Wednesday, January 9, 2008

It's Not That I Kant Understand...Ok. It Is.

My English Lit class curriculum includes a selection from Immanuel Kant's Critique Of Judgement. I don't know if I'm just a moron, or am too used to accounting text books, but...dog my cats! I can't understand this guy!

He uses the terms "concept" and "object" and "a priori" and "subsumes" so often I'm starting to doubt whether I really know what those words mean. Can a philosopher just do that, throw in a couple of broad words like concept or object into a run on sentence and sound smart just because nobody really understands exactly what he (or she) is saying? This rant is definitely moreof frustration now; I am showing my bias. I am sure that some people understand these philosophers. I'm sure that after I go to class tomorrow and listen to my professor, I'll understand. But...Kant could make his prose a little more accessible to us dumb guys from Heber.

A quote for the night from my reading in Bartlett's Anthology (I finally finished over the Christmas break, highlighting all my favorites and then typing them into OneNote).

In dreams begin responsibility.
--Delmore Schwartz

and

I walked a mile with Pleasure
She chattered all the way,
But left me none the wiser
For all she had to say
I walked a mile with sorrow,
And ne'er a word said she;
But, oh the things I learned from her
When sorrow walked with me!

--Robert Browning Hamilton

1 comment:

Bethany said...

At least you can't understand Kant, I cant understand all of your books in your old room. So you are definatley up on me. From Mom