Inspired by my friend Petya, I’ve decided to copy her experiment on my blog. So, here’s the deal… how about you ask me a question and I write an entry-long answer to it? I will take the first five questions I receive from readers and write a post a day in the next five days.
In the words of Petya: “What makes me think I am qualified to answer these questions? Sheeesh! Expertise is overrated!”
For those of you lurkers who I know are reading my blog, but who don’t post because you don’t have blogger/Google ID’s, I’m not accepting that as an excuse this time. You can still pose a question to me by choosing “anonymous” in the comments section (just remember to sign your name at the bottom of your post).
Let the games begin…
How much does grass grow overnight? What is the deal with the American desire to mow grass daily? 🙂
I immediately thought of a softball question, such as “Derrida: great philosophy, or greatest philosopher?” Instead, I will test your mettle: What are the moral implications of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics?
Why is it easier to be more supportive of our friends than of ourselves?
Why can I give such good advice to my friends, and then fail to follow that really good advice myself?
There is an art to expanding on an idea or a theme, but I wonder if there is not equally an art to reducing an idea to its most concise, closed form. There is an Italian school of poetry, “hermetic poetry” that aims to do this. The short stories of Borges are in a similar spirit, concise indications of something infinite. My question is– can expansiveness itself be compactly conveyed? I am so “haunted” by one of my favorite thinkers Derrida that I have composed a short poem for him:
To have once been Derrida
And to have seen his face reflected in the world’s screens
In intimate academia
What self is being reflected?
The charge of high obscenity!
Can you write a few verses on a philosopher that conveys something of his or her spirit?