Jessica Orrell’s Reviews > History of Political Philosophy > Status Update

Read chapter on Grotius. Seems like a cool guy I like his theory of justice. He would have LOVED colonialism and probably also the war in Iran, tho

Read the chapter on Hegel! It was going pretty good for a while and then I started to think he was a bit less profound. Very interested in his history, less in his politics. But the take that he is sympathetic towards the classics I like.

Read the chapter on Burke. I think I like Burke because he has reverence for traditionalism and seemed to point out the obvious problems in the French revolution. I am way too idealistic to really like him though, because he rejected theory and also the importance of founding. Nontheless, a cool guy.

Read chapter on Thucydides. I guess everything is self interested not only at the level of the city but also the individual! Gasp! I guess Bolotin thought Thucydides was trying to say that the philosophic way of life is the best. Is this a stretch? TBD.

Read the essay on Farabi. I think I only now finally understand why the Straussians like democracy so much. Thanks Mahdi. I’m very interested in Farabi’s adaptation of Platonic philosophy to serve Islamic ends. My teacher seemed to really de-emphasize Farabi’s ties to Islam, but Mahdi seems to think his desire for the world state was tied to his Islamic sympathies, which makes sense to me.

Read the essay on Heidegger tonight. Made me feel very sad because Being won’t reveal itself to me because I am stuck in a metaphysical framework of language that I cannot escape— I.e my relationship to the world is dictated by language and it has veiled wonder and awe at Being from me :(. But awesome essay nonetheless although a little critically toned. Gillespie is awesome maybe someday I’ll study with him.