February 8, 2010

Advance Praise for the Next Book, Schelling's Organic Form of Philosophy (SUNY Press, 2010)

        Advance praise from the reviewers for Schelling's Organic Form of Philosophy, my next book now in production and due to appear later this year in SUNY Press' series in Contemporary Continental Philosophy:

   "What I most like about this manuscript is that Matthews’ combines tremendous lucidity with depth of insight. Matthews provides original research on the work of the very young Schelling (ages 13-19!) and makes it clear how an early engagement with theosophical thinkers such as Oetinger and Hahn prepared him for the major accomplishment of his youth: a deep and compelling synthesis of Kant and Plato. By focusing on one specific aspect of Schelling’s thought (his idea of the organic form of philosophy), Matthews is able to provide the reader with an introduction to Schelling that should prove more useful than a general survey such as one usually finds. Because of the complex and ever-shifting nature of Schelling’s project, such global overviews give one little to hold onto. What Matthews provides, in contrast, is a clarification of how Schelling understood the nature of philosophy itself. 

   The idea of linking together a conception of a “decentered Self” with a “disjunctive logic of identity” is exciting insofar as it makes possible a systematic resolution of the tension between nature and human history. Rescuing a strong conception of freedom by situating humanity within a dynamically conceived nature is a far more promising move than the interminable “freedom-versus-determinism” debate can ever offer.

   What is potentially of greatest interest is the possibility that Matthews’ manuscript offers not only for an understanding of Schelling, but for an understanding of Kant. “Schelling’s Kant” is a good deal more interesting than the Kant who is typically discussed by contemporary scholars in that field."

 

January 30, 2010

BHSEC Inter-Borough Philosophy Conference 2010

On January 28, philosophy students from BHSEC Manhattan and Queens met on the 37th floor of the Skadden Law offices in the Condé Nast Building at 4 Times Square. After weeks of planning, debate and collaboration, the vast majority of it online, students lost themselves in debating topics from 'God and Existentialism: Can both Co-exist?' to 'The Seat of Moral Worth: Intent or Action?'

The day began at 9:00 in the morning and we stayed until well past 5:00. Moderating the 9 panels were none other than Jon Leizman from BHSEC Queens, along with four BHSEC Alums, Sreeganesh Sarma, Ian Olasov, Max Lakner and Leah Hennesy.

Everyone at Skadden was incredibly helpful and considerate in helping make this conference a memorable and successful event. From the support staff (one of whom informed us that he is currently reading Plato's Republic) to our event coordinators, Michaela Best and Shannon Angelakis: all involved help us clear every logistical hurdle with grace and wit. A very special thanks is reserved for Matthew Mallow, partner at Skadden and outstanding supporter of BHSEC. Without his help this conference would never have achieved the heights and perspective afforded by such an ideal location for doing philosophy. The following pictures, graciously provided by Jonathon Levine and BHSEC alum Max Lakner, do a fantastic job of capturing the spirit and intensity of the day. Thanks again to all involved and may this be the first of many such Inter-Bard Philosophy Conferences.

December 15, 2009

Fox News Concerned That High Minimum Wage is Hurting Workers

December 1, 2009

Robin Osler, Ending Hunger, Garden by Garden

Practical Guide to Healthier Living - MSN.com

The Urban Farming Food Chain is the "edible wall" project launched on Skid Row in LA in August of 2008. Since then volunteers have harvested over a half-ton of strawberries, cucumbers, lettuces, collards, leeks, tomatoes and many other fruits and vegetables, to be used in local soup kitchens. Robin Osler (aka. my wife) has designed the wall units that make this vertical farming possible in urban settings. Check out this video and think about how the widespread use of this strategy could not only change our urban environment, but more importantly revolutionize our relation to fresh foods. Of course, it helps if you have the four growing seasons of Southern California.   

November 2, 2009

Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss
Just how similar is the political situation of our citizenry to that of the citizens of Iran? It seems as if each is ruled by a class of elites immune to the general will of the people; as if each ruling elite plays according to a set playbook of beliefs that manipulates better than even Machiavelli himself could envision; American Exceptionalism and Islamic Revolution, both visions united by a divinely ordained mission to remake the world in their respective maker’s image; religious dogma joins political expediency and corporate power to create the three necessary conditions of fascism’s perfect storm; and in each country a small percentage of zealots wait at the ready to save their nation if internal forces appear to be creating a new order of power. Of course there are many differences, both of degree and kind. But health care reform in the States? Political reform in Iran? Will there really be significant change?

