Nov. 14th, 2014

edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
Today is small obligation day.

I submitted a rebate request for the computer paper I bought at Staples three weeks ago. I swept leaves off my back deck. I called someone to follow-up on a job training program that may or may not have fallen through. I bought a loaf of bread. I filed for my weekly unemployment benefits. I planted some seeds that my spider plants dropped, just to see what will happen. And now I am going to put plastic sheeting over one set of my kitchen windows, since I have plants there now and would like them not to freeze during the winter.

A lot of little steps eventually add up to something, right? *wry*
edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
My first essay for the Economic History of the West is due on Sunday. I have been rereading this module's assigned texts in search of useful quotes, and I am renewed in my conviction that Aristotle is a bizarre mix of "that makes perfect sense and you explained it well," "I disagree, but given different cultures, technology levels, and time periods, I can see why you think that," and "FUCK NO WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" The third category is of course a subset of the second, but there are limits on what I can swallow as just being cultural differences. Some things are morally wrong and I don't care how much sophistry or appeal to tradition you use to justify them.

Also, Thomas Aquinas is mind-numbing to read, because he is so formulaic. On the one hand, it's helpful to realize that all his arguments follow a similar structure -- you don't get lost, and it's always clear which points he agrees with or disagrees with. On the other... Here's a short sentence. It has four words. Here's another short sentence. These sentences get boring. The pattern is deadening. The mind blanks out. It's hard to focus.

Aquinas isn't doing that exact thing, obviously, but the porridge-brain aspect of his incessant, unbroken pattern is very similar. Plus he's... well, he's very medieval Catholic and while he makes some allowances for practicality, the society he'd like is, shall we say, very straitlaced and restricted.

...

I mean, yay primary sources and all that! Yay actual windows on actual people's thoughts in different times and situations! But frankly, I like the other two textbooks we've been using in this module MUCH more.

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edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
Elizabeth Culmer

June 2025

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