Let's Talk About Literature.... Anyone?

As Davec5 says, existentialism does have a certain appeal, it can lead to an unpleasant place. I'm not really one for sugarcoating, of course, but still, I just feel that there's something being left out.

I can't bring myself to hold to either pure materialism or pure idealism. Independently, I've developed a growing belief that the two realms are the same (there are four states of matter, not three: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. If matter can move between the first three [by freezing, melting, evaporating, condensing, and sublimating], then it logically follows that the fourth state can be reached as well. What is an idea, in a materialist sense, but electrical impulses bouncing between neurons? If matter and energy are somehow linked, doesn't it follow that ideas and thoughts can influence this "physical" world?).

My particular form of "materialism," then, cannot help but include the "non-physical" as we would understand it: forces and influences (and perhaps even consciousnesses) that have no physical body, but can be perceived and function on the physical level. Inevitably, the opposite also becomes possible: physical beings and substances that can function on other levels of being (either akashic, etherial, or astral).

(The old legends of iron being deadly to faerie, and of silver to weres, suddenly become understandable, if not plausible. Of course, one must always ask how these "folktales" originated. Someone, somewhere must have had reason to believe there was something to them.)

This is another conclusion: all lies are true. Lies do not tell themselves, but are told for a reason. There are infinite possible lies, so one must wonder why some are told and retold while others are not. Is there not a truth to a consistent lie that the "real" world (assuming, of course, the existentialist perspective that life/reality is simply random chaos which simply "happens") lacks?

Can lies not become self-fulfilling prophecies, or create a "reality" (as with the Alliance's Miranda secret) distinct from history?

(Why do so many ancient cultures describe refugees from a sunken continent if it could never have existed? Why do so many report seeing lights in the sky when they aren't allowed to exist? Why is there evidence of a world-spanning serpent-worshipping religion when such a thing would not have been possible? Are we to belive that these "lies" simply appeared one day and propagate themselves through random chance and quirks of perception?)

Quote:

---

Originally posted by davec5:
Outside of Sartre's view that life is an "unhappy consciousness," a "useless passion," much of what Sartre asserts makes sense and counters the dangerous notions of Freud and his ilk. For instance, Sartre emphatically rejects the idea advanced by Freud that certain mental events have unconscious causes. Emotions, he says, are not outside the control of our wills, if one is sad it is because one chooses to be sad; we are responsible for our emotions;

---

As much as I'm a fan of Sartre, this is where he and I part ways.

I can see his point, that human will can affect emotion, but I'm not sure I agree. What, then, is the purpose of emotion?

Perhaps it's a matter of semantics; drawing a distinction between "emotion" (which is simply a brain's reaction to events) and "passion" (which becomes a part of oneself). This then would be the difference between sadness and the despair that leads one to suicide, or anger and the rage that leads to wanting to kill someone slowly, or fear and crippling phobia, or mere physical attraction and the love that holds people together even beyond any rationality or reproductive imperative.

I am, of course, a romantic, and the reduction of Love to a set of biological imperatives just doesn't seem practical or satisfying. Homosexuality is an obvious but undeniable problem (why love someone you can't breed with?), as is the idea of loving a particular individual (like falling in love with one identical twin, but not the other).

I don't deny that the biological influence

NOTIFY: N  | REPLY  | REPLY WITH QUOTE  | PERMALINK  | TOP  | HOME

Well I do know one thing- those Reaver reading parties make you read John Updike novels. Reavers truly are bastards.

NOTIFY: Y  | REPLY  | REPLY WITH QUOTE  | PERMALINK  | TOP  | HOME

"I can't bring myself to hold to either pure materialism or pure idealism"

Yeah yeah. Every frickin' body is trying to reproduce Kant's trans-ident without, you know, actually using Kant. You sound like every student I've ever had.

NOTIFY: Y  | REPLY  | REPLY WITH QUOTE  | PERMALINK  | TOP  | HOME

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Mattie:
Heh, psychoanalasys doesn't solve all of the problems, does it? I don't think anyone or anything can.

---

Not at all, I merely meant that now that truth that was burning up her brain (as Mal put it in the BDM) won't haunt her in the same way - it's made it's way to the surface. As a result of what the Alliance did to her, I see River, essentially, as a broken person. She'll never be fully recovered from all the horrors they inflicted on her, but now that she's found a home with Simon and the crew of Serenity, she has a chance to heal. I don't think psychoanalysis will be the thing to cure her, but something much more valuable - LOVE!!!

However there's probably plenty of other dangerous secrets locked inside her mind that even she's not conscious of. If we get a sequel I'm sure we'll find out. I think Blue Sun have a vested interest in her that I'd love to see played out in Serenity 2.

RE: Buffy - easliy my favourite show of all time!! It's the reason I discovered Firefly -and I can't overstate it's influence on me. Your professor knows her stuff!


On another note, have any of you read The Killer Angels, the novel that inspired Joss to create Firefly? It's by Michael Shaara, and it won the Pultzer in 1975. I read it out of curiosity, not expecting to enjoy it much as I'm not a fan of military novels. But it was much better than I hoped!! I should have known since it inspired Joss!

It's set in the American Civil War, specifically the Battle of Gettysburg. It only covers about three days, but it manages to draw a really detailed picture of what life must have been like for the men who fought on both sides. There's a lot of different characters to remember but they're all fascinating and Shaara always focuses on their personal experience of war, rather than making sweeping romantic statements about the glory or tragedy of warfare. It's very human and touching and more than once reminded me of Firefly. Reading it made me understand Mal and Zoe's experiences in the war a little better. I recommend it to any Browncoat who enjoys reading.

We're still flying.

That's not much.

It's enough.

NOTIFY: Y  | REPLY  | REPLY WITH QUOTE  | PERMALINK  | TOP  | HOME

Quote:

---

Originally posted by davec5:
sorry for the delay...i actually do have a job....and am sometimes required to do actual work!....kwong-juh duh

---

Alas! So do I! Gar! S'okay though, I understand.

Quote:

---

I'm reminded of Mal's line... I think the battle of Serenity Valley plays a large role in the development of Mal's character... A common thread in stories that appeal to the champions of the underdog, whether it be a western or science fiction.

---

I mentioned paradox earlier, but I'm gonna bring it up again. I found this definition on OED.com.:

Paradox: c. Logic. More fully logical paradox. An argument, based on (apparently) acceptable premisses and using (apparently) valid reasoning, which leads to a conclusion that is against sense, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory; the conclusion of such an argument. Freq. with a descriptive or eponymous name.

I didn't know what eponymous meant, so here's what I found:

Eponymous: That gives (his) name to anything; said esp. of the mythical personages from whose names the names of places or peoples are reputed to be derived.

Something that does not make sense, and yet it is accepted. Cool.


Wacky fun!

NOTIFY: Y  | REPLY  | REPLY WITH QUOTE  | PERMALINK  | TOP  | HOME

I'm working on a response to your response, but I need a little more time. I like this, but I think it requres some thought in order to respond as well as you did.

Wacky fun!

NOTIFY: Y  | REPLY  | REPLY WITH QUOTE  | PERMALINK  | TOP  | HOME