So, Kant and his work, obviously provided a lot of inspiration for other philosophers. The apparent conflict in the study of knowledge...
In a way, this is where the dialectic would/could have begun? You give very good examples. Glass half full/empty perspective, gymnasts, steroids etc.
There is a lot to think about even just in this brief intro to Kant's philosophy's - it's huge. One thought/approach can easily undo the opposite thought/approach, but it can also compliment it - funny.
-- Noreen
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Noreen,
You always have a knack for giving great feedback -- anticipating and/or foreshadowing my next essay and/or line of thought, and/or changing my direction of thought in a direction that I had not anticipated but which is very meaningful in its own right. I hope that one day you will join me as a co-writer on Hegel's Hotel and/or alternatively, with your permission, I will share more of your feedback on my essays with the rest of my reading audience. I think your own contributions give Hegel's Hotel a new dimension that is not there when I am writing 'unilaterally'.
As much as I am partly a 'control freak' and have finally settled on an 'architectural structure' that feels good to me...(See my newest table of contents for Hegel's Hotel by googling...Hegel's Hotel, table of contents...), still there is all the room in the world for good writers to send me there own personal contributions to Hegel's Hotel which I will add to the evolving structure and process if I like the quality of your work...
Already my dad has made some great contributions to Hegel's Hotel including a section on romantic philosophy and poetry that I dedicated to him. A few years ago, my dad and I co-wrote an essay called 'Plato's Room' which I will add to Hegel's Hotel in the Plato section just as soon as I can find it. I also hope that my dad may make contributions to both my business section and my poltical section as he has been involved in both for most of his adult life. And finally, my dad contributed to an excellent essay to my 'God and Religion' section that I will reprint here in hopes that it will encourage other prospective philosophical writers to submit there own papers for possible inclusion in Hegel's Hotel...Remember, 'dialectic' means more than one perspective by one or more than one writer...Hegel's Hotel was/is not meant to be as 'unilateral' as George Bush and associated company (I think that includes McCain)snubbing their collective noses, and bypassing, the United Nations on their way to invadng Iraq on the grounds of Iraq's imminent threat to America's national security which in turn rested on the declared grounds of their 'weapons of mass destruction'.
DGB Philosophy believes in 'dialectic-democracy-freedom-equal rights-embracing conflicts-negotiation-integration-and-the-aimed-for-idealism-of-differential-unity-harmony-and-wholism (much like the Democratic party is striving for in their convention right now as I write).
It is easy to try to avoid, evade, ignore, demean, disrespect, overpower...conflict and disagreement...but it is in dialectical disagreement that we can often see the most meaningful creative tensions, negotiations, integrations, and evolutionary success stories where 'two perspectives, theories, lifestyles, businesses, political points of view, philosophies, psychologies, biologies, chemistries...suddenly merge into one'. This is the Hegel's Hotel: DGB philosophical idealism of 'differential unity'.
-- dgb, Aug. 27, 2008.
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Gordon Bain"
To: dgbainsky@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: God is the Bridge
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 13:50:31 -0400
I am having some trying days of late, but today is bright and while it
is
cold, it is fun to think.
I go back a little and come to your God is a Bridge thinking, or is Man
the
Bridge?
It occurs to me that without question, God is the Bridge.
There are countless times in life when the load gets heavy, and you
must try
to understand the unthinkable...the questions for which there are no
logical
answers. It is then we can look to the stars and imagine beyond, as
your
mother does most every clear night. She is not crazy with man contrived
theological passions. She simply finds solace and calmness in the
belief of
a greater power ... God...and allows her uncertainties and unanswerable
questions ..indeed all of her hurts and despair .. and we all have
them.. to
ride the stars (read that crossing the bridge) through the vastness of
incalculable space to a place of perfection, serenity and
understanding. It
is a bright and happy place where a person can set their load down, and
find
solace. It allows her to have inner strength that is enviable. In other
words that which she cannot understand she gives to God.
It is said you rarely see an athiest in the heat of battle. In truth,
most
all of the world with its billions of people believe in a greater
power. We
are in a state of self love and me..ness right now. If those less
endowed
could not reach out to their God, how could they bridge the death and
destruction of world savagery, or explain their children dying of
hunger and
disease?
I think your Mom is right. I have thought about it a lot in my time,
tried
to be smart, said clever things to suggest I had an angle on the
religion
thing. I come back to the simple belief in a greater power. As Einstein
remarked in his later life, no matter how many answers are found, there
are
ten thousand times more that are unexplainable except to view and
explain it
as the work of a greater power. Paraphrased and pulled from my memory
of
what he said, but that is the gist of it.
So David, I was quite fascinated with your God is the Bridge poem, for
all
of the reasons given. I hold that the title is suggestive, soothing,
and
meaningful. It is worthy of a scholar's rendering. However, it would be
easy
to crash under the weight of needing to have this God-like state proven
beyond a shadow of doubt. Then it would be a bridge to nothingness,
literally.
Dad
