志業

讀到了一篇我認同的文章。有時候覺得某個觀點是好，但由於太顯然易見，甚至幾乎不証自明，就會答：這是當然的。例如自由理應存在。但有時候會忘記掉。以下的文章可能屬於某種「當然啦」一類，但也想抽幾段來說。

Larval Subjects: The Place of the Real and the Vocation of the Artist, Philosopher, and Theorist

"It is shameful whenever the philosopher, theorist, or artist bow to the exigencies of the “pragmatic”. When I evoke pragmatism here I am not referring to the philosophical school known as pragmatism, but rather to the term “pragmatism” as it functions in contemporary party politics in the United States. This variant of pragmatism celebrates the necessity of “being reasonable”, compromise, surrender, or bowing to what is possible within the current constraints of the situation."

關於自由與信念的關係，作者是這樣說的：

"In Freedom Evolves Dennett argues that the true opposition is not between determinism and free will, but rather between those who believe they are free and those who do not believe they are free. Those who believe they are free are, he argues, free. Those who do not believe they are free are not free. This is such a strange claim as the reader is left to wonder why whether or not we believe we are free has any bearing on whether we are free. Yet the point is that if we believe it is possible to do or accomplish something we will actively pursue producing that change, whereas if we believe that it is impossible for us to do or accomplish something we won’t pursue it. If I believe that there is something about my nature that prevents me from learning guitar, I will never pursue learning guitar. If I believe my fellow is impossible to persuade, I will never try to persuade him. The pragmatist is someone who is not free. Because they believe the parameters of situations are already defined and determined they make no effort to pursue certain things."

關於哲學家、藝術家及理論家的志業，尤其是當中的critique 批判，作者這樣說：

In this regard, the vocation of the philosopher, artist, and theorist is to occupy the place of the impossible, the Real, the unreasonable. The place of the philosopher, artist, and theorist is to render the possible available, refusing the constraints of the situation. All sorts of gymnastics are involved in the athleticism of these figures. One aspect of this gymnastics consists in the activity of critique. Critique painstakingly reveals thecontingency of existing relations and forms of organization. It reveals that things can beotherwise and that these ways of relating and organizing life are but one way of organizing life. In short, critique shows that the relations underlying a form of life or organization are external, despite the fact that they appear inevitable, obvious, natural, or the best way of doing things. Sometimes critique will take the form of historicism or ethnography, showing that things have been done differently in other times and places, that others do things differently; thereby undermining the seeming naturalness and obviousness, for example, of the nuclear family or heteronormativity or commodity capitalism.

一旦講到另一個世界是可能的，不其然想起許寶強及本科生最後的時光。於我而言，想像是必須的，不然世界唔洗進步啦。不過一段時間過後，就忘掉了。剛巧與朋友討論過某些想像某些理想是否太過大，然後讀到此文。