Thought of the day
Sep. 20th, 2006 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarigwaemirLowell House, on the Feast of St. Andrew Kim Daegeon and St. Paul Jeong Hasang
I'm in an extraordinarily good mood today because I...
- Am still on post-![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
blind_go high. <3
- Haven't enjoyed my courses this much in a long time. (Today's lecture in the Chinese philosophy course was fantastic; we covered early Chinese history and discussed the Mandate of Heaven. Also to my surprise, I found myself getting really involved in Developmental Biology and ended up answering two questions in lecture.)
- Had a long conversation with the P.I. about courses, thesis and grad school. (She is such a cool person, and now I feel more in control of the whole application process.)
- Listened to the Architecture in Helsinki album, In Case We Die, and by the way, the original version of "Do the Whirlwind" is even better than the Metronymy remix that was released online.
Prof. Puett described the "Axial Age" in Eurasia, where the "rise of philosophy" occurred across several civilizations, e.g. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle in Greece; Buddha in India; Confucius and Lao Tzu in China. He put forward the claim that the "Axial Age" was triggered by new social mobility in civilizations traditionally ruled by a hereditary aristocratic elite, with the resulting social upheaval causing a "cultural crisis" that triggered philosophical questions about the nature of the social and even cosmic order. (Unfortunately that doesn't really explain the synchronicity of the phenomenon, but that's a bit tangential.)
Sweeping generalizations aside, it was rather resonant because yesterday, Prof. Gordon in the European intellectual history class had set up a very similar backdrop for the rise of modern thought beginning with Nietzsche. He said that as European thinkers came up against the limitations and flaws of Enlightenment rationalism, a sense of crisis emerged, causing radical questioning of previous assumptions about human rationality and self-consciousness.
Philosophy arising in times of social collapse...it seems reminiscent of the whole association between decadence and culture, that outward decay is necessary to force us into introspection. Change itself poses challenges to one's assumptions, and adaptation to change requires restructuring of thought and ideas. (Parallel to biological evolution? Organisms are robust to mutations until drastic environmental changes require variation and selection.) I had the rather uncharitable thought that American culture lacks introspection because it continues to flourish with indefatigable self-confidence, but of course that's even more dangerous generalizing on my part.
Although being in a Jared Diamond-inspired mood, I wonder if any ecological or technological factors might have triggered such sociocultural changes during this "Axial Age". (Industrialism providing the backdrop for modernism is probably a truism by now.)
Discussion of Mandate of Heaven, by the way, is particularly thrilling because I keep thinking of how it all relates to Ravages of Time and Juuni Kokki.
Okay, I need to finish off the last three books of the Analects and read Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy. But before I go, it seems like people are having trouble guessing myblind_go fic, so I thought I'd change the rules for the "drabble as prize" meme and let everyone have two guesses. ^_^
Yours &c.
I'm in an extraordinarily good mood today because I...
- Am still on post-
blind_go high. <3- Haven't enjoyed my courses this much in a long time. (Today's lecture in the Chinese philosophy course was fantastic; we covered early Chinese history and discussed the Mandate of Heaven. Also to my surprise, I found myself getting really involved in Developmental Biology and ended up answering two questions in lecture.)
- Had a long conversation with the P.I. about courses, thesis and grad school. (She is such a cool person, and now I feel more in control of the whole application process.)
- Listened to the Architecture in Helsinki album, In Case We Die, and by the way, the original version of "Do the Whirlwind" is even better than the Metronymy remix that was released online.
Prof. Puett described the "Axial Age" in Eurasia, where the "rise of philosophy" occurred across several civilizations, e.g. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle in Greece; Buddha in India; Confucius and Lao Tzu in China. He put forward the claim that the "Axial Age" was triggered by new social mobility in civilizations traditionally ruled by a hereditary aristocratic elite, with the resulting social upheaval causing a "cultural crisis" that triggered philosophical questions about the nature of the social and even cosmic order. (Unfortunately that doesn't really explain the synchronicity of the phenomenon, but that's a bit tangential.)
Sweeping generalizations aside, it was rather resonant because yesterday, Prof. Gordon in the European intellectual history class had set up a very similar backdrop for the rise of modern thought beginning with Nietzsche. He said that as European thinkers came up against the limitations and flaws of Enlightenment rationalism, a sense of crisis emerged, causing radical questioning of previous assumptions about human rationality and self-consciousness.
Philosophy arising in times of social collapse...it seems reminiscent of the whole association between decadence and culture, that outward decay is necessary to force us into introspection. Change itself poses challenges to one's assumptions, and adaptation to change requires restructuring of thought and ideas. (Parallel to biological evolution? Organisms are robust to mutations until drastic environmental changes require variation and selection.) I had the rather uncharitable thought that American culture lacks introspection because it continues to flourish with indefatigable self-confidence, but of course that's even more dangerous generalizing on my part.
Although being in a Jared Diamond-inspired mood, I wonder if any ecological or technological factors might have triggered such sociocultural changes during this "Axial Age". (Industrialism providing the backdrop for modernism is probably a truism by now.)
Discussion of Mandate of Heaven, by the way, is particularly thrilling because I keep thinking of how it all relates to Ravages of Time and Juuni Kokki.
Okay, I need to finish off the last three books of the Analects and read Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy. But before I go, it seems like people are having trouble guessing my
blind_go fic, so I thought I'd change the rules for the "drabble as prize" meme and let everyone have two guesses. ^_^Yours &c.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 12:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 12:40 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 02:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 11:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 04:22 am (UTC)Wow, your course on ancient China sounds fascinating. (Hmm, I would like to know how you think it relates to RoT and 12K! I've never formally studied Chinese history, sadly.)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 11:47 am (UTC)I will try to post my meandering speculations once I'm more educated on the subject! XD
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 05:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 06:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 11:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 07:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 11:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 07:52 am (UTC)(I wish my classes were interesting. ;_; Eh, it's actually because I'm lazy, so yeah. Haha.)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 11:49 am (UTC)Haha, I'm waiting for the moment when my own laziness overtakes my enthusiasm about the classes. >_>;;
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 08:29 am (UTC)(And...is that a Suzumiya Haruhi icon???)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 11:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-22 11:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-22 12:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-23 01:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 07:04 pm (UTC)May your day be full of smiles and intellectual conversations.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-09-21 09:55 pm (UTC)