I'm not as smart as you think I am. I also devote, as I've said, a lot of my energy to writing, and that's actually where a lot of my opinion on "big ideas" comes out. In my schoolwork and stuff, ideas tend to be of a smaller scale. And the only way that I feel "big ideas" work is when you balance it out with fiction. Otherwise, like in a paper or something, it is bullshit to me. I would just not be able to take myself seriously. But see, I really can't take any philosophy seriously.
I really don't understand why only looking at concrete things leads you to the wrong conclusions. I mean, the whole world is concrete things. Maybe we're defining concrete and abstract in different ways.
But see, with your style of argument you see how I can't argue either. So I don't know what to do in all honesty. Probably just the same as always, except with more consideration towards the other side? But the thing is I feel like I can give you consideration whereas you can't give me consideration because you are much more stubborn than I am.
I totally agree that you need to be horizontal and vertical to achieve something more true. But I guess I'm more vertical in my fiction, because it feels more holistic there, and not in daily conversation. And as you know I'm not seeking truth. I think there's definitely value in not talking about the "big ideas", but partly because I like to think in microcosms and metaphors, because I think without doing things horizontally you're not going to reach the right conclusions either - there's too much variance in the world. And I mean, yeah - insanity is culturally defined, but this is a very vague statement, and vagueness does nothing to me. That's why I like to think more in metaphors and microcosms, because it keeps me interested in the conversation. I think it's useful to think of various instances of political insanity across various cultures. It's just more interesting to me. I think you can reach more vertical conclusions that way, when you see similarities. But I mean, I'm also into looking at the individual (probably more so than you are). As someone who's not looking for truth it doesn't seem pointless to me, because I just like sort of relishing the richness of the world.
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Date: 2008-10-27 01:23 am (UTC)I really don't understand why only looking at concrete things leads you to the wrong conclusions. I mean, the whole world is concrete things. Maybe we're defining concrete and abstract in different ways.
But see, with your style of argument you see how I can't argue either. So I don't know what to do in all honesty. Probably just the same as always, except with more consideration towards the other side? But the thing is I feel like I can give you consideration whereas you can't give me consideration because you are much more stubborn than I am.
I totally agree that you need to be horizontal and vertical to achieve something more true. But I guess I'm more vertical in my fiction, because it feels more holistic there, and not in daily conversation. And as you know I'm not seeking truth. I think there's definitely value in not talking about the "big ideas", but partly because I like to think in microcosms and metaphors, because I think without doing things horizontally you're not going to reach the right conclusions either - there's too much variance in the world. And I mean, yeah - insanity is culturally defined, but this is a very vague statement, and vagueness does nothing to me. That's why I like to think more in metaphors and microcosms, because it keeps me interested in the conversation. I think it's useful to think of various instances of political insanity across various cultures. It's just more interesting to me. I think you can reach more vertical conclusions that way, when you see similarities. But I mean, I'm also into looking at the individual (probably more so than you are). As someone who's not looking for truth it doesn't seem pointless to me, because I just like sort of relishing the richness of the world.