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Philosophy

Death Is a Perspective: from Epicurus to Schopenhauer

July 6, 2019

death, fear, philosophy, subjectivity, time

To say that death is a perspective might at first sound bizarre. The fear of death must be among the most powerful fears humans experience during their life (think about the irony for a second).

Whether that fear is rational or not, it’s something we’ll need to talk about. We also need to ponder on what we mean by “fear of death”. Do we refer to our death or others’? Do we refer to death or dying?

All these are valid questions – albeit, questions most people bypass as too inconvenient. These, too, are parts of the “death is a perspective” thesis. But there’s much more to it.

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Romantic Poets and Jinjer’s “Pisces”: Meaning, Duality, and the Human Tragedy

June 19, 2019

Criticism, Philosophy

duality, humanity, Jinjer, meaning, Pisces, poetry, Romanticism

Hell, what a title, huh? Only a madman like myself could find a connection between Romantic poets and a modern band like Jinjer. But before we talk about Jinjer’s “Pisces”, meaning, duality, and the human tragedy, there’s something you need to know about Romantic poets.

They were bad-ass motherfuckers.

They were obviously the rock stars of their day – including drug use – in that they talked about things nobody else dared to. Romantic poets, in general, had the personal integrity to express what they believed. As a result of this integrity, they also often shared another characteristic.

They were tormented souls.

Perhaps it feels confusing to you to hear that. Can a bad-ass really be a frail, introvert creature, haunted and often misunderstood by society?

That’s what we’ll be talking about today. Drawing from Romantic poets such as William Blake as well as a song by a modern band, Jinjer’s “Pisces”, meaning, duality, and the tragedy of human existence will come full circle.

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What Is Negative Capability

May 13, 2019

Literature, Philosophy

experiencing, Keats, literature, negative capability, philosophy, poetry, truth

In today’s post I will talk about Negative Capability. In particular, I’ll try to answer the question, What is negative capability? There’s a reason I’ve used bold font. There’s also a reason I said that I’ll try to answer the question.

Honestly, few things in a literary context have troubled me more than negative capability. Can I give you a definition? Sure. That’s very easy. Let’s take the one offered by John Keats himself, who coined the term.

[S]everal things dovetailed in my mind, & at once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in Literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously – I mean Negative Capability, that is when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason – Coleridge, for instance, would let go by a fine isolated verisimilitude caught from the Penetralium of mystery, from being incapable of remaining content with half knowledge.
The Letters of John Keats, ed. H E Rollins. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1958.

what is negative capability — Negative capability is about the search for *aesthetic*, rather than *philosophical* meaning.

Giving a simple definition is relatively easy. Understanding the repercussions, is an entirely different story. Let’s try to unpack this.

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