Stephen and I spent this last week at the Objectivist Conference ( OCON ) in Boston. We started out the week staying in town, but finished it off commuting. As we stayed at the Seaport Hotel at the beginning of the week when we knew almost no one, we didn’t take advantage of the social atmosphere, but were happily sequestered in our room. After getting to know a few people, we dined, drank, and were generally merry with those few. Through the classes, general sessions, and referenced symposiums (in the ancient Greek sense), I left with a calmer sense of purpose, renewed motivation, and a smoldering desire to make the world a better place. By firmly placing the moral foundation under the tremendous achievements of the Founding Fathers first in my own mind, I then hope to help do so in the minds of others who have chosen the fundamental alternative to live, turning that smolder into a bonfire. One of the most immediately motivating things I learned at OCON this week regards the light tha
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Few of those are to be found in middle school.
I was more referring to the fact that both of my daughters, sometime during their middle school years, needed to be reminded of the bad medicine associated with the third.
I like this quotation as it applies to talking about people in an attempt to gain social approval with peers. I'm guessing this behavior is related to a self-esteem issue. I'm trying to work through exactly what it means to my daughter who seems to be taking on a new personality directed by peer approval.
Ick.
Like many short quips, this one by Eleanor doesn't capture all the subtleties. Here's how I interpret this quote.
This set of three captures 3 major stances toward reality (idealism, pragmatism or experientialism, and social-metaphysics) by listing their center of focus (ideas, concrete events and people.) None of those is the best way to approach reality. I added "events in terms of ideas" (which also could have been "ideas in terms of events") in order to point the focus toward philosophical realism and objectivity.
Perhaps I am reading too much into it all---but these little exercises can sometimes help me clarify my thinking--and in a geeky way, I find it fun.
Open to your thoughts.
Right now I have to be able to articulate my frustration with a bigger situation, of which this is a small part, to myself and then make a plan of action.