[	mood	|	working	]
[	music	|	Depeche Mode, "Lilian"	]

Now we say that the function of a [kind of thing]--of a harpist, for instance--is the same in kind as the function of an excellent individual of the kind--of an excellent harpist, for instance. And the same is true without qualification in every case, if we add to the function the superior achievement in accord with the virtue; for the function of the harpist is to play the harp, and the function of the good harpist to play it well.

--Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1098a10

[	mood	|	geeky	]
[	music	|	Peter Schilling, "Major Tom (Völlig losgelöst)"	]

In growing accustomed to the idea of events happening in an ever-continuing present, the reader loses track of the fact that they should develop according to the dictates of time. Losing consciousness of it, he forgets the problems which are at its base, that is, the existence of freedom, the possibility of planning, the necessity of carrying plans out, the sorrow that such planning entails, the responsibility that it implies, and, finally, the existence of an entire human community whose progressiveness is based on making plans.

--Umberto Eco, "The Myth of Superman"

[	mood	|	sleepy	]
[	music	|	INXS, "Suicide Blonde"	]

1. the rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct.


2. any of the three branches, namely natural philosophy, moral philosophy, and metaphysical philosophy, that are accepted as composing this study.


3. a system of philosophical doctrine: the philosophy of Spinoza.


4. the critical study of the basic principles and concepts of a particular branch of knowledge, esp. with a view to improving or reconstituting them: the philosophy of science.


5. a system of principles for guidance in practical affairs.


6. a philosophical attitude, as one of composure and calm in the presence of troubles or annoyances.

Philosophy is the foundation to preventing mediocrity. Most people consider philosophy useful only in the realm of morals. Is an action right or wrong and how will it affect my eternal soul? The dictionary definition of philosophy is a set of beliefs, principles, or aims, underlying somebody's practice or conduct. A philosophy can be a guide to growing your business. By defining what you consider important, you can decide what projects to tackle and which to leave to others.

There is a peculiar feature about words that end in 'ology'; '-ology' means the science or study of some phenomenon; but by a curious process of inversion 'ology' words often end up meaning the phenomenon studied rather than the systematic knowledge of it. Thus 'methodology' means the study of method, but is commonly used nowadays to mean method itself. To say you are examining Max Weber's methodology probably means you are considering the methods he uses, rather than his ideas about them. To say that human biology is not adapted to large doses of carbon monoxide means that our bodies are not so adapted, not the study of them. 'The geology of Peru' can refer to the physical features of that country as much as to the scientific examinations of them. And the American tourist who remarked to a friend of mine on the 'wonderful ecology' of the West of Ireland just meant that the scenery was beautiful. (63)

[	mood	|	awake	]
[	music	|	Sinead O'Connor, "I Am Stretched On Your Grave"	]

Men. And how will you enquire, Socrates, into that which you do not know? What will you put forth as the subject of enquiry? And if you find what you want, how will you ever know that this is the thing which you did not know?

Soc. I know, Meno, what you mean; but just see what a tiresome dispute you are introducing. You argue that man cannot enquire either about that which he knows, or about that which he does not know; for if he knows, he has no need to enquire; and if not, he cannot; for he does not know the, very subject about which he is to enquire.

--Plato, Meno

[	mood	|	rushed	]
[	music	|	Duran Duran, "A View to a Kill"	]

What we have been seeing for the last thirty years or so, those huge music halls where the music can never be deafening enough, inevitably brings to mind those states of near trance, of loss of identity, a lack of differentiation, attempting to reach beyond signification. People live in the instant, feel penetrated by the music, the sheer amount of decibels is a sort of real violation of one's physical integrity, bodies mix in a diffuse sexual encounter, joints circulate--but that is not important. These are all things on which to lean, through which to return to a situation that seems to achieve a total meaning and at the same time precedes any articulated meaning. . . . [A]ttempts to do Oriental meditation are very much the same thing in indivuduals who despair in this depersonalized, privatized Western world.

--C. Castoriadis, "Psyche and Education," in Figures of the Thinkable (170-1)

[	mood	|	sick	]
[	music	|	David Bowie, "Little Wonder"	]

Why, anybody can have a brain. That's a very mediocre commodity. Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the Earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain. Back where I come from, we have universities, seats of great learning, where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have. But they have one thing you haven't got: a diploma.

--The Wizard of Oz (as portrayed by Frank Morgan)

[	mood	|	working	]
[	music	|	P.I.L.: "This Is Not A Love Song"	]

His face was a strong, a very strong, aquiline, with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils, with lofty domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhere. His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion. The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy moustache, was fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth. These protruded over the lips, whose remarkable ruddiness showed astonishing vitality in a man of his years. For the rest, his ears were pale, and at the tops extremely pointed. The chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm though thin. The general effect was one of extraordinary pallor.

