Furthering Our Intellectual Development

after half reading this thread i have come to the conclusion that everyone on watmm is a first year college student with plans to major in philosophy

i love this thread.

  On 5/29/2012 at 5:32 AM, Joseph said:

after half reading this thread i have come to the conclusion that everyone on watmm is a first year college student with plans to major in philosophy

That sounds like bad science. I hereby ban you to pre-college summer school!

  On 5/29/2012 at 5:32 AM, Joseph said:

after half reading this thread i have come to the conclusion that everyone on watmm is a first year college student with plans to major in philosophy

you would be right

fucking lol

Grw a mustache like maxims or blimps

ur mustache will act as an indicator of your intellectual strength. as your brain developes so will ur facefuzz.

  On 5/28/2012 at 7:46 AM, ganus said:

  On 5/28/2012 at 6:29 AM, Murveman said:

Flatland. It's free for kindle. And Kindle is free for PC. And it's a quick read.

 

Although it doesn't deal with religion, it converted me from Atheism to Agnosticism.

 

 

  On 5/28/2012 at 5:43 AM, ganus said:

-go to the library and get any interesting up-to-date books about other cultures, world history, astronomy, music, sociology, etc., that you can find, and read them. you may think you know world history, culture, and music, but once you really start looking in detail, you will realize how little you knew.

-take any opportunities you get to experience other cultures or explore natural climates

-smoke weed by yourself (important) and just take some time to relax and contemplate life.

 

Agreed! It's really easy to get into a region's history and their people. In regards to smoking weed; go for a walk in a forest while coming down and just appreciate nature. After you appreciate nature read "Nature" by Ralph Waldo Emerson (It's free for kindle, and kindle is free for PC, and it's a quick read). Then go for another walk in the forest and appreciate nature even more.

Then find books that will enable you to identify pieces of nature. Birds, trees, whatever.

 

Man, it's so sad that high school has to be such a waste of life.

murve

come to washington

I have acres of rainforest in my backyard (literally, on all counts) that I walk in almost every day

 

  Reveal hidden contents

and good weed

and also breakcore vinyls

 

 

the invitation is there

That sounds like my ideal life. One of these days I'll move further west and take you up on that invite.

one quick thing that I didn't notice earlier....I really wouldn't recommend Thus Spake Zarathustra as a good intro to Nietzsche, for several reasons. Even though he believed it to be his greatest work, there were a ton of previous ideas and hammering out of concepts that were blatantly easier to comprehend, whereas Zarathustra is very much written in some sort of Grecian tragic poem. Its much more obtuse and convoluted (I think intentionally so) than the first part of this new line of "Overman" concepts, which might be a better start...The Gay Science. He considered that to practically be a spiritual predecessor of Zarathustra.

Second, Nietzsche wrote the last part of it during the time in which he was arguably losing his sanity. No one is really sure whether he wrote it for a laugh, or was incredibly sincere, a mixture of both, etc. etc. Lastly, Zarathustra was technically both a prophetic book and a parody of prophetic books at the same time: this dialectic is sort of hard to understand unless you read some of his earlier works (though Ecce Homo sort of speaks at length about his conceptual process).

The prose is pretty neat, but at the same time, if its your first Nietzsche book, you don't want to come off it with a very skewed idea of his philosophy.

Some other books I forgot to mention that might be good reads:

The Radicalism of the American Revolution-Gordon Wood (After reading this book it made me want to be a historian. Great, great read.)

The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution-Bernard Bailyn (Wood's predecessor, talks at great length about how enamored early colonial society was with Greco-Roman political structures).

Michel Foucault- Im a huge Foucault fanboy, and a lot of people hate him these days for being deliberately obtuse. But he brought up a ton of fun ways of interpreting the supposedly inherent nature of power in society, and how it is incredible in manifesting and re-inventing itself in a number of different ways....I would consider him to be somewhat of a successor to Nietzsche (which is probably why so many people nowadays hate his writing).

and thanks to whoever recommended Flatland, that was awesome!

OP, I really hope you enjoy all the fun work ahead of ye!

I'm going to change this book themed thread to a different direction because it seems like i've got a lot on my plate as far as books go.

