{"id":854,"date":"2014-10-26T18:23:47","date_gmt":"2014-10-26T16:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filosofille.wordpress.com\/?p=854"},"modified":"2026-05-12T09:12:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T08:12:45","slug":"qa-50-thoughts-at-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/qa-50-thoughts-at-sea\/","title":{"rendered":"QA 50! Thoughts at sea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"castaway_by_ascentem-d4a7u8m\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A funny thing happened<\/strong> at the Philosophy Caf\u00e9 last month. I got lost. We all set sail on a conversation about \u201csadness\u201d, but I didn\u2019t know what they were talking about. My mind was clear and present. <\/span>I just couldn\u2019t relate, couldn\u2019t get a grip, couldn\u2019t participate. And the good ship \u201cwe\u201d sailed on without me. Huh<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been a chance to rediscover that \u2013 so long as you\u2019re not in real danger, so long as you don\u2019t panic \u2013 being all at sea is philosophy\u2019s home ground. Not knowing what\u2019s happening is a condition of wonder, in every sense of the word. It\u2019s also kind of sad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

My experience<\/strong> was essentially \u2013 however mildly \u2013 one of alienation and exclusion. As if an invisible barrier appears only and precisely at the moment you hit it, dividing and reorienting me<\/em>, them<\/em>, in<\/em>, out<\/em>, here<\/em>, there<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From my new vantage point, I could see how the conversation (a \u201clanguage game\u201d, in Wittgenstein\u2019s phrase) was propelled by mutual appeals to a mutual understanding of the world. You know what I mean?<\/em> They took that understanding for granted and wielded it together naturally<\/span>. An understanding I lacked, and to which I had no access. That sense of givenness, access and reception is crucial, both as a metaphor of our understanding and as a criterion of recognition and belonging. It\u2019s scarcely a step from don\u2019t you get it? <\/em>to what is wrong with you?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If community depends<\/strong> on a shared view of reality \u2013 a \u201cform of life\u201d (Wittgenstein) or \u201clifeworld\u201d (Husserl) \u00ad\u2013 our reality also depends on community assent. Is it that contingent? So we apparently believe. No wonder consensus must be so vigorously preserved (conservative view) or broadened (liberal view).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Western philosophy has historically strived to overcome contingency with the authority of universality and scientific objectivity. A universality and objectivity that  served to validate the worldview \u00ad\u2013 and served the interests \u2013 of a particular circle of elites. No win there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know what I mean?<\/em> <\/strong>Whole worlds ride on that question. Because what if you don\u2019t? What if my meaning baffles you? Suddenly we are strangers, estranged, suspicious. There\u2019s a whiff of violence in the air. Maybe you\u2019re wrong. Maybe I\u2019m crazy or stupid. Maybe we can look at it both ways, agree to disagree. Maybe one will come round to the other\u2019s way of thinking. Maybe one will be forced to. Maybe this world just ain\u2019t big enough for the both of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inclusion and exclusion share a Latin root: claudere<\/em>, to shut. Include means shut in. Exclude means shut out. It\u2019s also relative. Just as one man\u2019s ceiling is another man\u2019s floor, the barrier that shuts me out may also demarcate an alternate space of belonging. A new \u201chere\u201d, a room of my own, even a new tribe of those who actually do know what I mean<\/em>. This hearth of individuation and political consciousness-raising is also contingent and relative, only differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem<\/strong> with divergent worldviews, with not getting<\/em> each other, may be a problem of verification. Some points of view are clearly mistaken. Some are mad. But who is to say so? How can I accept the validity of a view (even my own), without an external reference or scale? Even as we see every parameter change over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem of verification in turn may be the desire for certainty about what we know about the world. As if \u201cknowing about the world\u201d were the only means we had to relate to it and to each other, as if it were the only grounds for safety and security. I think that\u2019s a mistake. It might even be crazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of my favourite book titles is Lingis\u2019s The Community of Those Who Have Nothing in Common<\/em>. Emmanuel Levinas also says that roots of blood and culture are not so definitive, as “man is not a tree and humanity is not a forest”. But how can we recognise that community, that humanity, if our own beliefs and commitments blind us so?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A funny thing happened at the Philosophy Caf\u00e9 last month. I got lost. We all set sail on a conversation about \u201csadness\u201d, but I didn\u2019t know what they were talking about. My mind was clear and present. I just couldn\u2019t relate,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,111],"tags":[170,171,26,69,114,172,173,53],"class_list":["post-854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-everyday-philosophy","category-philosophy-as-emancipation","tag-all-at-sea","tag-community","tag-conversation","tag-identity","tag-levinas","tag-lingis","tag-na-mean","tag-philosophy-cafe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2330,"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854\/revisions\/2330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.further.co.za\/helen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}