an exact definition of design, or the laws it is supposed to obey. These creationists have not even been able to generate a research program. This is one of the reasons why the Templeton Foundation stopped funding the Discovery Institute.

Let us return one last time to the logic of Expelled (and Klinghoffer). Let us suppose for the sake of argument that the theory of evolution really led to some undesirable political consequence, which, as we have seen, is simply not true. From this assumption, it is supposed to follow that evolutionary theory is false and we should replace it with ID. Let us see where this takes us. From the usual rules of chemistry many nations, including the United States, have designed chemical weapons. From this, should we conclude that chemistry is false and we should replace it with Intelligent Alchemy? From the principles of molecular genetics, many of these same nations have designed biological weapons. Should we declare molecular genetics false and replace it with Intelligent Pangenesis? From quantum mechanics came the nuclear bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Therefore, quantum mechanics is false and should be replaced by Intelligent Ether Theory?

(Pursue this link for source material and more discussion).

Be well,

JS

Spring Break Series V: Nonicy Iceland...

Our trip to Norway concluded well.

Like I said earlier, we didn't do much beyond lots of relaxing. And we loved it. But we were ready to head off to another Scandinavian country. However, we first had to fly back to London. As part of the way in which we (poorly) planned our trip, all of our destination changes routed us through London, often times leaving us with overnight layovers. Normally I don't mind setting up shop in a hostel for a day or two. But, unfortunately, our hostel experience between Norway and Iceland left much to be desired. Perhaps we should have assumed the worst. Our search key on line was "cheapest hostel in London" and I think, in this case, the Internet delivered...with unnecessary vengeance. We arrived in London rather late in the evening ready for a meal and sleep. Both aspirations we difficult to materialize. Our meal consisted in 99 pence frozen pizza's from a local convenience store that were perhaps the worst collection of flour and sauce I've ever tasted. After we were (less than) satisfied, we left the crowded and muggy second floor kitchen and resolved to go to bed. This, as I said, was difficult. We were placed in a room of 16 other travelers (or "backpackers?"). The room smelled of mold and urine. My bunk was at the top. I climbed up after brushing my teeth and tried to sleep. But it turns out that I can't sleep through unbelievably loud snoring.

But I don't think I'm alone in that respect. I was kept up most of the night by a diabolical mixture of snoring and what I am assuming was some sort of mild sleep Apnea.

Fear not, it was all soon over. We were happy to leave. And, our silver lining was the beauty of a cheap room.

But more woes were secretly on our horizon. But here I'll turn to my travel partner for a description of what happened which, however unfortunate, was overshadowed by Iceland's charm:

"After withering away for two days in a horrible but cheap hostel in London, John and I discovered (really, it was my fault) a ridiculous and by far the most expensive mistake of our travel experiences thus far. We showed up at the airport a day after our scheduled flight, and had to pay a small fortune to make it to our rendezvous with Sean. But, we're here, and we are enjoying the city, the language, the people, but not so much the high prices. Thankfully, it's a bit more affordable than Norway, but that's not saying much. We've been eating cheap food from 7-11, 10-11, and 11-11, and Sean's been getting us cheap Skyr and bread from his friends that work at bakeries. We try to enjoy the free and affordable experiences, like browsing the records at 12 Tonar, sitting on coffee shop porches, and looking through galleries, boutiques, and of course, tourist shops."

Yes, Iceland is a delight. In fact, on our last day with our friend Sean we shared a coffee shop with hipster string quartet Amiina. Not much else was able to top my experience in Reykjavik....except maybe the geothermal pools...yes, they were wonderful.

Spring Break Series IV: To Norway!

Paris was fun.

But, I had grown tired of the baguette and cigarette shops on every corner.

Fortunately, our trip was only half through. And from Paris it was off to Norway. This leg of our journey posed several logistical barriers. We had to wake up very early (0430) on the 26th, pack our bags, navigate our way to the Eurostar station, board the train, arrive in London, make our way through customs, hop on the underground to London/Stansted Airport, wait in line (for tickets to board what I once thought was a second rate courier), sit through an hour long flight, arrive in Sandefjord, navigate our way again through customs, claim our bags (which, suffice it to say, proved to be more difficult that I had anticipated) and wait for our ride to our lodgings for the evening. All of this had to be accomplished in one afternoon. It all turned out just fine. But the evening before we left Paris I was saying my prayers with extra vigour. I had visions of being stranded in any of the three cities we were to pass through. I thought we could have been robbed. Or, because of what I had been told about Ryan Air, I thought I might find myself floating amid the whales in the North Sea in the afternoon sun.

