Wednesday, February 27, 2008

It's Getting Worse

The phrase 'the weather's getting worse' is such a weird one.

For a start, it implies that the weather is something capable of being possessive of things, or that it has some kind of anthropic quality. But surely the attributes that we see in the weather are attributed to it by us! It's in the recognition and comparison of the state of things that I can say whether an object is worse or better, and even then it is by a relative set of standards.

For another, it gives the impression that 'worse' is something possessable! It also implies that it is an absolute, in being an objective quality, as though 'worse' was something that you could find lying around in the street, or pick up from any old shop.

It could of course that worse is an objective thing, but a transient one, that all things considered worse in their standing in relation to another object or a prior state must participate in in order to be considered worse. This throws up whole mounds of subjective problems.

Perhaps it is that when we say 'the weather is getting worse' we actually refer to completley different things, as though 'worse' were more of an aphorism for 'wet' or 'blustery', and 'worse' is what could be considered a speedier turn of phrase.

Oh, there are some retarded things that I think about when I'm not paying attention to the contents of my seminar.

To reiterate, here are some things I wrote down while I wasn't paying attention:

- "A PONT!"
-"Crikey! - 'Gide' is pronounced 'jee-duh'!"
-" D= I'm in anguish! This free, non-causal existence on the ground of facticity has left me in anguish! [doodle of a man hanging himself]"
- "Jesuit - Jezzy-wezzy."
- "Oh, mon Dieu! Les temps! Zut alors!"
- "Why do I write such tripe in seminars? Perhaps this is why I'm a failure, or at least part of it. another is that I write 'rediculous' instead of 'ridiculous'"
- "Oogly-doogly"
- "Oh, to be a paper-knife! Wait, no. I'd rather not."
- "An appeal to science. OH YEAH!"

Sometimes I think to myself, 'Jesus, Im such a goddamned mess...', but I soon realise, every time, that I wouldn't have it any other way.