[lit-ideas] Re: Why Philosophy. (Was: On Nip Thievery)
- From: wokshevs@xxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Phil Enns <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2008 14:36:10 -0230
Such are surely but minor inconveniences to be tolerated for the sake of
spreading the philosophical point of view across the globe. I recall that when
I was at Phil's early stages of careerdom, I had to teach for a summer in
Regina. Regina is a desolate city engulfed by mountainous terrain in a province
of Canada called "Saskatchewan." (I can't now recall what the name means.
Anybody?) No lizards or bugs, but just lots of Regina.
Assessing all cities on the standard of Montreal,
Walter O.
P.S. Since my holiday continues and I am all ausgechessed and
ausgetabletennised, I offer the following question:
What is the role of philosophy in these postmodern, internetized, globalized,
multicultural, post 9/11 days? Why do we continue to teach this discipline? Is
it for its relevance to contemporary problems and issues, or is there a
timeless, intrinsic worth to philosophy independent of any promotion of
interests and consequences for states-of-affairs in the world? (Note how your
answer to this question influences how you go about teaching philosophy.)
All of us who work in the discipline have made significant sacrifices in order
to contribute to the philosophical literature and/or to help others develop
philosophical skills and dispositions - sacrifices similar to, if not identical
with, sharing living quarters with lizards. We all, surely, have our "lizard"
stories. But what is it that motivates you to pursue and promote this
discipline? ("Discipline" here not simply as a distinct scholarly form of
inquiry and analysis but also in the Greek sense of a way of life, an acquired
and educated attunement to the world, others, and oneself.)
Quoting Phil Enns <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxxxx>:
> Walter wrote:
>
> "What IS that thing in the bathtub?"
>
> It is some sort of lizard that can grow to about 5 or 6 inches long.
> We like them in our house because the lizards eat critters and
> generally stay out of our way. One curious habit these lizards have
> is that when they are frightened, they will simply drop from wherever
> they are and then scurry off along the ground. This can at times be
> unnerving as for example when I recently opened a door, surprising a
> lizard that had taken refuge between the door and frame, and had said
> lizard drop on my head. No harm was done to either of us, but I now
> pause after opening a door.
>
> Another habit I picked up in the tropics is to shake out shoes before
> putting them on. We had scorpions in Africa and they would
> occasionally hide in shoes. I never really lost the habit while
> living in N. America though I am pretty sure there were no scorpions
> in downtown Toronto. But one can never be certain.
>
> There is also a way of telling how long people have been in the
> tropics. If the person finds a bug in their tea and then promptly
> throws out the tea, they have recently arrived. If they remove the
> bug and drink the tea, then they have been there a few years. If they
> drink the tea with bug, then they have been there a long time. If
> they look around for a bug, they have been there too long.
>
> I suppose one looks a bit odd if one has habits accumulated over a
> lifetime lived in different locales.
>
> As for the picture, that isn't a bathtub but a cup of milk that had
> been left unattended.
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Phil Enns
> Yogyakarta, Indonesia
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