Never mind that that we were students on a budget. Indeed, we seemed to have forgotten this fact when planning our break. Norway (and later Iceland) are two of the most expensive countries in the world to visit. And we felt it. I anticipated costly items. Yet I had no idea how difficult it would be to visit Noreg. Locals find it quite manageable. They simply make more. And their incomes and taxes adjust with the consumer price index. We visitors, though, were hard pressed when it came to buying simple items like bread and Orange Juice.

Apart from temporary poverty, though, Norway was a delight.

We stayed with friends in Bergen, a former "European Capital of Culture" and all around charming spot nestled amid Norway's well-known fjords and rather graceful mountains. Our visit included a lot of relaxation (perhaps it is what we needed). Hiking and eating seemed to be what we most wanted to do. And with nationalized friends, said activities were splendid. Try the brown cheese...(Slice it thin and place it on warm bread). Would I recommend Scandinavia? Sure. Even if you're not independently wealthy, Norge is a place to see. And who knows, maybe you'll make it here (and if you do, get out of the car and take pictures...nice Volvo boat motor Susanna!)


Be well.

JS

Thursday it's off to Iceland!

Spring Break Series III: Lovely Paris

After the group's scheduled excursion in London ended, t was time for the great spring break diaspora. Most of us headed for then hitherto unvisited locales. for Ryan and I, the first stop was Paris.

So we climber aboard the lightening fast Eurostar and in before we could say " Je ne sais quoi" we were walking the Champs-Élysées and taking pictures like it was our vocation.

Paris is good for many reasons. But, what we found most enticing was the food. Coming from the UK was like emigrating from Ethiopia to Naples. We were finally able to put to our mouths items that hadn't been fried nor battered. And what a relief it was. We may have spent most of our time eating. But this I am not ashamed of. Crepes, Sushi, authentic Italian Pizza, banquettes and cheese were all on the list. And perhaps it's my perpetual hunger, but our Parisian food was splendid. If nothing else, Paris was a great spring break culinary pit-stop.

We didn't just eat, though.

Art was also one of our primary concerns. But when we arrived at Le Louvre and found it closing for the day, we needed to think quickly. Fortunately, our friends were aware of a fantastic modern art museum near by that fed our curiosity and desire for the Parisian art scene.

We indulged our latent touristic tendencies, too. Thanks to a whirlwind schedule (and a pretty efficient public transportation system) we managed to see most of the old stand-by's: Eiffel Tower, Champs-Élysées, Sacré-Cœur Basilica. Paris feels much different than London for many reasons. It's a more well planned city, certainly. It's well known "well and spoke" design makes for some pretty swell linear views (especially from the Champs-Élysées). It also feels like a city with a bit more culture behind it. And in this sense it almost feels a bit more Bohemian. At first I didn't, per se, like this about Paris. But, as I've had my fill of London, the Parisian charm is something I look back upon fondly.

Tuesday's post will cover our journey from Paris to Norway.

Be well.

JS

Spring Break Series II: London and the Established Church

There is more to London than it's fantastic art scene. And during spring break I'd like to think I experienced the city's other virtues.

Yes indeed, for several days it was Church-O-Rama for us all.

-First Stop: Westminster Abbey: The Abbey was something of a marvel for me. Never before had I seen such a profoundly constructed devotion to the life and cultivation of church life and death. The Abbey is home to a dizzying collection of burial sites. In "Poet's Corner" alone the following masters of verse have been laid to rest:

• Dame Peggy Ashcroft
• Robert Adam
• Robert Browning
• William Camden
• Thomas Campbell
• Geoffrey Chaucer
• William Congreve
• Abraham Cowley
• William Davenant
• John Denham
• Charles Dickens
• John Dryden
• Adam Fox
• David Garrick
• John Gay
• George Frederick Handel
• Thomas Hardy
• Sir Henry Irving
• Dr. Samuel Johnson
• Rudyard Kipling
• Thomas Macaulay
• John Masefield
• Lord Laurence Olivier
• Thomas Parr
• Richard Brinsley Sheridan
• Edmund Spenser
• Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson

The Abbey is also the traditional burial site of English monarchs including:

• Henry V of England and his wife Catherine of Valois.