Can you guys link me to audio/video clips of lectures at the university level? Thanks again, this thread has gone very well so far. I've started listening to some of Alan Watt's lectures and find them interesting

  On 5/26/2012 at 9:33 PM, Danny O Flannagin said:

  On 5/26/2012 at 9:24 PM, ruiagnelo said:

you could have just said school sucks

Didn't want to sound like a straight out of highschool asshole but i ended up sounding like a pretentious douche.

You can start off by writing it as 'arsehole'.

See you're sounding further learned already.

  On 6/2/2012 at 12:02 AM, delet... said:

  On 5/26/2012 at 9:33 PM, Danny O Flannagin said:

  On 5/26/2012 at 9:24 PM, ruiagnelo said:

you could have just said school sucks

Didn't want to sound like a straight out of highschool asshole but i ended up sounding like a pretentious douche.

 

You can start off by writing it as 'arsehole'.

 

See you're sounding further learned already.

Im from America, man

A good place to start with Nietzsche is the Genealogy of Morals. Even though it's one of his later works, and one of his most misunderstood works, I think it's one where he expresses his points most clearly.

However, it's almost impossible to understand Nietzsche without reading about the German history he was reacting against, and maybe some biographical material about him. Dude was messed up, and it had a strong effect on his work. Many of his brought points should be best understood as reactions to his own personal circumstances, or his perception of what was happening to Germany at the time.

I started with a translation that explained why modern scholarship rejects the Arianist interpretations of Nietzsche, and how the "blonde beast" should be understood as a mythical lion, not a blonde Arian German. That helped set me straight. But additional information about Germany's delayed cultural development compared to France and the UK, and Nietzsche's own personal experiences (he was brought up by a mother and two older sisters, who all idolized the memory of his dead minister father) could shed some light on his more controversial views.

  On 6/3/2012 at 1:26 AM, Danny O Flannagin said:

  On 6/2/2012 at 12:02 AM, delet... said:

  On 5/26/2012 at 9:33 PM, Danny O Flannagin said:

  On 5/26/2012 at 9:24 PM, ruiagnelo said:

you could have just said school sucks

Didn't want to sound like a straight out of highschool asshole but i ended up sounding like a pretentious douche.

 

You can start off by writing it as 'arsehole'.

 

See you're sounding further learned already.

 

Im from America, man

Well if you'd prefer to stunt that intellectual development you so crave, so be it then.

(heh (apparently the US is also a wasteland for comprehending mirthful prodding) heh)

;-]

can someone tell me if "Human All Too Human" is worth reading? I read some of it and it felt a bit archaic. I might be slow though.

On a person note: I have no idea what the fuck is going on. Lets prevent war.

  On 5/28/2012 at 6:17 AM, lumpenprol said:

if you're a man, castrate yourself. Does wonders for mental tranquility and focus...

haha.

As an added bonus you get to be a priest devoted to the worship of Cybele.

  On 6/1/2012 at 9:29 PM, Danny O Flannagin said:

I'm going to change this book themed thread to a different direction because it seems like i've got a lot on my plate as far as books go.

 

Can you guys link me to audio/video clips of lectures at the university level? Thanks again, this thread has gone very well so far. I've started listening to some of Alan Watt's lectures and find them interesting

MIT open course ware

iTunes U has tons of lectures, videos and lecture notes for free. Some of it is really good, some of it is just good.

Khan Academy is a great resource for reviewing concepts or getting simpler explanations. They're a little bit science and math oriented, but there's tons to look at.

I think I may be mentally handicapped. In some way. Like, part of my brain is baggage. I need to fuck off and get pussy. But I can't, because I hate myself. See you guys later!

  On 6/1/2012 at 9:29 PM, Danny O Flannagin said:

I'm going to change this book themed thread to a different direction because it seems like i've got a lot on my plate as far as books go.

 

Can you guys link me to audio/video clips of lectures at the university level? Thanks again, this thread has gone very well so far. I've started listening to some of Alan Watt's lectures and find them interesting

Hilary Putnam and Bryan Magee:

Martha Nussbaum and Bryan Magee:

When I was an undergrad, my mentor begged the library at my alma mater to buy these on VHS, and they did. They were hundreds of dollars each (imported from the UK, I think). Whoever this flame0430 is really saved us (or people like me, at any rate) a lot of money.

