a non-philosophy response

PLANOMENOLOGY just made a post answering me and Levi by appeal to the non-philosophy of François Laruelle. Presumably the post is worth a look (I’ve enjoyed his thoughts in the past). But it’s 1:30 A.M. and I have no business being awake, given what lies ahead tomorrow.

K-Punk speaks

While working on the lecture in recent days, I missed this typically well-written post by K-PUNK.

I agree completely with the classification of types contained in this post.

“In many ways, the academic qua academic is the Troll par excellence. Postgraduate study has a propensity to breeds trolls; in the worst cases, the mode of nitpicking critique (and autocritique) required by academic training turns people into permanent trolls, trolls who troll themselves, who transform their inability to commit to any position into a virtue, a sign of their maturity (opposed, in their minds, to the allegedly infantile attachments of The Fan). But there is nothing more adolescent – in the worst way – than this posture of alleged detachment, this sneer from nowhere. For what it disavows is its own investments; an investment in always being at the edge of projects it can neither commit to nor entirely sever itself from – the worst kind of libidinal configuration, an appalling trap, an existential toxicity which ensures debilitation for all who come into contact with it (if only that in terms of time and energy wasted – the Troll above all wants to waste time, its libido involves a banal sadism, the dull malice of snatching people’s toys away from them).”

I don’t see it

A number of blog posts are popping up that call the whole recent discussion surrounding Badiou petty and juvenile. I guess I don’t see it. Most of the posts in question have been quite interesting, in my opinion.

This is part of what philosophy is, after all. Not all of it, but part of it. There is a need to sift through and weigh various figures and reassess their general stature from time to time. This is especially true of more recent figures, given that there is always more volatility to the reputation of such figures than to that of the established classic figures. I don’t see what’s so petty about people taking this process seriously.

hilarious invitation

The flu quarantine on the Zamalek dormitory will be officially lifted tomorrow at 6 AM. That makes eight total days of imprisonment for those poor people.

Since I live in the neighborhood, I’ve been invited to join the flu prisoners for breakfast at 6:15 tomorrow. It’s too singular an offer to turn down. Assuming I wake up early enough, I’ll do it. My instincts tell me to wear a mask, but my humane side tells me that would just be rubbing it in. 😉

a request

A reader says:

“That’s a great idea to narrate the writing of a book. I think many readers would also appreciate a little backstory. Since the primary motivation of these advice columns is to expose the machinery underneath the hood, some description (perhaps partially redacted if needed) of how to pitch an idea to a press, how to choose a press, the whole process of initiating might be of great interest.”

Sure, I’ll try to do all of this.

cat-killing arrest

No tolerance from me toward CRUELTY TO ANIMALS. Glad they caught the possible perpetrator.

book about to be printed

I’ve just received the book cover mockup for Prince of Networks, which is quite striking. re.press produces beautiful books, judging from what I’ve seen of my own, as well as the already available Negarestani Cyclonopedia.

I’d post it here, but want permission from the publisher first. The book should be printed any day now, apparently.

Heidegger/Bultmann

I’m now about 100 pages into the Heidegger/Bultmann correspondence, and am pleased by the generally benevolent air of their exchange. Bultmann must have been a good guy, judging not only from his own letters, but also from the good-guy side of Heidegger that emerges.

Heidegger is always a very good correspondent, but not always a nice one. He is notably callous in some of the (fascinating) letters to his wife and to Elisabeth Blochmann.

The letters with Jaspers, also interesting, have the same sort of tone you find in the Freud-Jung correspondence: “it’s you and me, friend; the rest of the profession are just a bunch of fools”.

In the Imma von Bodmershof correspondence, it’s mostly a bunch of aimless and half-affected flattery of her long-deceased ex-fiancee Norbert von Hellingrath, the admired Hoelderlin scholar.

But the letters to and from Rudolf Bultmann put Heiedgger in a very nice light so far.

a clarifying point on outlines

Just a quick note… I saw a blog where the author linked here and said that she can’t use my outline method, because she’s one of those people who isn’t sure what she thinks about a topic until writing about it.

Just to clarify, I’m one of those people too.

The outline never represents my final thoughts on the topic. It’s just a blueprint enabling me to string together a lot of paragraphs very rapidly. Unexpected things always come up en route, and they often turn out to be the best parts. That happened, for instance, in the lecture I finished writing last night.

More on this some other time… it’s time to get on the bus for the first time since the flu incident.