As is typical of most abbey's and cathedral's here in the UK, Westminster feels as though it now only fills a perfunctory role as a parish hub. I attended two Evensong services that happened to fall before lectures given by the Archbishop. They were well attended, yet only so (in my estimation) because of his presence. The plague of the "compulsory role" seems to be something of a big problem for most of the large former hubs of the Anglican Church here in the UK.


Don't believe me? Consider what the venerable Cambridge Philosopher Simon Blackburn has stated: "We are, after all, a pragmatic nation, and we buried the authority of God a long time ago and do not seem to miss it too much. But we feel little need to become extremists. Why would we want to choose between Marx and the Pope when we have the Church of England to relax in?" I sure hope this changes in the future. But, my hopes are not set high.


-Second Stop: St. Paul's Cathedral: A departure from Westminster and the Gothic tradition, St. Paul's is a decidedly different experience. St. Paul's feels (more than any of the Cathedrals I've visited--The Minster included) most like a tourist destination. The Cathedral is complete with a tourist shop paid admission to its claustrophobic yet fascinating rotunda and tower and wide eyed American's eager to discover the mystic behind where Princess Diana was wed. Don't get me wrong. It's a pretty impressive place. I just didn't get the feel that much else was happening there than the lunch rush at the Cathedrals lower level Café.

The bottom right Polaroid (above) is a shot of St Paul's exterior.

Sunday's post will cover the enchanting qualities of Paris.

Be well.

JS

Spring Break Series I: London and Its Finer Points

Spring Break started for us on the 17th of March.

The group trekked to London as this was a program excursion. Starting off break in this structured way was actually quite helpful. And as a result, I gained a pretty nuanced understanding of London's finer artistic points.

Our London excursion was packed with museum visits; both structured and independent. The National Gallery was our first artistic destination. Its uniquely Western European collections are not only grand and sometimes overwhelming; they are at the same time graceful and rich.

Artists that permanently grace the gallery's walls include masters van Gogh, da Vinci, Uccello, Raphael and Monet. Monet's Water Lilies remains a particularly fascinating piece in my mind. Although it doesn't amount to much online, in person the piece speaks quite loudly.

It was then off to the Tate Britain for us all. I'll point out that the Tate Britain and National Gallery differ in profound ways. The Tate, contra the National Gallery, is a larger gallery. As well, one will find that the Tate feels a bit more established despite the fact that the National Gallery is older. So too, the Tate features several well developed collections that aren't found elsewhere--collections that include work by Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais and Poet/Painter/Intellectual William Blake. Interspersed within the Tate Britain is a small collection of modern work that includes paintings from the Post-Impressionist Camden Town Group.

The Tate Modern, although not on the schedule for the group, became a central part on my London experience.

The Tate Modern is Britain's national museum of international modern art and is, with the Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, Tate St Ives, and Tate Online, part of the collective now known simply as "Tate."



And it houses quite a fine collection of Modern work. Dadaist Duchamp is currently allotted a large gallery within the Modern as is Manray. Joan Miró is well represented as well (as his gorgeous Message From a Friend is prominently displayed within a section devoted to his work).

So much for the London art scene. Friday's post will cover London's religious climate and visits I made to several cathedrals.


Be well.


JS

Spring Break Series

Spring Break has ended and the final portion of the semester is here.

What will follow in the coming weeks is a bidaily reflection our spring travels with commentary on experiences and locales.

Enjoy.

JS

Come on Spring!

Spring Break is here and, as a result, posts will be at a premium until early April.

I will not have much access to computers throughout the following two weeks , however, when I return I plan on creating one of the most through and detailed post ever constructed.

Until then,

Be well.

JS

Spring Break and yes...an essay by Richard Rorty

Spring break is near. And Ryan and I have quite a trip coming up.

We'll depart with our group on this upcoming Monday for Cambridge Oxford and London whereupon we'll spend about 4 days seeing sights and visiting museums...mmhmm.

