recent entries (in order) |
<--latest post-- the swarms of flying pigs appeared from nowhere & ...--war chant for self--no chance to survive, make your time.--disclaimers, updates & miscellaneous--catharsis--Nov 2004 was (& still is) hell--Blogalyzer--go go ninja boy!--But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?--Gig @ Substation-- --last post--> |
by comrade commissar | Thomas | @ Saturday, December 11, 2004, 10:50:00 AM | permalink |
I've been doing quite abit of reading during December. Was able to reignite my interest in different subjects. Although its been interesting so far, it can be quite a mindjob sometimes. Read on & see what I mean.
Picked up 2 books from NLB about Nietzsche, 1 about Hobbes. Nietzsche gave me such a bloody hard time, & depressed me so much that by the time I staggered through I felt too drained to continue on with Hobbes. Wikipedia makes it all look so easy. I have alot of thoughts about Nietzsche, but among them the most important one of all is that I deeply disagree with his view of Christianity as a "slave morality", or as a false belief. I think he himself was aware that existence in his envisioned world, in the absence of a personal & transcendent God, would probably mean a very bleak life full of despair. Woohoo. Great opportunity for mankind to look forward to. As much as my views are strongly against his, I'm willing to suspend them temporarily, for literary reasons, to appreciate the awe inspired by his "The Parable of the Madman". When I read that on a rainy 9:30 Tuesday night, I have to admit, for all my certainty in my beliefs, I still had goosebumps. The same reasons also persuaded me to read "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman. (thanks Mel) A main theme in the book, the idea that gods forgotten by mortal men can also die, is at first both unbelievable & frightening. Interesting application of Berkeley's "esse est percipi" though. American Gods also had a great storyline. As a philosophy-novel, I absolutely enjoyed it. After all that hardcore stuff, I really needed something more down-to-earth. So I took a break from philosophy & read Roald Dahl's "Going Solo" (great stuff, very entertaining + insightful) - and right after that went & started on the 2 INDISOC textbooks that I got from Mel. INDISOC stands for INDIvidual in SOCiety, a module in Mass Comm which deals with theories in psychology. Beep, beep. Warning. Caution. Potential insanity up ahead. I have to admit, as much as all of this reading & understanding is hard work, I am thoroughly enjoying it. |
PS: If you're commenting Anonymously please sign off with your name/nick. Thanks.
[+] Post a Comment ...
recent entries (in order) |
<--latest post-- the swarms of flying pigs appeared from nowhere & ...--war chant for self--no chance to survive, make your time.--disclaimers, updates & miscellaneous--catharsis--Nov 2004 was (& still is) hell--Blogalyzer--go go ninja boy!--But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?--Gig @ Substation-- --last post--> |