October 19, 2009

Apocalypse Now
Life in the endtimes of a cycle of Empire reveals little clarity, but this much can be said: the old models of getting things done are breaking down. General Motors is paradigmatic. Working with a triumphant Postwar frame chained to immediate returns and yet devoid of limits, their SUV strategy epitomized a mind incapable of thinking free of anything but the most simple factors. Political institutions dance to the same tune, displaying a remarkable inability to mature beyond an adolescent’s addiction to other’s approval, removing any hope of seeing a principled commitment to dealing with the complexities of the coming decades. Our number one export – after weapons of war – our ‘culture,’ presents us with more of the same: reactive and thus derivative forms of entertainment whose allegiance to profit demands obedience to the lowest common denominator. Which brings us to the most effervescent form of entertainment, our domestic media and their Frankenstein-like creation of infotainment, whose insatiable hunger for anything new demands feeding on a 24/7 schedule. In such a world the normal standards of journalism are jettisoned in favor of images that pop, leading to the insane situation in which a comedian, posing as a fake journalist, can be voted the best journalist in the country – and not by his viewers, but by professional journalists. The absurdity of the condition we suffer now, in which CNN fact checks a Saturday Night Live skit, while almost never doing the same for politicians, can only be adequately dealt with by our number one source for news these days, our best fake - and thus real - journalist in the country, John Stewart:

October 12, 2009

Charter for Compassion: November 12th
Something a bit more hopeful - and definitely more important:

  "There is an urgent need for a new focus on compassion. Bringing together voices from all cultures and religions, the Charter seeks to remind the world we already share the core principles of compassion.
  On November 12, thousands of people across the globe will listen together.

Participate and engage with the Charter now at charterforcompassion.org
 

October 11, 2009

KluKluxKlan Theme Bar in Georgia:
                    Where the American Id Roams Free

Since the first amendment guarantees free speech, this Georgia bar owner finds no problem in characterizing Obama's health care plan as "Nig*&%# Riggin It". Behaving in a way that many Limbaugh/Savage/Beck fans can only dream of, his menu shows "a drawing of a Klansman in a hammock. The hammock is formed by two lynched black men whose feet are roped together." Showing us just how messy racism gets in the 21st century, Lanzo, the bar owner, displays an Israeli flag, stating that I like the Israelis. If it was up to me, I'd give the [Defense Department] money to the Israelis, and let them clean up the sand niggers. You know they'd do it, too.” Here's video from the local CBS affiliate:
 

September 30, 2009

Right-Wing Columnist Warns of Military Coup against Obama

Taking his cue perhaps from extremists who plotted a "cocktail putsch" against FDR in in 1934, John L. Perry, a long-time right-wing columnist, on Tuesday warned of an impending "military coup" to stop Obama's agenda of "fundamental change ... toward a Marxist state". The column was removed as soon as it began to attract too much attention from people in the "reality based" world of common sense and civic values. Perry's article is worth reading, since it provides a window into the way extremists - left and right - operate, engaging in rhetorical strategies of the most manipulative kind. The full text can be read here.

September 28, 2009

With a Facebook poll appearing yesterday asking 'Should Obama be killed?' maybe its time to talk about racism. Once again, Stephen Colbert brilliantly uses satire to drive home the undeniable racist venom directed toward our current president. Enjoy if you can:

September 23, 2009

History is a theodicy of God's Justice. Those who believe this place their faith in the gradual development of our spirit, aiming their sights at a time when the need for governments and laws will be eclipsed by a culture of true and thus productive anarchy. No need for coercion, only the gift of compassion. The tense of such hope however is that of the future imperfect, requiring of us the blind persistence of Sisyphus infused with the manic desire of Pan. History is a theodicy of God's Justice: As Rilke points out, God is a direction, not a being.    

