Status Updates From Examined Life: Excursions W...

Last chapter: Judith Butler and Sunaura Taylor (the authors sister) on interdependence.

A good discussion between a philosopher and a wheelchair bound person (the authors sister) about the dependence of disabled persons in America. I felt it touched on a few great points and opened my eyes a little bit about the codependency of the disabled and the fully functional (for lack of a better term…).

Chapter 6: Slavoj Zizek. This was a unwhelming interview, Zizek is pretty lewd and incoherent here. Never read any of his books but I’m sure they’re good.

Chapter 6: Michael Hardt on “Revolution”, this interview was okay, not super eye opening but I have seen Michael Hardt’s book on the shelf and was intrigued by the titles. As a worker in a prominent union (Longshore Warehouse Union) I liked some of his ideas about revolution on a small scale, sticking it to the boss in order to keep the union strong. But I question the effects of Revolution on a larger scale.

Chapter 5: Martha Nussbaum, a really good talk with her. She seems really well educated in her subject (justice). A couple years ago I did one of those internet quizzes to see which philosopher I would like the most and Nussbaum was the one that came up. I couldn’t find any of her books in the library so I forgot about. I typically think internet quizzes are dumb but this one seemed to be on point lol.

Finished the 4th chapter, the interview with Kwame Anthony Appiah. Never heard of him before but I like his ideas about a global community of many different cultures (not to be confused with a global empire) if all of us could coordinate to hold our individual countries leaders accountable than we could certainly have a more sustainable system. This is highly unrealistic though in my view as most are nationalistic.

Peter Singer never fails to guilt me (understandably and rationally) about my love of eating meat. I love all living things but eating meat is such an enjoyable part of my life. Oh the irony…

Peter Singer was the best interview yet, he argues for utilitarianism, humanitarianism and against commercialism and dogma. Views that I largely agree with. I especially like his metaphor of the obvious choice of ruining a good pair of shoes to save a drowning child but the equally common choice or refusing to donate money to starving or sick children and instead buying a fancy pair of shoes.

Wasn’t a fan of Avital Ronnel’s interview in second chapter. She seemed more interested in boasting about her rebelliousness than discussing the chosen topic (meaning). I’ve never heard of her before reading this book but in my minds eye she is one of those type of existential philosophers that smokes to look uncool but cool at the same but ultimately ends up looking doubly uncool. Her ideas were very scattered

Each chapter features an interview with one contemporary philosopher, 1st is Cornel West on the subject of Truth. Pretty intriguing, West had a lot of interesting ideas on meaningfulness (or lack thereof).