Blogs and Pascal
We have to talk, whether we have something to say or not; and the less we want to say and want to hear the more willfully we talk and are subjected to talk. How did Pascal put it? 'All the evil in the world comes from our inability to sit quietly in a room.' To keep still.I thought that would be a pretty amusing quote to post to a blog, essentially a forum for speaking into the void.
--Stanley Cavell
3 Comments:
Interesting that an author and a philosopher make this suggestion...nobody needs to talk more than philosophers, whose entire endeavour is fostered and created by discourse. What is the role of language? It has swamped out some of our other means of communication and has diluted our everyday experience and relationship with the world.
I could not figure out how to comment on an article sent by one of y'all about racism and bigotry- buI found the quote by Pascal intriging- so I thought I would write my thoughts here...
And I have t say that the inability to sit still is both a curse and a blessing- it pushes social movements but also starts wars...
Regarding "Racist Like Me" by Dickerson in a SLATE article, I think that the author is too quick to assume that others have unconscious racist thoughts. STill, the point seems to be that no one is able to fully understand all of her/his emotions and thoughts unless s/he questions and carefully analyzes every consideration, action and response elicited by her/himself and others onto her/him.
Furthermore :)
- Racism and other isms are closely connected with the idea that any preconception varies based on one's experiences and education- as well as early role models. Of course, I am taking a psychological perspective on how common racism may be in our society- but I think it is important to recognize that all aspects of one's life- parents, social class, friends, current events -affect how one reacts to others... in other words, I feel the author of this article in particular might have addressed how she developed her feelings about other races and racism in general- rather than thinking that so many of our inner emotions match hers simply because we're all human.
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