September 18, 2009

Whoever controls education controls the future. For 35 years the attempt has been made to develop curricula that reflect our nation's history as accurately as possible, and that means warts and all. America's Ayatollahs no longer only aim at Darwin, but in order to "to restore America to its Bible-based foundations", they take aim at the entire history of our nation. Dissatisfied with the painful clarity of too accurate a rendering of our past, the High Priests of America's Divine Exceptionalism insist that that myth now be taught instead of a 'reality based' history.

Just try to avoid the irony of a member of the Texas Board of Education decrying the use of the word "propaganda" in a draft of high school history textbook standards. "Our students have to learn about American exceptionalism and how unique our country is." She implores their expert Christian Scholar (author of "The Light and the Glory for Children: Discovering God's Plan for America from Christopher Columbus to George Washington") to suggest how best to "take out the negatives."

As others have noted, as one of the largest markets for school textbooks, as Texas goes, so goes the rest of the nation.

September 17, 2009 

Although Schelling never uses the words ‘organic form of philosophy’, I have argued that this phrase best expresses the animating center of his thought.[1] Echoing Plato’s odos, in 1801 he writes that “the form of philosophy” is “rooted” in “a unity”, an “identity”, capable of integrating “the opposition … of the limited and the unlimited” (I/4, 410).  Pages later, “the absolute informing of both … the infinite and the finite” occurs in “the organism …[which] … is the highest expression of nature, as it is in god, and of god, as he is in nature” (I/4 422). In 1802: “the organic form (gestalt) has an immediate relation to reason, since it is its nearest appearance and itself only the real-intuited reason” (I/5, 577).  This follows from his contention that it is the “eternal law and incorruptible form” of the organic that directs all creation (I/3, 186), and which, as “organisation”, is “the image of the universe” (I/3, 492). Schelling makes clear the dynamic category he uses to explain the self-action (Selbsttätigkeit) of this organisation when he claims that it is “the higher potence of the category of reciprocal causation, which, universally conceived, leads to the concept of nature, … the absolute organisation” (I/4, 495). And in 1807, providing yet another iteration of the Formschrift’s Urform, he makes it clear that the condition of “all speculation” is the “organic point of unity” of “indifference”:  “true being is thus not A nor B alone; its true expression is A determined through B, and B determined through A, so that one doesn’t start out from one of the termini (otherwise called pole), but rather from the middle point (point of indifference)”, and it is this center which forms for Schelling “the organic point of unity of all speculation” (I/7, 71).

The indifference of identity can only be conceived as organic, since it is the organic form that can best mediate the common ground of unity that is the unconditioned whole.[2] As we have seen, Kant’s search for a common ground that would integrate duality, and thereby supply objective validity to systematic unity, lead him in the first Critique to posit the “maximum” as an idea of reason capable of mediating the unconditioned. Yet due to the exclusive reliance on his regressive method and its inability to disambiguate an inexponible concept, this idea remained only a potential maximum (infinite). This is why Kant must introduce a new type of idea in the third Critique, the aesthetic idea, which is capable of generating an actual maximum, because it alone among the ideas of reason Kant synthesizes through the progressive method. This is seen most clearly in his account of the sublime: because it alone can determine its “absolute measure” (A=A viz. I=I), it is not only inexponible, but the force of its magnitude so exceeds our understanding’s limits that it momentarily overthrows the sequence of mathematical time. The removal of this condition of discursivity is for Kant only explainable through the one dynamic category whose workings likewise require a suspension of the time sequence, the category of reciprocal causation and community: unlike subsumption, the form of coordination and reciprocity require a simultaneous and multivalent causality that the mathematical categories of the understanding forbid. Together these factors lead Kant, however briefly, to admit actual experience and intuition into his critical edifice, claiming that this experience of the sublime reveals the supersensible common ground necessary to supply objective validity to the systematic unity of reason. The entirety of the Vernunfteinheit can only be grasped simultaneously, not successively, and only the Naturbegriffe of the category of reciprocal causation can do this. A simultaneity of knowing that is more aesthetic than discursive, more intuitive than conceptual, and much more suited to “the organic point of unity” that is the beginning “of all speculation”. 

Thursday, April 29, 2010 07:49:49 PM