Hey, Let's Live Forever

Reno 911! was as excellent as promised. Although I have no further need to see Lt. Dangle in a thong, I did discover that your mother is a ukulele.

My (albeit vague) prediction regarding the ending of The Idea of Culture was pretty correct. Rather than providing a rigorous philosophical system, Eagleton instead focuses on discussing the problem at hand, developing a common culture in this case. He asserts that, due to the growing influence of production and value-exchange, the personal sphere / private life as been enveloped in economics; as a result, activities no longer have simply a moral or humanistic value. What Eagleton advances is that once the activities that are common to us all are removed from the economic field, we’ll become more capable of developing a common culture. While he’s not necessarily advocating something a priori to humans, he does agree that there are some activities common to all humans – the ability to feel pleasure/pain (Rorty), our relationship to the environment, etc. If these activities are commodified as culture, then there’s little likelihood of humans recognizing the similarities between themselves: affording culture or recognizing the merits of another’s culture is problematic in this instance.

Eagleton makes a few other interesting observations vis-à-vis T.S. Eliot. Although he eschews Eliot’s elitist tendencies, he notes that, like any good elitist, Eliot has populist leanings. High and low culture are not necessarily different types of culture; the high / low distinction rests on a person’s ability to take something away from a cultural phenomena. As Eliot noted, some of his readers may catch his allusions toward the Iliad, others may just have gut reactions to his work. (It is worth noting that Eliot mentions the latter are more important to him.)

I started Minima Moralia by Adorno last night, and, so far, it’s a pretty good book (all 30 pages that I’ve read). The bite-sized philosophical segments are very interesting as, like Nietzsche, Adorno wanders the philosophical landscape, offering his concise, often biting commentary in short bursts. I’ve already noticed how his aesthetic philosophy forms the foundation for many contemporary thinkers.

The new Canary is out, and I picked up a copy. They may not love me, but I still love them. Once again, a wonderful diversity of writers. Is it me, or is John Ashberry in vogue again?

And don’t listen to Rach.

Cheers,

-j