T U and the End of the World!

So here are yesterday's and today's advent calendar offerings: T for Thus Spake Zarusthustra and U for Unhiddenness. I know the hermeneutic process of uncovering the un-hiddenness of Being is probably a lot less simple than the image implies, but I thought it'd be nice to let Being have a bit of fun for a change!

As for the Zarashustra quotation in the top cartoon the reference is from p 77-78 of the R.J Hollingdale 1969 translation, published by Penguin in the UK. Even after having done an MA dissertation on Nietzsche I still don't feel comfortable with Thus Spake Zarasthustra as a text. It is by turns philosophically perceptive and (dare I say it!) moving, but also confusing, obscure and downright mental in parts. I may do a week of cartoons based on TSZ, just because I feel it's a text that deserves more recognition: it's very multi-faceted, and you'd be surprised how radically different it is from the popular reading of Super-Nazi-Over-Men that gets thrown around. I also think Being & Tim could have some fun with Zarasthustra's Eagle....!

Lastly, a very quick sketch dedicated to the Mayans and the collective sigh of relief we all breathed at 11.12 today when the world didn't end. The inspiration is the following Kierkegaard quotation, which may or may not be correctly attributed, coming as it does from www.goodreads.com. It certainly sounds like something Soren'd say.

“A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. I think that's just how the world will come to an end: to general applause from wits who believe it's a joke.” Kierkegaard

I don't like to end on a downer, so here's a song....(those of you confused by the above sketch just skip ahead to 4.26)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0ikNY3712g

OLD SCHOOL!

Becca x

ps. I'll be away from a scanner for the next few days, so you'll have to wait 'til Sunday for V and W. I can only blame the little baby Jesus and the annual celebrations of his birth.

Being & Tim Advent Calendar!

So, remember when I was talking about plans, rumblings, shadows in the east? Here's the first installment of what I was talking about, a Being & Tim Alphabetical Advent Calender of sorts, charting the highs and lows of philosophy in alphabetical order. (The advent calendar is an idea I got from one of my current favourite comedians, John Finnemore, who did a one-a-day project in a similar vein last year. This year he's mainly writing Cabin Pressure Series 4, which i am happy about ) I think it's probably a very good way to inject some life into my blog while also building up a sense of inordinate excitement and anticipation for the inevitable disappointment that will be Christmas Day. Which is half the fun right?

Anyway, aphorisms, what are they about?! sheesh...
See you tomorrow! Becca x

Being & Technology

Heidegger talks about Dasein and its relationship to technology quite alot. I don't think he quite meant this....

 And while we're on the subject of technology, check out this website that my brother and dad are setting up: www.carebook-dev.org.The idea is that it's a support network for patients and carers, as well as providing information and medical advice. Like Facebook, for cancer!

becca xo
(P.S Geeky favourite thing about this cartoon: Kierkegaard is on facebook chat as idle, because of what he says about idleness!! ;-) )

SUPER KANT VS. UBERMAN!

What ho! I'm feeling better, and during my convalescence from 'strange-zombie-tiredness disease' i not only watched numerous sci-fi films but manage to finish Super Kant 3! Just in case the reference to 'uberman' isn't clear, the cartoon's actually a sort of lame attempt to summarize Nietzsche's critique of Kant's aesthetics in On The Genealogy of Morality (Third essay, Section 6).

The bare bones of Nietzsche's argument here seem to be that something just can't give pleasure without interest: we're precisely interested in being right. Nietzsche thinks the idea of 'pleasure without interest' is a 'non-concept and absurdity', which relies on the presupposition that we are all possessors of a transcendental, purely rational will. I guess if we could hold such an objective standpoint then we could really understand the idea of being non-interested, but Nietzsche points out that every standpoint is couched in the conditions which allow it to thrive: it's self-preservative, and for Nietzsche, shouldn't be imposed upon others who live under different conditions. I'm not sure if it's really this that leads him to call Kant a catastrophic spider, but he does, in The Antichrist. (The Portable Nietzsche. Penguin. 1954. pp578). And Kant's comments at the end are to do with his view on animals, how we should treat them as examples of how we should treat humanity, I forget where he says this but I know I read it in that Philosophy Anthology that I had in the First Year of Uni! It's like when tamagotchi's came out and everyone was worried because if young kids starved their computer-generated dog creatures that surely meant they'd do the same to their little brother.  (Incidentally, I pretty much used exactly the same joke in another cartoon....don't tell anyone!!!) 

Also, I thought it would be funny to see how much I could get Uberman to look like John Matrix, seeing as Arnie's about as close to the stereotype of the ubermensch as you can get. However it's worth pointing out that Nietzsche's use of the German term ubermensch is gender neutral, therefore 'superhuman' is more accurate than the term 'superman'.......there are lots of other ways in which the typical view of Nietzsche-as-fascist is wrong but that's another cartoon for another time...!

Oh, and if you have time, fill out my poll! Just was interested who the coolest philosopher is!

see you soon! becca xo