After the organized trip to London concludes, Ryan and I are off to three respective destinations: Paris for three days, the Fjords Norway for 5 days and then wholly idyllic Iceland for another 5 days.

We'll be visiting a friend of ours in Reykjavik and hopefully getting a healthy serving of local flora.



And here is an essay by Richard Rorty for those a bit skeptical of his sincerity. This piece was originally published in his Philosophy and Social Hope.


Enjoy and be well.

JS

Le Tour de...YouTube

Yes, indeed. It's that time again. Well, this is actually a precedent for this humble blog (but there will be more to come in future months...just willingly suspend belief for the time being).

Therefore, in dedication to Michel Foucault, Le Tour de YouTube is finally (?) here. And, as a result, you will find belo YouTube videos that have captured my attention most strongly in the past few weeks. Enjoy.

Justice Vs. Power - Chomsky Vs. Foucault, Part 1.

From the Earth to the Moon (Featurette).

Derrida on Love.

Arcade Fire (on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic).

Skepticism

Continuing my book list...

Stanley Cavell's The Claim of Reason is fascinating. Let me say this much, first.

I actually discovered the book through Rorty's essay titled Cavell on Skepticism which has, I am certain, formed my opinion of Cavell thus far. He is best known for this book as it form(ed/s) the centerpiece of his work, and which (apparently) has its origins in his doctoral dissertation.

I specifically find Cavell's statement on page 154 particularly interesting. States Cavell,

"I understand ordinary language philosophy not as an effort to reinstate vulgar beliefs, or common sense, to a pre-scientific position of eminence, but to reclaim the human self from its denial and neglect by modern philosophy."The above quoted, in some sense, is at the center of Cavell's vision (at least within the work presently in discussion). Interestingly, Cavell, in a recent interview, states of his book that

"...for the past 200 years, let's say, philosophers have been professors of philosophy. Kant is the philosopher that showed us that you can be a professor and produce great philosophy. It wasn't clear before. Descartes wasn't a professor of philosophy, Locke wasn't, Hume wasn't, Schopenhauer wasn't, Spinoza wasn't. But you could say of them and of their successors that they attempt to produce a system that answers the basic questions of existence. That system, or something of the sort, has since the 17th century converged on questions of knowledge, rather than on the questions of beauty or of goodness, though every philosopher has some view of all of these things. Or, philosophers can undertake to question all efforts to create a system of philosophy. But in my book, the compulsion to systematization and the compulsion to question systematization are equal human drives. And so I question both of them."

The Claim of reason is a fascinating read. And it is a book that, In Rorty's words, "helps us realize what Wittgenstein did for us." That is, it is a book that calls into question the moral worth of epistemology courses and of the discipline (that is philosophy) itself.

Want to know if your cut out to be a philosopher, Cavell has some interesting things to say in this respect, too.

"When I asked my philosophy teachers, I found myself doing this day and night, I said, "How do I know if I'm really doing this, if I'm really responding in a way that means anything to these texts or that means anything to anybody else but me?" And the awful and the wonderful thing is there really is no answer to this question. A famous story for some of us is that Wittgenstein, whom many of us do not doubt was an original and important philosopher, asked this question of Russell, "Am I a philosopher or am I a complete fool?" And Russell told him he wasn't a complete fool. But there's still a prior question, which is why Wittgenstein asked it of this person, and why this person was credible to him as an answerer. So, you pick your shots."


JS

Way Back in 84'

This past Friday a group of us found Theater Royal tickets to a local youth theater production of Orwell's 1984. To my surprise, however, I wasn't aware of the shows' status as a youth theater production until about a third of the way through. I began wondering where the adults had gone. I then expressed my concern to Ryan whereupon I was told that, indeed, I would not be seeing any adults the entire evening.

The production was quite enjoyable, nonetheless. I found myself engaging quite well with the cast. Their adaptation ended up following the book quite well as I left the theater feeling satisfied with what had transpired.

Then, Saturday morning, the entire group arose early and hopped on a chartered bus to perhaps the most glorious portion of English countryside I've yet experienced. Our destination was Fountains Abbey, Britain's largest monastic ruin, which was founded in 1132 by 13 Benedictine monks seeking, what they called, "a simpler life." The countryside and compound (in pristine condition thanks to the National Trust) was positively enchanting. Amidst the flocks of sheep (yes, real flocks!) and green rolling hills, lurk gorgeous Medieval ruins that hearken back to an entirely different era. Our tour guide, a History professor here at the University, led us around the now defunct abbey with rather confident determination. I'm glad a "professional" was with us. It helps when proficient people guide such outings as the day feels more productive as a result.

