May
14
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Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Call for Originality: Philosophy Is Not A Luxury Podcast Episode 1:
I am very happy to offer you the first episode of the new Philosophy Is Not a Luxury Podcast. In this episode I introduce the intention behind starting the podcast and introduce the thinking of Ralph Waldo Emerson by discussing a passage from his book Nature first published in 1836.
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Excellent first episode Jeff! You have sent me back to the Collected Emerson on my bookshelf and for that I am grateful. I look forward to future episodes.
I appreciate your intention and feel overwhelmed by the irony of choosing to look back to Emerson’s work to explain why we shouldn’t be looking backwards to find our philosophy. I am concerned that, by my accounting, you spent three quarters of this podcast in two of my most dreaded activities: promising and footnoting. These might be considered two common flaws lecturers make. First, nobody thrives on promises. If you have something to say, say it rather than promising to say it later. Foreshadowing makes weak content; the more superlative the insistence, the lighter the impact. Second, almost no reader, and even fewer listeners, care about the precise attribution of an idea. Suffice with a general attributing statement, best delivered after the idea, lest the listener’s appetite get blunted or disinterested from lengthy explanation. Context can be set without setting it in concrete and piling a ten foot pile of painstakingly carted in stones.
One (I, for instance), might be forgiven for believing that philosophy involves mostly philosopher-izing, exhuming long-dead obituaries, in homage to the really great thinkers, rather than exuding our own perspectives, however enriched or endangered by those who thought before. Exhumation might be the luxury you insist philosophy isn’t. Walk your talk, please, by walking more and explaining less.
Thanks for putting yourself out there. I sincerely appreciate your effort.
Hello David, I am laughing at the irony of using Emerson’s 200 year old call for authenticity. If you want to find more of my original thoughts please look at my book Radical Inclusivity. And please listen to my next podcast, although I hadn’t read your post before I recorded it, I think it may have naturally addressed some of the points you raised. I appreciate your support.
Emerson is brilliant, truly wonderful. I am so glad you are back at it. Let’s talk about him sometime together.