  On 6/3/2012 at 4:59 AM, chenGOD said:

  On 6/1/2012 at 9:29 PM, Danny O Flannagin said:

I'm going to change this book themed thread to a different direction because it seems like i've got a lot on my plate as far as books go.

 

Can you guys link me to audio/video clips of lectures at the university level? Thanks again, this thread has gone very well so far. I've started listening to some of Alan Watt's lectures and find them interesting

 

MIT open course ware

iTunes U has tons of lectures, videos and lecture notes for free. Some of it is really good, some of it is just good.

Khan Academy is a great resource for reviewing concepts or getting simpler explanations. They're a little bit science and math oriented, but there's tons to look at.

OH! thanks for reminding me about Khan Academy. I always had it in my head that it was just a math site, forgot about all the other stuff on there. Seeing one man make all those videos makes me feel like i've done nothing with my life :(

  On 6/3/2012 at 4:07 AM, delet... said:

  On 6/3/2012 at 1:26 AM, Danny O Flannagin said:

  On 6/2/2012 at 12:02 AM, delet... said:

  On 5/26/2012 at 9:33 PM, Danny O Flannagin said:

  On 5/26/2012 at 9:24 PM, ruiagnelo said:

you could have just said school sucks

Didn't want to sound like a straight out of highschool asshole but i ended up sounding like a pretentious douche.

 

You can start off by writing it as 'arsehole'.

 

See you're sounding further learned already.

 

Im from America, man

 

Well if you'd prefer to stunt that intellectual development you so crave, so be it then.

 

 

(heh (apparently the US is also a wasteland for comprehending mirthful prodding) heh)

 

;-]

I know your just joking but i feel like everyone on this site secretly wants to kill me

  On 6/7/2012 at 8:52 PM, Danny O Flannagin said:

  On 6/3/2012 at 4:59 AM, chenGOD said:

  On 6/1/2012 at 9:29 PM, Danny O Flannagin said:

I'm going to change this book themed thread to a different direction because it seems like i've got a lot on my plate as far as books go.

 

Can you guys link me to audio/video clips of lectures at the university level? Thanks again, this thread has gone very well so far. I've started listening to some of Alan Watt's lectures and find them interesting

 

MIT open course ware

iTunes U has tons of lectures, videos and lecture notes for free. Some of it is really good, some of it is just good.

Khan Academy is a great resource for reviewing concepts or getting simpler explanations. They're a little bit science and math oriented, but there's tons to look at.

 

OH! thanks for reminding me about Khan Academy. I always had it in my head that it was just a math site, forgot about all the other stuff on there. Seeing one man make all those videos makes me feel like i've done nothing with my life :(

Yeah, i hate to admit it. But the guy is amazing. Well except for the area that he actually had a job in. In one video he blames the housing crisis on home owners and doesn't bother including the fraudulent practises of the banks and their surrogates. Which is typical of his class. Everything is a fault of those plebs and their big TVs, it's so easy to convince themselves of that.

gleh.

But other than that, yeah the fact that he actually seems to have some grasp of a lot of the things that he is teaching, amazes me.

My son just graduated high school.

Fucking hell, I'm old.

.

/thread

  On 6/8/2012 at 2:23 AM, delet... said:

 

 

Yeah, i hate to admit it. But the guy is amazing. Well except for the area that he actually had a job in. In one video he blames the housing crisis on home owners and doesn't bother including the fraudulent practises of the banks and their surrogates. Which is typical of his class. Everything is a fault of those plebs and their big TVs, it's so easy to convince themselves of that.

 

gleh.

 

But other than that, yeah the fact that he actually seems to have some grasp of a lot of the things that he is teaching, amazes me.

Incredible - people leverage themselves to the fucking hilt and go into insane amounts of debt, and somehow it's the banks' fault?

Now, don't get me wrong, the banks are not blameless, they way the resold the complex packaged debt as being low risk is reprehensible, but people making 40k a year thinking they can have huge houses, 3 cars etc are fucking idiots.