On another note, if anyone is interested, I am providing a link to a lecture Judith Jarvis Thomson gave at U.C. Berkeley on "Normativity." I watched it last night and concluded that it's a bit of a snoozer; but like I said, if you feel remotely interested, check it out. More importantly, the lecture addresses some pertinent issues in the Meta-Ethical field that Thomson articulates cogently.

Be well.

JS

York, An Update!

Life is swell. I must say, this "undergraduate-sabbatical" (if such a thing exists) is faring wonderfully. I've settled into a normal mode of life here in York. I've planted herbs in my room (Mint and Basil) to use with food. I've even found several pretty great running routes.

No groundbreaking developments have manifested themselves. I put a web-cam on consignment at a local pawn-shop (as I threw away the receipt assuming it would work with my Mac...it didn't...I'll let everyone know if it sells ).

I recently purchased some great loose-leaf tea from a Chinese market in Manchester (it keeps me up at night...but that's the point I think). To the left is a sweet picture of Clifford's tower I found on line. The photographer actually did a great job of hiding the surrounding city (which is a bustling center in downtown York, If you can believe it).

I'll add more if more crosses my mind.

Be well.

JS

"Rules are hardly more than synchronic idealizations of relatively informal, shifting Intentional regularities that cultural entities exibit?" Hmmm

This blog is quickly turning into a book list.

And, yes, I've started another work.

This time, it's Joseph Margolis' central work, Culture and Cultural Entities (available on line through Amazon.com for only $155.00!)

Interestingly enough, this is one of the few books I've lately read the goal of which is to set forth and expand upon an actual philosophical system.

I don't know who has written the Wikipedia entry for Margolis (perhaps it was Margolis himself!) but it's a fantastically written article. So, I'll post a small portion of the entry here as a sort of anonymous precis of his work. I'll also post ,below, a short video-clip featuring Margolis (et al) who were featured in a recent film titled, American Philosopher.

"Margolis is the current day champion of the ancient Protagoras in that he takes the latter’s dictum “Man the Measure” to its logical conclusions, showing how, strictly adhering to such a measure, all fixities and changeless first principles must give way to consensual, though not criterial, truth claims. Since “man”, the measure, is himself a creature of history, no modal claims of invariance can possibly be sustained. Margolis however avers that there need be no fixities either de re or de dicto or de cogitatione. The world is a flux and our thought about it is also in flux. Margolis sees the whole history of Western Philosophy as a struggle between the advocates of change and those who either, like Parmenides, deny that change is intelligible at all, or those, like Heraclitus, who find some logos or some law which allegedly governs whatever changes are admitted. He has critiqued the whole of the Western Philosophical Tradition from this viewpoint, showing how cognitive privilege may show up in the unlikeliest of places, such as in W.V. Quine’s advocacy of extensionalism, in spite of Quine’s own admittance that there is no reason why extensionalism should be adequate to “limn the ultimate structure of reality”. Margolis goes beyond critique, offering firm, constructive proposals concerning our truth claims and the possibilities of legitimation even under the conditions of accepting the ubiquity of the flux. Contrary to “postmodern” philosophers like Richard Rorty or Jean-François Lyotard, he shows that our lacking cognitive privilege means that the need for a philosophical justification of our choices and programs becomes more, not less, pressing now than at any previous time."

Link to clip.

JS

Is There a Text In This Class?

I find myself constantly returning to the library here on campus.

I even find myself wandering off into the aisles during study times looking for books I haven't seen before. There are many I'd love to digest. Sometimes, I wish I could embrace everything in a library at once and dance around for a while in a world ruled by sentences. But I can only spend so much time in the library. And, I'm but human.

However, I did find something of interest today that I kind of just stumbled upon. I'm referring to Stanley Fish's Is There A Text In This Class? I've only scratched the Introduction. But my feel is that, similar to the impact Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions made within Philosophy of Science, Fish's book is an important contribution to the Literary Theory field. I'm excited to engage the book.

