posted by Philosophy Matters
But of course we know it should be the reverse…can’t read Nietzsche and if you can’t, then read Soren.
Thoughts During The lull….
Visiting La Crosse
Posted by Bob Good Studios
Bob titled this “And so it begins.” It strikes me that this photo is so vivid and stark as to make it appear as a painting. You will note St. Joseph Cathedral in the background, right, as a shadow. As if overlooking the whole downtown. And through the years it did indeed overlook the town.
Beauty of Birds
Posted by Arts and Nature
Some photos it seems are meant for us to look in pleasure, to wonder with surprise at the all—the composition, the colors, the form.
Happy Birthday
The Thinker Who Believed in Doing
William James and the philosophy of pragmatism
Born: January 11, 1842; Died: August 26, 1910
Philosophy Matters posted from NEH.gov
Here’s William James posed like some bohemian bad ass. Maybe he was, he certainly didn’t play by the rules. He was a famous procrastinator and an adored teacher (Harvard). His rambling lectures and topics that were not outlined excited thought and questions. None of the other professors took the same approach and resented his unorthodox behavior, especially since it generated a respected following. In his biography of James, Robert Richardson says, “William James was one of America’s great teachers.” 
The Principles of Psychology, published in 1890, was praised in America and Europe both by academics and lay readers. Historian Jacques Barzun declared it a classic and likened it to Moby-Dick. This is the book that took James to the heights of fame. It was also a book that he promised the publisher would be completed in two years. He finished it 12 years later.
An early chapter of Psychology, “Habit,” was typical of his style: “There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision.” James makes the case for habit, calling it the “enormous fly-wheel of society,” and offers specific suggestions about how to make useful actions automatic: Make resolutions, publicize them, act on them, and persist. Proper habits acted upon and pursued become embedded in the brain. Automaticity diminishes fatigue and sets free “our higher powers of mind.” It makes daily life bearable and civilization flourish.
It was James who invented the phrase “stream of consciousness” to describe the workings of our minds. Our thinking is not orderly or logical but chaotic, our moods constantly and inexplicably shifting.
I’m sure that William would have been welcomed at any Bohemian gathering or Salon.
Winter Notes
Plodding along here, just admiring the astonishingly gorgeous snow and winter cold. When no one is out, the sun is shining, and there are no footprints, it’s possible to glimpse portions of heaven around the corners of the eyes. It enters the self through the somethingness that lives alongside a body, a body that cannot contain all while containing everything. Proprioception then, or whispers, or ether. (Ether as in what the alchemists tried to distill from the air.)
Later, while indoors and playing a little Mozart, I came across this photo. It is Mozart’s Pianoforte. This is another of the white-winged dove mysteries. How is it that great works were created from such an instrument? Nothing is so astounding as hearing the music on modern instruments whilst looking at the tools of creation.
posted by Ludwig van Beethoven site
Writers Ink—Writing and Stuff 