Why do I blog when my country is threatened with the death
of millions? I can give no better answer
than this passage from the Preface to Kierkegaard’s Philosophical Fragments:
"When Philip threatened to lay siege to the city of Corinth
and all its inhabitants hastily bestirred themselves in defense, some polishing
weapons, some gathering stones, some repairing the walls, Diogenes seeing all
this hurriedly folded his mantle about him and began to roll his tub zealously
back and forth through the streets. When he was asked why he did this he
replied that he wished to be busy like all the rest, and rolled his tub lest he
should be the only idler among so many industrious citizens. Such conduct is at
any rate not sophistical, if Aristotle be right in describing sophistry as the
art of making money. It is certainly not open to misunderstanding; it is quite
inconceivable that Diogenes should have been hailed as the saviour and
benefactor of the city."
But in this case the roller of the tub is obsessed with making money--and ratings, essentially the same thing.
ReplyDeleteI have this passage pasted to my bathroom ceiling so I can look at it while bathing. It has come up about a dozen times on this blog - it's wonderfully versatile!
ReplyDeleteIt's not only your country that is threatened with millions of deaths.
ReplyDeleteRobert Paul Wolff's contribution to this world is as an educator, not a philosopher, though he uses philosophy as an agent. We learn more about history and culture through his side comments such as Diogenes or the lady's not for burning, etc. than direct philosophy. When students respect the professor they search after what moves him or her.
ReplyDeleteThat said, Diogenes spirit is dead as there are miilion Diogenes in this present day and age posting on twitter, etc. Its a new world. We get it, but Diogenes philosophy is saturated into the ether of the internet. Try to do something productive though futile in the end. This is called being heroic.
Wow, there's another Dean on the board! I'm sure that's not me @1:44 PM, because I don't have anything pasted on my bathroom ceiling, and anyway, I shower.
ReplyDeleteI don't quite know why, but this excerpt from K reminded me of Marcel Schwob's wonderful story about Crates.
Kierkegaard is certainly adding his interpretation and comment to the old tale, and Professor Wolff is certainly drawing on both the original story and Kierkegaard's added comment.
ReplyDeleteBut let me just say a word about Diogenes the Cynic himself and what he means philosophically. To a lot of people the ancient Cynics offer only comic relief from the serious study of philosophy and no more. Serious scholars will say for instance "We have no record of a theory that Cynicism worked out," because in fact the movement mainly survives as quips and anecdotes about eccentric proto-hippie wanderers or adamites. This is especially true of Diogenes himself, the ancient philosopher about whom the most anecdotes exist.
And yet this very feature of Diogenes is a reason for us to spend more time studying him. I don't want to put words in Professor Wolff's mouth, but I suspect this is one of the things that draws him to stories about Diogenes. Many philosophers talk about action and the way their theories inform action. This is a philosopher who has bequeathed actions to the philosophical tradition and thereby invited later thinkers to reflect on what an action can do philosophically; which means, to reflect on what philosophical living is supposed to be like.
When Plato's Academy defined "human being" as "featherless biped," it was Diogenes who -- according to an old story -- went to the Academy and threw a plucked chicken into the lecture hall, saying "Behold the Platonic man!" He didn't just say "What about a plucked chicken?" -- a perfectly good counter-example, but more of the same intellectual back and forth. He threw the chicken into the school, so the Platonists could see what their definition was actually about.
And Professor Wolff at his keyboard is not forgetting the move to action. He gets up, he sits down to blog.
My fav Diogenes quote is:
ReplyDeleteCounter fate with courage, counter convention with nature, counter emotion with reason.
Wasn't it Diogenes who also advised that "one should counter convention by masturbating in public"? Hey, now there's a campaign slogan.
ReplyDelete@jgkess It was taken up, more or less, by former Democratic congressman Anthony Wiener.
ReplyDeleteI have always enjoyed Kierkegaard but find this to be the case more so than ever before. Anxiety, despair, irony, loss of identity in modernity. And thankfully, some humorous characters! I'm working on school-related assignments and spending some time with Kierkegaard this week. Curious what everyone else might be currently enjoying reading?
ReplyDeleteIm reading The Tragic Sense of Life, by Miguel Unamuno. Im wondering what Professor Wolff thinks of this book. I think its fitting especially today.
ReplyDelete