thoughts?

locke, hobbes, webber, marx, descartes... i spend my time reading the philosophes of the past. we debate their theories and compare and contrast their thoughts. we get good grades when we analyze them correctly. they dictate our learning.
and i wonder, are they unique in their ability to think outside the box? have we buried ourselves in the coffin they created for us? can we think outside of their theories? is there such a thing as individual thought anymore?
but then i go back to their words to find justification for my unique thoughts. as i quote rousseau in the fact that "all (men) are born free" to think on their own, i fall back once more into the intellectual coffin of western modernity. i cannot escape.

Comments

  1. GraCeSeptember 13, 2010 at 7:45 PM

    but you have your own individual pattern of thoughts that no one else has had in the order that you have them! You meet people that never existed when the 'greats' wrote what they did. Surely there is something new to be thought of. I am certain. Stories are unique to be told.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JoshuaOctober 8, 2010 at 8:17 PM

    bekah are you getting a sample of Kierkegaard? I guess he was a bit ahead of his time in that despite his old style his idea's are somewhat postmodern.

    I heard a lecture wed. night by philosopher James K.A. Smith on postmodernity and the future of God. He was a great dynamic speaker with pretty decent theology and analysis of postmodernity and postmodernism. In case modern christian philosophy has tickled your interest and time is avaliable... http://jameskasmith.com/

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Reflection on Mothering

The second Sunday of May. May 13, 2012. International Mothers Day. My planner tells me it is celebrated in USA, CAN, AUS, NZL. Very international. (note the sarcasm).  I have noticed mother's day come and go several times. I pride myself on never forgetting the culturally mandatory, and always rewarding, phone call to my mother, even when she is across the globe. Often I call my grandmother and single aunt as well - they too have been mothers in my life.  This year, however, I was struck by how Mother's Day, with it's focus on gift giving and flowers designed both to empower the economy and praise feminine domesticity, losses sight of the character of mothering.  I celebrated Mother's Day with "The House of Peace," a church community run through Fourth Street Community Fellowship (Virginia Mennonite Conference) for the impoverished and homeless of inner city Washington, D.C. In honor of thee occasion, Rev. Sang Jin Choi asked members to share test...
Read more

change

read this : http://www.thesimpleway.org/resources/details/50-ways-to-become-the-answer-to-our-prayers/. I did. And while I knew it was a call to change, I kept checking off all the things I already do. I hate that somehow, in my mind, the few things on that list I have done or do, like laughing at advertisements or writing someone in prison, seem to justify my fears of actually sacrificing something to make a difference. Here, at this point in my life, when I have all the time in the world, I read that list and check off the things I did at school without thinking of the things I could do here and now, in my lonely existence. I know full well that my sadness and my loneliness have to do with having nothing to be passionate at the moment, having nothing to keep me in love with the world. And yet, I don't know how I can adapt the list of simple, radical living, to inspire me today to make a difference. I'm not sure how I can be the answer to prayers in this place while I continue...
Read more

hippie me

I made a decision the other day. A friend of mine encouraged me to be proud of how I spend my time this summer, to plan things to look forward to, and in many ways to enjoy life. For awhile now I've waited on God to change this summer, and somehow I've forgotten that I have hands, feet, a heart, and a brain to change it too. And so I set out to make a list, a list that will bring joy, encouragement, and excitement to me as well as others. In many ways it's a simple list, consisting of smiling, leaving random notes of encouragement, and caring a trash bag around town to pick up the worlds litter. However, this list is helping me to find the passion for life that I felt I might have left at school in Virginia. Being so far from the God-loving, hippie culture of the past year is forcing me to come to terms with how I can love God's world and Her people in my own way. And this time, doing things like not-washing my hair, washing my clothes by hand, and building calluses on ...
Read more