Friday, May 4, 2018

OK, Go!

Mene Mene Tekel Parsin

7 comments:

Jen said...

I just watched well over an hour of Jordan Peterson videos on Youtube.....

oh no.

Thersites said...

I like Jordan Peterson... I just don't think he can teach me very much. :(

Jen said...

Yes, I like him too!

For the last several years I have intentionally not engaged in political discourse because it just seems to stir things up inside. While watching his videos last night I had several Eureka moments because he articulated so many of my thoughts and frustrations with such skill. I have never seen the man before, so I'm not aware of any negative attachments or connotations associated with him.

I can see why you wouldn't think he would have anything to teach you, because as radical as he seems to University students, he's basically only organizing and articulating what others have already written before him.

Thersites said...

I don't blame you for avoiding politics. It's both aggravating and contentious. I try and balance my own exposure to it lest I become too exasperated. But I've found that it does lead me to examine sources that I wouldn't approach otherwise, so it is, IMO "beneficial" to my overall intellectual growth.

I've recently found Jonathan Haidt through a Peterson video. I also enjoy him. I had always appreciated "truth" as a relative thing (Nietzsche), but now I have a way of speaking about these "relative" truth's as "discourses" that require argumentation (Freud as a "discourse"; Marx as a "discourse"). Haidt speaks of the need for this argumentation in the universities and has launched a crusade to that effect. I now have a better appreciation of Lacan's 4 discourses (master/hysteric/university/analyst), as well. And as much as I've avoided him, I feel that I may have to delve into Foucault to bring "subjectivity" all together for me.

So don't be surprised if you see me obsessing over Foucault in the coming months and attempts to apply discourse theory to non-Lacanian subjects.

Jen said...

I bought two Foucault books a few years back, but it was very premature of me. What I remember of it was interesting though, regarding criminal justice systems, I think. or maybe it was insane asylums. (Wasn't NG into Foucault?? I wonder how she's doing?)

I need to stick to more basic studies, of how to live well.
I haven't read in so long, and that's strange to me. I think that when my life becomes overwhelming, I tend to pull back and go into survival mode. I scale back and things become more simple.

OH!!! I found the artist I had been looking for for SO long. I had asked you about him. i'll post on my blog...

Jen said...

meh. I don't feel like posting.

It's Gustav Adolf Mossa, in case you remember me asking. Now that I'm looking at his stuff again, it doesn't appeal to me at all. Odd that so many years ago I was drawn to it. Not odd really....I'm glad it doesn't appeal anymore.

Thersites said...

I picked up Foucault's "Archeology of Knowledge"... we'll see how that goes. I read the intro, and I'm having trouble following him, already. I really should start at the beginning of his writings and work my way up to this... like Freud, you probably can't just start in the middle and expect to "get it." But I will slog through this and see if I can't at least grasp the sense of it.

Yes, it's funny with art sometimes. Sometimes you need to be in the mood for certain styles...