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"However, where the anti-realist epistemologists and the realist ontologists part ways is with..."

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:28:00 -0800

“However, where the anti-realist epistemologists and the realist ontologists part ways is with respect to the thesis that questions of our access to beings is sufficient to determine what beings are. For the object-oriented ontologist, over and above questions of how we know objects there remains an important and crucial question of what it means for a being to be. This question, following Roy Bhaskar, is not, for the realist ontologist, exhausted by how we know. Likewise, while the object-oriented ontologist readily acknowledges the limitations of our knowledge, the fact that we must engage in inquiry to know any particular type of object, and so on, the realist ontologist rejects the thesis that the differences discovered in and through inquiry belong to the domain of outputs alone. Rather, the realist ontologist begins from the premise that these differences cannot be restricted to outputs alone, but rather that there must be something about the inputs, about the world that produces these differences, that is mind-independent.”

- From this post.

There’s something beautiful and inspiring about using the limits of our knowledge as aids in seeing just how unlimited objects are. We are limited observers, there’s whole worlds we don’t have access to (yet?). What object-oriented approaches do, to my mind, is successfully knock us off our pedestals. It’s a humbling move, but one that feels more honest. And one that opens up whole new possibilities, and seems full of hope. Harman’s writing in particular helps restore wonder to the world by admitting there are interactions we’re not privy to, and what we see is just a slice, but that slice is not ALL THERE IS.

"…when an artist tells you that the bombing or dramatic events that take place next to your..."

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:20:22 -0800

“…when an artist tells you that the bombing or dramatic events that take place next to your house can be ignored by changing the channel, it signals the end of civilazation.”

- George Lazongas in the Sept/Oct issue of Art Papers. While I don’t agree entirely, there’s something important being expressed.

The number of times I have accidentally tried to add, say, GMail to my Amazon wishlist with the...

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:29:07 -0700

The number of times I have accidentally tried to add, say, GMail to my Amazon wishlist with the universal add to wish list bookmarklet is ridiculously high.

merlin: repose: (via juliasegal)

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:56:43 -0700

merlin:

repose:

(via juliasegal)

"I feel like there’s often a pull, especially from the critical end, that demands constant novelty,..."

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:25:11 -0700

“I feel like there’s often a pull, especially from the critical end, that demands constant novelty, and when that expectation isn’t met, there is disappointment and the artist is said to have lost it, to become a shade of her former self. But the pleasure that comes from listening to this music isn’t the pleasure of discovery, but the pleasure of watching them play their aesthetic game, exploring the ideas they’ve already discovered and finding new and interesting ways to hit those concepts. Maturity isn’t just the realm of monotony and routine, but rather the phase where artists have the ability to start on the same page as their audience and thus investigate the aesthetic the artist has created in concert with their listeners.”

- From this review of the new Built to Spill. I agree, and would include a hearty “So stop calling Sonic Youth necro-whatever, stupidheads.” But in my most mature, insightful critic voice.

"No, this is not an disentanglement from, but a progressive knotting into…"

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:19:28 -0700

“No, this is not an disentanglement from, but a progressive knotting into…”

- Gravity’s Rainbow

"Badiou’s dislike for analytic philosophy is not just a question of taste, which, for a..."

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:38:46 -0700

“Badiou’s dislike for analytic philosophy is not just a question of taste, which, for a Frenchman, is the province of the real gourmet. Analytic philosophers, who strangle philosophy with a linguistic noose just because nothing else seemed to be working fifty years ago, fail to see the danger in thinking that language is the only truth procedure—or even one at all. The revolutionary moments most interesting to philosophy, whether political, artistic, or that of great world-changing love, have more often than not been the work of blood.”

- http://www.nplusonemag.com/badiou-badass

I spent an hour trying to explain why I like something and realized I’d rather just listen to...

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:30:30 -0700

I spent an hour trying to explain why I like something and realized I’d rather just listen to it. I think this means I’m doomed to never be a critic.

Wandelweiser by Michael Pisaro

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:06:38 -0700

Wandelweiser by Michael Pisaro

uh huh

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:15:06 -0700

uh huh

"But perhaps the simplest way to summarize Harman’s position is to cite the informal addition..."

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:30:36 -0700

“

But perhaps the simplest way to summarize Harman’s position is to cite the informal addition he offers to Lee Braver’s notions of realism: “The human/world relation is just a special case of the relation between any two entities whatsoever.” I’d clarify that “special” in this case just means a particular, not exceptional.

There is one lap I need to swim before drying us off from our refreshing dip in the pool of metaphysics, and it passes through Levi Bryant’s adaptation of Harman’s object-oriented philosophy into what the former calls flat ontology. This is a term that first occurs in the work of Manuel DeLanda, who uses it to refer to an ontology comprised entirely of individuals (rather than species and genera, for example). Bryant’s use of the phrase is somewhat different: a flat ontology allows all objects the same ontological status. And furthermore, as for Latour, “objects” can mean corporeal or incorporeal entities, including objects of intention: quarks, Harry Potter, keynote speeches, single-malt scotch, Land Rovers, lychee fruit, love affairs, dereferenced pointers, Slavoj Žižek, bozons, horticulturists, Mozambique, Super Mario Bros., all are fair game.

”

- from Ian Bogost’s incredibly awesome talk, located http://www.bogost.com/writing/videogames_are_a_mess.shtml

SERIOUSLY. SERIOUSLY. How were they this good?

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:32:26 -0700

SERIOUSLY. SERIOUSLY. How were they this good?

"I will show that objects themselves far from the insipid physical bulks that one imagines, are..."

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:23:03 -0700

“I will show that objects themselves far from the insipid physical bulks that one imagines, are already aflame with ambiguity, torn by vibrations and insurgencies equaling those found in the most tortured human moods.”

- From Tool-Being by Graham Harman. Who I kind of love.

There’s just always too much to do.

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:14:24 -0700

There’s just always too much to do.

“What Deleuze and Guattari are ultimately developing is a politics of creativity, a theory of...

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:43:12 -0700

“What Deleuze and Guattari are ultimately developing is a politics of creativity, a theory of revolution that is based neither on beginnings (the conquest of the old system) nor on ends (the implementation of a new system) but on middles - interregnums, intermezzos, the space in between, the unpredictable interstices of process, movement and invention.”

Deluze and Guattari by Ronald Bogue pg 105

Seriously just beautiful. And that, dear readers, is why I’m continuing to muddle through.

"the first principle is always a mask, a simple image, it doesn’t exist; things only begin to..."

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 11:39:55 -0700

““the first principle is always a mask, a simple image, it doesn’t exist; things only begin to move and come alive at the level of the second, third, fourth principle, and these aren’t even principles any longer. Things only start to live in the middle”

"A philosophical theory is a developed question, and nothing else: by itself, in itself, it involves..."

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 16:00:00 -0700

“A philosophical theory is a developed question, and nothing else: by itself, in itself, it involves not the resolution of a problem, but the development to the fullest extent of the necessary implications of a formulated question.”

Today while waiting for muni I gave a french girl a dollar. In return I got an orange and a smile....

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:16:30 -0700

Today while waiting for muni I gave a french girl a dollar. In return I got an orange and a smile. I’m pretty sure I got the better deal.

SCHAFFEL!

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:55:20 -0700

SCHAFFEL!

Fwd: Multimedia message (via bw diederich) When I’m bored...

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 17:21:07 -0700

Fwd: Multimedia message (via bw diederich)

When I’m bored in class now I just draw type. Here for instance is a poor imitation of the type in the edition of Hegel we’re reading. Complete with fi ligature.