Thank you for that delightful reduction of mountain climbing to “climbing triangles”. Gave me a good chuckle. If only these essays were on the printed page! I keep feeling the impulse to make notes in the margins, but the screen re-emerges.
Haha thank you, I can't say I was expecting this one to elicit many laughs but I'm glad it did. And I know! I don't have a printer myself otherwise I'd probably print off a few essays (as I know some people do) to read them that way.
I appreciate your enthusiasm for my essays though. I am hoping to maybe put together a book collecting some of the best ones when I have enough of a crop to choose from, maybe revised and/or expanded a little. I'm also always working on longer fiction projects as well as these essays so hopefully one day I'll have my work in print and the marginalia can begin.
All of your essays recently have been a reminder that I need to read Schopenhauer. Would you recommend ‘The World as Will and Representation’ for a first-timer?
He has been popping up in my recent ones, it's true. But yeah, that's what I'd go for to start with. My friend who initially got me into him suggested I start with Parerga & Paralipomena, which I did, and it's great, but The World as Will is really his essential work. I think he was trying to ease me in, but tbh I find his writing so lucid that I didn't really need it, and P&P is fun to read once you have the understanding of The World as Will behind you.
Purely as a writer he's one of the biggest influences on me. Questionable at times - as almost all philosophers are - but overall I think his reputation as an extreme pessimist undersells how enjoyable he actually is to read.
Just curious, what's your interpretation of a language like Japanese where a full sentence can be formed of a predicate alone (for example 生きている, ikiteiru, I/He/She/They/ live)?
Sadly despite a few half-hearted Duolingo attempts some years ago I know very little about the Japanese language (I've also dipped my toes into Spanish, French, Mandarin, German and Norwegian, but I never really committed to any of them).
So speaking as a monolinguist with no real expertise here I am fascinated by how language shapes the understanding, as well as the discrepancy and/or harmony between the form of thought and the form of expression. It's an area I want to look into much further than I have - the idea of languages as kind of semi-autonomous thought entities that alter the reality of their speakers is something I find fun to think about.
Thank you for that delightful reduction of mountain climbing to “climbing triangles”. Gave me a good chuckle. If only these essays were on the printed page! I keep feeling the impulse to make notes in the margins, but the screen re-emerges.
Haha thank you, I can't say I was expecting this one to elicit many laughs but I'm glad it did. And I know! I don't have a printer myself otherwise I'd probably print off a few essays (as I know some people do) to read them that way.
I appreciate your enthusiasm for my essays though. I am hoping to maybe put together a book collecting some of the best ones when I have enough of a crop to choose from, maybe revised and/or expanded a little. I'm also always working on longer fiction projects as well as these essays so hopefully one day I'll have my work in print and the marginalia can begin.
All of your essays recently have been a reminder that I need to read Schopenhauer. Would you recommend ‘The World as Will and Representation’ for a first-timer?
He has been popping up in my recent ones, it's true. But yeah, that's what I'd go for to start with. My friend who initially got me into him suggested I start with Parerga & Paralipomena, which I did, and it's great, but The World as Will is really his essential work. I think he was trying to ease me in, but tbh I find his writing so lucid that I didn't really need it, and P&P is fun to read once you have the understanding of The World as Will behind you.
Purely as a writer he's one of the biggest influences on me. Questionable at times - as almost all philosophers are - but overall I think his reputation as an extreme pessimist undersells how enjoyable he actually is to read.
Excellent article Jacob!
Just curious, what's your interpretation of a language like Japanese where a full sentence can be formed of a predicate alone (for example 生きている, ikiteiru, I/He/She/They/ live)?
Thanks, William!
Sadly despite a few half-hearted Duolingo attempts some years ago I know very little about the Japanese language (I've also dipped my toes into Spanish, French, Mandarin, German and Norwegian, but I never really committed to any of them).
So speaking as a monolinguist with no real expertise here I am fascinated by how language shapes the understanding, as well as the discrepancy and/or harmony between the form of thought and the form of expression. It's an area I want to look into much further than I have - the idea of languages as kind of semi-autonomous thought entities that alter the reality of their speakers is something I find fun to think about.