Sublime
An inspiration engine for ideas
Daniel C. Dennett, Widely Read and Fiercely Debated Philosopher, Dies at 82
Jonathan Kandellnytimes.com
This historical backdrop must include the erosion of community stemming from the disappearance of our rituals, as described by philosopher Byung-Chul Han. In a ritualistic society, Han notes, much is implicitly understood by its members in what is effectively a “community without communication,” while the reverse is true of American society today,... See more
Elias Crim • Trumpism as Grief Culture
Some colleagues I know even speak of an “ethics of weirdness”, something I hope to work on more and that would presumably involve risk, improvisation, nonsense, even magic, not to mention a refusal to retreat before the bizarre, the disturbing, the nonhuman, the unthinkable. To turn and face the strange; to stay with the trouble.
Erik Davis • The Weird and the Banal
Rituals are symbolic acts. They represent, and pass on, the values and orders on which a community is based. They bring forth a community without communication; today, however, communication without community prevails.
Byung-Chul Han • The Disappearance of Rituals: A Topology of the Present
According to Putnam, the more we prioritize our private bubbles over public life, the more we disconnect from our local surroundings. This has weakened American democracy. Fewer people are engaged in politics, and those who do are often at the political poles. With less social capital, our neighborhoods are connected by fewer informal, reciprocal t... See more
In ordinary language, we frequently speak of machinery or ideas ‘doing’ things in our lives. But they do nothing. People – human persons – produce, operate and apply their creations. The problem with assigning agency, even informally, to the nonhuman is that this disguises the strength of human control, limited though it is in other respects. It le... See more