Friday, November 07, 2003

I'm still occasionally amused by the fact that I frequently come home - after a long day of doing nothing but reading philosophy texts, modernist novels, and engineering technical documentation - and happily pick up whatever it is that I'm currently reading "for fun".  But I do that, almost every day.  Anyway, right now my leisure reading is Colin McGinn's The Making of A Philosopher.  I came to this book by way of short synopsis, of sorts, by the author.  You can read that here.  I was particularly intrigued by the fact that he was a rock drummer in his spare moments (He still is, apparently.  And, like a good, albeit expat Brit, he of course plays Premier drums!) .  Well, this is really a great book, and although I don't normally recommend books, I would certainly recommend this one to any young person who is considering an academic career, or just a BA major, in philosophy. In fact, I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys a ripping-good intellectual memoir.  He's an incredibly charming and direct writer, and although his philosophical focus (analytical philosophy) is not mine, he gives the reader a very clear idea of the rigor - of logic, reason, mathematics and language - that forms the foundation of any philosophical practice.  So many people seem to believe that philosophy involves nothing more than a lot of pie-in-the-sky speculation.  I've had quite a few people express more than a little surprise when I talk about the manner in which my philosophy training allows me to manage engineers, and large,complex engineering projects (although I have not a whit of engineering education).   The thoughtful application of reason is an incredibly powerful tool.  I wish I were better at it.  I hope to become so. It always amazes me how many people simply do not think (and I should add that I am also amazed by how rarely I manage to think in any useful way - I am not exempting myself here).  We believe that we think, but in actuality we are simply rationalizing an emotional response, regardless of how little emotion may have to do with the issue at hand.   I'm all for feeling, but it helps to be aware of the gulf that sometimes separates feeling from thought.  Some of the logic/language questions that Prof. McGinn discusses in this book really resonate in that fashion, if you take the time to think about their potential real-world application for a minute (or hour) or two.  I've always been a bit disdainful of the analytical school - I thought the real work was in moral philosophy - but reading this book really opened my eyes to the absolutely central nature of the work these guys do.  Sounds pretty fun, too. Also, Prof. McGinn is really excellent at explicating the near-absolute feeling of liberation that comes from adhering to a rigorous system of thought, or simply just working at the thing one loves.  I've said this before: I don't read books to confirm my feelings or thoughts about this or that thing.  I prefer  to be hurled into some existential abyss that causes me to question everything.  But occasionally, I pick up something that elicits a feeling of coming home to myself, the feeling that this small, particular swath I have chosen to cut through this world makes some sort of sense, or has some in-/extrinsic meaning.  That is a rare and deeply pleasant thing.    On the topic of the aforementioned hurtle into the abyss, Zadie Smith hits a big, fat home run over the center field bleachers with this piece on Kafka.  There should be more - much, much more - incisive critical writing of this sort.  I never, ever think thoughts along the lines of "I wish I'd written that" - why waste time dreaming, when one can be working, you know?  But this; yeah, I would love to write something this excellent one day.  Bravo.   3:49:25 PM