Hitherto I had noticed the backs of his hands as they lay on his knees in the firelight, and they had seemed rather white and fine. But seeing them now close to me, I could not but notice that they were rather coarse, broad, with squat fingers. Strange to say, there were hairs in the centre of the palm. The nails were long and fine, and cut to a sharp point. As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me, I could not repress a shudder. It may have been that his breath was rank, but a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal.

[	mood	|	busy	]
[	music	|	Gang of Four: "Natural's Not In It"	]

1. "The Answer" is no good if you don't know which question it answers.
2. "The Question" can actually be harder to find than "The Answer."

[	mood	|	working	]
[	music	|	The Cure: "Faith"	]

All that can be said with some certainty is that an arithmetical majority on the Left at the ballot-box and, with it, constitutional legitimacy is no guarantee of either the power or the 'right' to govern--as the murder of Chile yesterday, the agony of Nicaragua today, bear witness.

[	mood	|	melancholy	]
[	music	|	The Ting Tings: "That's Not My Name"	]

We never believe that someone is dead; we know that they are dead...but we do not believe it.

[	mood	|	restless	]
[	music	|	Rolling Stones, "Gimmie Shelter"	]

The lesson that we should learn--and that the movies try to avoid--is that we ourselves are the aliens.

[	mood	|	anxious	]
[	music	|	Siouxsie: "Into a Swan"	]

It's time to come clean, American liberals. Or progressives. Or whatever nonthreatening word you've quietly adopted for yourself these days in the vain hope that Ann Coulter will not use it in an emasculating Christmas jingle: You love you some Kucinich.
And so do I.*
*Not that I plan to vote for him. That would be crazy.

The response to an ideological interpellation is also made in the name of a claim of sense: it is this "presupposition of intelligibility" that pushes the interpellated individual towards an identification with the subject supposed to believe. The active part played by the interpellated individual consists precisely in her/his helping to establish a "facade"--an ideological effect of coherence. The interpellated individual does indeed interpret "on the basis of certain anticipatory ideas": but s/he ascribes them to the subject supposed to believe, and thus confers upon them an a priori social status.

[	mood	|	rushed	]
[	music	|	Concrete Blonde, "Everybody Knows"	]

It is easy to imagine, too, that certain mystical practices may succeed in upsetting the normal relations between the different regions of the mind, so that, for instance, perception may be able to grasp happenings in the depths of the ego and in the id which were otherwise inaccessible to it. It may be safely doubted, however, whether this road will lead us to the ultimate truths from which salvation is to be expected. Nevertheless it may be admitted that the theraputic efforts of psycho-analysis have chosen a similar line of approach. Its intention is, indeed, to strengthen the ego, to make it more independent of the super-ego, to widen its field of perception and enlarge its organization, so that it can appropriate fresh portions of the id. Where id was, there ego shall be.

[	mood	|	curious	]
[	music	|	Camouflage, "The Great Commandment"	]

"Socrates," Glaucon said, "do you want to seem to have persuaded us that democracy is the best form of government, or do you want truly to convince us of this?"

"I truly want to convince you," I said, "if I can."

"Well then, you certainly aren't doing what you want. Tell me, do you recognize that when we say 'best', we sometimes mean this comparatively, that which is better than its alternatives, though not necessarily good in any absolute sense, in itself?"

"Certainly, I recognize this meaning of the term."

"And do you also recognize another meaning of the term 'best', by which we mean that which is inherently good in itself, and thus better than any possible alternative?"

"There is also this meaning. But what of it?"

"Where do you put Democracy?"

"I myself mean that it is good in itself, and thereby the best possible form of government."

"That isn't most people's opinion. They'd say that Democracy belongs to the first kind, the 'lesser of several evils', and is to be supported simply as a way of limiting the power of any one individual to do greater evil."

"I know, that's the general opinion. Thrasymachus faulted Democracy on these grounds just a moment ago, but it seems that I'm a slow learner."

"Come, then, and listen to me as well, and see whether you still have that problem, for I think that Thrasymachus gave up before he had to, charmed by you as if he were a snake. But I'm not yet satisfied by the argument on either side. I want to know what Democracy and its opposite are and what power each itself has when it's by itself in the state. I want to leave out of account their abuses and what comes of each of them. So, if you'll agree, I'll renew the argument of Thrasymachus. First, I'll state what kind of a thing people consider Democracy to be and what its origins are. Second, I'll argue that all who support it do so unwillingly, as simply the lesser of two evils, not as something good in itself. Third, I'll argue that they have good reason to think as they do."