If I've noticed anything, though, it's that library resources vary greatly. Calvin students, I think, don't often realize the extent to which the Hekman library is poised and ready with a startlingly large amount of resource material. Any complaints about Hekman I've made in the past I feel like I ought to take back seven-fold. There are good acquisition librarians out there! And, Calvin is fortunate to have a top-notch staff working hard to provide students with great resources.

Libraries are great.

"if meaning is embedded in the text, the reader's responsibilities are limited to the job of getting it out; but if its meaning develops, and if it develops in a dynamic relationship with the reader's expectations, projections, conclusions, judgments and assumptions, these activities (the things the reader does) are not merely instrumental, or mechanical, but essential, and the act of description must both begin and end with them." (Fish 1980, 3)

JS

Norwegian Krone and more from Richard Rorty

Two things:

This afternoon, Ryan and I set off to exchange a bit of currency in preparation for our trip this upcoming spring.

So we decided to trade £20.o5 for kr200.00. Each week we will gather currencies for each of our destinations so we are ready for travel. Next week, we'll be trading in our pounds for Icelandic króna. The exchange rate doesn't seem to be in Iceland's favour. We'll be getting 2624.81 isk for our little £20.00 exchange. But, I'm pretty sure Iceland's economy is slightly inflated. Who knows, perhaps we'll be paying 1000 isk for a loaf of bread?

Also, if anyone is interested, I am providing a link to the 2006 Dewey Lecture which Rorty gave. It's slightly geared towards specialists, yet only slightly. If you have some time, sit down a give it a listen. It's worth the investment.

Lecture.

JS

Scruton

I am currently reading Roger Scruton's conservative Manifesto and lamentation England: An Elegy.

It's an odd book. I enjoy working through Scruton's descriptions. He longs, it seems, for an England that was. Then again, I don't necessarily know what his England looked like in the first place. His longings seem to be forever caught up with the presence of place. For he states on pages 39 & 40 of the book that, "Even when the word 'Britain' appeared in the title--and this was rarely--the text and the illustrations made it clear that is was England which was at stake, England being, first and foremost, the countryside." This claim strikes me as peculiar inasmuch as I don't know how 'countryside' can be the primary source of an ethos (or geist for my Germanophone readers).

Don't misunderstand me, however. The English countryside is enchanting. Nevertheless, I would not go as far as to state that it is the source of the English disposition.

Scruton is a dyed in the wool Romantic Nationalist. And this isn't necessarily a bad thing. A certain amount of nationalist pride goes with place and people--it is part and parcel of one's very "being-there." But I fear that Scruton conflates nationalist pride with a certain prescriptivist agenda. This sort of technique is somewhat sly yet clearly a lost cause. The UK has seen massive change in the past 2000 years. And I fear that Scruton's analysis is lacking a certain plasticity necessary in sociological diagnosis. Scruton is just a bit too Xenophobic for his own good. And the England he longs for is of an era quite distant from modern Britain.

On a somewhat lighter note, check out the Manchester Art Gallery Website and scroll through some of the on-line facsimile's of Pre-Raphaelite artwork. We visited the gallery late last week and strolled through its collection. I was quite impressed.

JS

Minster, Polaroids and Rorty

Ryan and I set out on our own last week during a book release reception at the Minster.

We thought our Luddite sensibilities would mesh well with the quintessentially Gothic feel of the Cathedral. So we took some Polaroids.

I think we were right.

The pictures are a bit dark (partly because the gigantic Minster absorbs any light thrown at it). Polaroid flash: 0, Minster: 1.

I'd also like to add a link to an essay I have really enjoyed since its publishing. It's a piece by Richard Rorty for Poetry Magazine and captures him in one of his rarest forms. It's a beautiful piece.

Rorty Essay.

JS

Picnic and Jumping

Several days ago a small group of us walked across town to the University of York for a small and rather impromptu picnic.

The University is a bit larger than York St. John and feels like a state school you'd find in the US.

The picnic was enjoyable and the food good. We had purchased some real British scones from a local bakery which we enjoyed on a set of stone steps I tried to jump over with mixed success:








JS

Uncovering

For some reason, the UK has prompted me to get back into much of the ambient music I was taken with a year ago.
Here are a few videos I've been returning to recently:

Glosoli

Hoppipolla

JS

Wind and Rain

I think it's important to note the rough weather moving across the U.S.

