schweblog

People rarely understand how I can get so excited about philosophy.  Not only is it just words on paper—it’s also a series of really confusing, generally underused (or made up) words on paper.  And to be honest, the more excited I get about the field, the more frightened I become.  Frightened because the deeper and deeper I get into this rabbit hole, the harder and harder it is to explain what excites me to other people.

I went to dinner with my dad on Wednesday night and the conversation briefly touched on what it is I’m learning.  I tried to explain to him the post-Nietzchean turn pushed by Heidegger and supplemented by Derrida, but some of these concepts are so foreign to the dialogue of western metaphysics that there aren’t even words for them.  When I think of Derrida having to make up words for concepts that do not exist, I get dizzy—all out vertigo sets in when I think about trying to explain a concept that loses meaning once it is explained.  We are truly riding on the shoulders of giants.  I am trying my best to hold on.

The most surprising thing I’ve found in graduate school is a new sense of optimism.  Studying philosophy, especially the really contemporary, cutting-edge stuff, has given me far more hope for the future of the humanity.  The optimism is largely located in the foundational (or even pre-foundational) aspects of the Western metaphysic.  And while it is hopeful, even to the point of seeming unrealistic at times, I can be comfortable knowing that it is not naive.

Filed under: academics, philosophy by Jesse