tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post135467709224372904..comments2024-03-25T11:49:21.281-07:00Comments on The Splintered Mind: TreeEric Schwitzgebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-88893404049357559452013-05-27T09:02:43.186-07:002013-05-27T09:02:43.186-07:00Juan: I do still lean toward some version of reali...Juan: I do still lean toward some version of realism -- but a pretty weak or deflationary realism. I continue to struggle with the issue, not quite sure where exactly to settle.Eric Schwitzgebelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-1363967773208020672013-05-26T03:47:47.477-07:002013-05-26T03:47:47.477-07:00@Eric: Thanks for the response. Another question: ...@Eric: Thanks for the response. Another question: where do you lean on the issue vis a vis the objectivity of aesthetic and/or moral values? I remember you writing a long time ago on a blog post that you were leaning towards some kind of realism. Is that still true? I'm not asking for a detailed philosophical argument either way, just want to know where your intuition lies nowadays, if anywhere.Juanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11147365675250798236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-79265193040937125112013-05-22T09:12:30.359-07:002013-05-22T09:12:30.359-07:00Thanks for all the encouraging comments, folks!
@...Thanks for all the encouraging comments, folks!<br /><br />@ Juan: Yes -- those are exactly the questions I am struggling with. I don't mean to resolve them with this piece, just invite the reader also to reflect on them.<br /><br />@ Burthye: Yes, thanks!<br /><br />@ Anon: I have enjoyed the Le Guin I've read in the past, but I've never read that one. I'll check it out. Thanks for the tip!Eric Schwitzgebelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-62644618051710869502013-05-21T23:18:39.194-07:002013-05-21T23:18:39.194-07:00Le Guin's The Direction of the RoadLe Guin's <i>The Direction of the Road</i>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-42903529557710469772013-05-21T08:19:05.146-07:002013-05-21T08:19:05.146-07:00That was lovely. This stuff should make one think ...That was lovely. This stuff should make one think and be open to interpretation.<br />And so it is.<br />I like it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12782143757375315161noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-74496326750094134952013-05-20T16:33:53.966-07:002013-05-20T16:33:53.966-07:00This has a Humean vibe to it. Is part of the point...This has a Humean vibe to it. Is part of the point that anyone can care deeply about anything, where anything is ultimately pointless but at the same point anything can have a point? Even if we take the tack of seeing this as the supreme achievement of a god,as was said above, the question still remains as to why god would choose something so incongrous as the object of creation. <br /><br />So could this be a sort of aesthetic anti-realism? Or perhaps it does reveal an objective standard of beauty, which is nevertheless alien to conventional folk sensibilities.Juanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11147365675250798236noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-47002885278672315632013-05-20T12:40:31.223-07:002013-05-20T12:40:31.223-07:00Michel: I want to leave those questions open in th...Michel: I want to leave those questions open in the story as it stands. But my thought is maybe to have another story that hints toward this one, in which the world has a creator whose aim for the universe is fulfilled by the perfect tree and a lone observer for it.Eric Schwitzgebelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-25558403609895824722013-05-20T00:40:24.429-07:002013-05-20T00:40:24.429-07:00She alone realises what the tree is. what does tha...She alone realises what the tree is. what does that make her? If the tree is the centre of the universe, is she its circumference? and, simultaneously, vice-versa?<br /><br />How does the tree perceive her? does it worship her as much as she worships it?clasqmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12812785541545674276noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-2577635105486744492013-05-18T09:12:58.931-07:002013-05-18T09:12:58.931-07:00@ Thanks, Anon! Trying to figure out if I'm a...@ Thanks, Anon! Trying to figure out if I'm any good at this....<br /><br />@ Callan: Interesting twist. That would fit with the layering of reality I'm trying to work with among these stories.Eric Schwitzgebelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-48007699585259166292013-05-18T06:02:37.290-07:002013-05-18T06:02:37.290-07:00For a second I thought you were going to say it wa...For a second I thought you were going to say it was the secret reason god <i>was</i> made.<br /><br />Got that dippy feeling when suddenly the inner circle is made to eclipse and surround the outer circle.Callan S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/15373053356095440571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-25531158789363367822013-05-17T13:51:18.943-07:002013-05-17T13:51:18.943-07:00Beautiful, Eric!Beautiful, Eric!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com