OF A GOLDEN AGE

my classes this semester are already folding in on each other in fundamental ways. in fact, I would go so far as to say this is my most “liberal-artsy” semester ever and it is my second-to-last. maybe synthesis is what being an upper-level student is all about, but I think this is even beyond that.

Tom Mcbride is an interdisciplinary creature by nature; I’ve had two prior classes with him and this latest one is no different. it combines elements of philosophy and formal logic with the study of poetry and other literature. basically, this concept is incredible and our reading list is also something to marvel at, and of course tom is a dynamic, compelling instructor. one of the things I like best about Tom is that after teaching for decades, he stays abreast of new concepts and is more up to date than most of my other professors, who are almost all younger than he is.

anyway, Wittgenstein is an intellectual misanthrope unto himself. no man is an island, apparently, but Wittgenstein relied on his knowledge of a scant two other philosophers (whilst openly shucking off the rest of philosophical history and refusing to study it) in making his career. we talked about him in class and tom also discussed the Kantian concept of phenomenal versus noumenal.

I left that class and went to Heath Massey’s “Hegel, Kierkegaard, Marx, Nietzsche” class, where we immediately dove into Kant’s influence over Hegel — Hegel who hated Kant and wrote criticisms, Hegel who in turn greatly influenced Wittgenstein — and the phenomenal and noumenal.

sandwiched in the middle of this philosophical interplay are the transcendentalists. Emerson seems to restate Hegel’s points about many things. he blends them into nature, yes, but largely they are very Hegelesque. this makes sense because of the German idealists held such influence over the transcendentalists. it is still pretty wild that everything is crashing into itself like this.

my math class is safe, though.

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