Tourists Unite!

Today saw the unfolding of another excursion.

I must say, the outing was fun.

The group stopped at the Yorkshire Museum to view artifacts from years ago and to add more to our historical understanding of the Roman conquering of Great Britain. Clifford's Tower was also on our visit list. Click here for more information regarding its history.


Our time spent in the museum was actually all too short. It's situated in such a way that moving through its exhibits is enjoyable and informative. More time would have been wonderful. I gained a unique understanding today of how resolute the Romans actually were. Ryan and I even called into question the "narrative of progress" and divined about the movement of history. Perhaps progress more often undulates than ascends?


I think Rorty is correct when he writes in an essay Method, Social Science, Social Hope that,


"[upon viewing the social sciences as continuous with literature] We shall see the anthropologists and historians as having made it possible for us--educated, leisured policy makers of the West--to see any exotic specimen of humanity as also "one of us" (Consequences, p. 203)."

JS

I carry things around...

Click here to listen to a few tunes that have been animating my time in the UK.

Also, here's something I worked on this afternoon:

I sought a bit of home today
A brief touch of familiar
It's difficult to find here.

Watched an old film last night..
A little touch of familiar
It doesn't seem to be here.

I had forgotten
Of my time on an Island
About the art of the unexpected.

I'm sure
If we don't cry
When we warm both hands before the fire of life,
Were drowsy
At the unveiling.

JS

Elbow Room

Here I've posted a short video highlighting my living accommodations. Notice i.) the sink in my room (a fine idea in my mind) ii.) the charming little "back-yard" I have (I really appreciate the intricate and cost-effective ways York is planned) and iii.) Superman (he made the trip with me to the UK and is keeping me safe.) Turn the volume down fully as there was a bit of annoying noise interference.

Enjoy

JS

History Lesson

Yesterday, our group toured the ancient aspects of the city. Our tour-guide from the preservation society, a man dressed completely in black with a wit unlike any I've experienced, led us around the Roman ruins of the city in a manner that was actually very informative. Click here for an overview of most of what he covered.

Also, here's a bit of fascinating history: The Emperors Hadrian, Septimius Severus and Constantius I all held court in York during their various campaigns. During his stay, the Emperor Severus proclaimed York capital of the province of Britannia Inferior, and it is likely that it was he who granted York the privileges of a colonia or city. Constantius I died during his stay in York, and his son Constantine the Great was proclaimed Emperor by the troops based in the fortress.

I'm still really impressed at the extent to which York seeks to preserve its most ancient and prized artifacts. Most of the city's walls are intact (save for a stretch that was destroyed by the Victorians to allow for a bypass to be constructed through the middle of the city).

I'll admit that the novelty of the "otherness" of York is waning. Yet, this isn't cause for lament. If anything, it's signaling a new phase in my time here. It's only been a week (and this is difficult to believe as I feel like it's been much longer) but I feel like, at this point, I'm moving towards becoming a contributive member of the city and its economy--in some sense maturing as a visitor.

In the months ahead, I anticipate further acclimation to an environment Ryan and I discussed just today as "strikingly similar yet palpably different."

JS

The Minster

Our afternoon with the tour guide was canceled today. So Ryan and I set out on our own. We ran across some pretty swell sights.

One will find that the Minster looks great from about any vantage point. I think the city is currently working on the building. After walking around inside yesterday, I feel especially impressed by its upkeep. I'm convinced teams never stop painting, tightening or nailing.

As well, pictures do not do justice to the Minster's absolutely overwhelming presence. I've found that most buildings around the city find themselves simply dwarfed with respect to its size. I find myself using it as a landmark often.

Of interest, too, is that you'll see upon closer inspection of one of the photos that the wall surrounding the city weaves through several rather prim estates. The photos don't do the homes justice either, so let me just say that I've never ventured to a city that has felt more established or even as comfortable as York. Life goes on here as it has for ages. And I must remark, when I can walk to the market each morning to pick up fresh fruit, cheese and flowers, something must be going right.

I am also including polaroid's from our little venture to Whitby, the quaint yet decidedly Medieval coastal town that inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula.

JS