This episode is an intense one. We crawl pretty far up our own asses. Then we have a big fight. But we come out stronger in the end, and I, for one, found it all very interesting. Enjoy!
QUESTIONS:
What is your most treasured memory? –Cawfee
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I think the desire to speak in a way that is always clear or true actually doesn’t make Will an oddball but connects him with a lot of writers/thinkers in Western Tradition–from those who want divine inspiration to be the basis of truth, but are kind of worried that maybe their words/stories/poetry are not divinely inspired, to those who look for that clarity in logic/reason.
The fact that the efforts to find this kind of authoritative language fails probably has something to do with the fact that language is at its foundation, metaphoric. (See, for instance, Ramachandran on the Bouba/kiki effect.) And actually, I find this, on the whole a good thing (though frustrating at times). I mean, would we have any of the arts, or even language itself, without this divide between what is and how we represent it? How would it affect our interactions?
The other thing I wanted to comment on (and this might have just been the two of you speaking in a bit of a shorthand), but I think the Reason/Emotion division you were making is based on some kind of notion that Emotion is what leads us astray and Logic guides us to the right decision, and I think that notion is false.
I haven’t listened to this podcast, so I’m not entirely sure what aspect of the conversation you’re referring to, but, indeed, if anything I said seemed to suggest or imply the notion that I believe in some kind of harsh “reason-emotion” dichotomy… well, I don’t, as I imagine my comments in other podcasts reveal. I do find, though, that merely talking about “reason/logic” and “emotions” as distinct concepts tends to lead others to think the speaker believes in such a dichotomy, because the greater culture asserts such a dichotomy even if the speaker does not. This is just one more example of how our backwards culture makes clarity regarding certain topics far more difficult than it needs to be.
In response to Tony taking the wrong laptop to work.
I’ve been asked a time or two to read a friend’s book while they’re working on it and I find it an incredibly hard thing to do. What I’ve generally found is early into the read; I’ll find a few scattered grammatical errors, or at least things that strike me that way, but then I start getting wrapped up in the story and lose the ability to see those things. Instead my notes become much more, nebulous and touchy-feely (i.e. this bit works for me or I don’t get this bit). I’ve never been happy with those reviews.
Thor: We had a great time watching this and I think it was much better than the other Thor films.
Spider-man Homecoming: I keep hearing that this was really good but I just haven’t had any interest in seeing another Spider-man reboot film.
William/Sherlock Holmes: Really, never? Wow, decidedly odd.
Nathaniel Hawthorne: I don’t think I’ve read any of his stuff, but I’ve enjoyed film adaptions of several of his works.
Most Treasured Memory: Too treasured to share. Also, I agree with both of you that the Now is more important to me than the Past.
High School: Definitely not the best years of my life, but perhaps the easiest years.
Reason vs. Emotion: What @jas said above. Also, Emotion and Reason affect everybody’s decision making but the trick lies in how much of each is applied to any given decision. Listening to this episode, I’m really starting to feel like William was inspiration for Melvin in As Good As It Gets.
Yeah, I’m… not sure how to take that…
But, again, I haven’t listened to this podcast, and don’t plan to.
I do know who Melvin is, though. I’ve only seen As Good As It Gets once, but I remember him because he was such an awful person.
So… thanks for that?
One of Melvin’s best lines is includes a bit where he says “and how you say what you mean, and how you almost always mean something that’s all about being straight and good.” That’s what I was referencing above and it relates to how in this episode you talk about taking everything people say literally.
AH… ah yes… that part…
🙂
Sorry, I should have made that more clear in my original comment above but I tend to only remember the good bits for disregard how awful characters can be in the media I enjoy.
😀
No worries, my friend.