Chris is right about my judgment of myself now. As I said a couple of days ago, I'm too old.
I'm too old for two reasons: I don't have the time and strength to build a complete structure to house "a philosophy". Ability aside, imagine the heavy-lifting done by the likes of Aristotle, Aquinas, and Kant! And I no longer have the consistent mental acuity required. I frequently look back on postings of mine that are only a few days old and see I said it wrong, or I overlooked something my younger eyes would not have let pass. I fancy that if I'd stayed in it way back then, I coulda been a contenda. But that was a very bad time for philosophy, and it just didn't interest me. In the U.S. and Europe, philosophy was suffocating in the coils of the logic squids. Only England was breathing somewhat healthily. Meantime, it was a good time for "creative writing" -- so I went there. Nevertheless I believe that every lister can still ask worthy questions, and show flashes of startling insight -- the sorts of insight that professional philosophers seldom have because, paradoxically, they are so handicapped by the blinkering received "wisdom" they feel they must take into account. I've often seen listers make swift comments that I sensed were likely only from someone unburdened by the wrong-headed standard academic curriculum. Meantime I see Kate has beat me to saying: I'm not the monitor of the list. I also take Kate's point about not straying into fields of philosophy not relevant to aesthetics. I tell myself I'm right to fight, say, the reifying of such things as "art" and "beauty" because it commits errors in philosophy of mind and metaphysics, but -- another common enfeeblement of age -- I can fail to register when I've drifted too far from the accepted path. I'll renew my efforts to avoid useless ad hominem and drifting. ************** Play online games for FREE at Games.com! All of your favorites, no registration required and great graphics b check it out! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1211202682x1200689022/aol?redir= http://www.games.com?ncid=emlcntusgame00000001)
