The mentioning of Foucault often reminds one of the ways of understanding and analyzing the disciplinary technologies and discourses at play in various institutions—be it prisons, hospitals, or asylums—that the modern citizen is subject to. And so, throughout his works, one is also presented with the relationships between...
Storytelling, World-making, and Re-creating
Stories are profound as they provide a room for us to exist through reconfiguring memories. In this sense, memory is not simply the mechanism of storing and recalling certain knowledge and experiences but it is a social and political process that comes to being within interpersonal relationships and takes shape through stories. The anthropologist Michael... Continue Reading →
Book Summary: Hermeneutics: A Very Short Introduction / Jens Zimmermann
Chapter 1: What is hermeneutics? According to Zimmermann, a simple answer to the question is that "it means interpretation" (p.1). "Interpretation occurs in many fields of study and also day-to-day life. We interpret plays, novels, abstract art, music and movies, employment contracts, the law, the Bible, the Quran, and other sacred texts; but we also... Continue Reading →
Book Summary: The Wherewithal of Life: Ethics, Migration, and the Question of Well-being / Michael Jackson
In his book, Michael Jackson looks deeply into the lives of three individuals, Emmanuel Mulamila, Roberto M. Franco, and Ibrahim Ouedraogo while shedding some light on their journeys that concern the endurance of life via different ethical modes of being, how these individuals approach and derive meanings from their extraordinary encounters in life, and what... Continue Reading →
Forgiveness: a Bilateral “Liberation”?
In his book called The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness, Simon Wiesenthal narrates his story as a concentration camp inmate who is asked for forgiveness by a dying Nazi soldier--a story which takes the reader to a moral dilemma that Simon could not find the answer of. The latter part of the... Continue Reading →
Book Summary: The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness / Simon Wiesenthal
In The Sunflower Simon Wiesenthal narrates his story that occurred during his time as a concentration camp inmate during the reign of the Nazis; a time in which many, such as his friends, had lost hope and started questioning God: "It is impossible to believe anything in a world that has ceased to regard man... Continue Reading →
Book Summary: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding / David Hume
Section I: Of the Different Species of Philosophy According to Hume, “moral philosophy, or the science of human nature, may be treated after two different manners” (p.1). The first type of philosophical thinking he refers to is one that considers man born for action, considers his taste and sentiment, borrows help from poetry and eloquence,... Continue Reading →
Book Summary: On the Study Methods of Our Time / Giambattista Vico
I According to Vico, “the men of the modern age, have discovered many things of which the Ancients were entirely ignorant; the Ancients, on the other hand, knew much still unknown to us” (p.4). And pursues the question ‘which study method is finer and better, ours or the Ancients?’ while describing his goal as “to... Continue Reading →
Wittgenstein, Culture, and Value: Language-games and Forms of Life
According to Wittgenstein, examples of language are meaningful only in the context that they are uttered in — that is, according to the “rule” of the “game” being played. As a very simple example, the utterance “Fire!” could be an order, an answer to a question, an instant reaction, or some other forms of communication.... Continue Reading →
Book Summary: A Discourse on the Method / René Descartes
Part One Descartes states that every man is equally equipped with “good sense”, which is the faculty of judgement that leads one to wisdom. However, “it is not enough to possess a good mind; the most important thing is to apply it correctly” (p.2). Although each person may be equal in possessing the same forms... Continue Reading →