.  :  |  A R C H A I C  |  :  .     ______________
           .  :  |   N E T W O R K S  |   :  .

I have great faith in reason; it is the reasoner that I am skeptic of.

I am a sucker for two types of toys: Books and electronics.

Here’s a list of the first part of my summer allotment:

· 1 of: Shelley’s Poetry and Prose, Second Edition (Norton Critical Edition) by Percy Bysshe Shelley, Donald H. Reiman (Editor), Neil Fraistat (Editor)
· 1 of: Butterfly Economics: A New General Theory of Social and Economic Behavior by Paul Omerod, Paul Ormerod
· 1 of: Nietzsche: Human, All Too Human : A Book for Free Spirits (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy) by Friedrich Nietzsche, R. J. Hollingdale (Editor)
· 1 of: Bela Fleck: The Bluegrass Sessions: Acoustic Planet #2 (DVD-Audio) [Enhanced] by Bela Fleck
· 1 of: If You’re So Smart : The Narrative of Economic Expertise by Donald N. McCloskey
· 1 of: Evil in Modern Thought : An Alternative History of Philosophy by Susan Neiman
· 1 of: Microeconomics With Calculus (2nd Edition) by Brian R. Binger, Elizabeth Hoffman
· 1 of: Economics As Religion: From Samuelson to Chicago and Beyond by Robert H. Nelson
· 1 of: Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Godel (Great Discoveries) by Rebecca Goldstein
· 1 of: Microeconomic Analysis by Hal R. Varian
· 1 of: The Will to Power (Vintage) by Friedrich Nietzsche
· 1 of: How to Prepare for the GRE with CD-ROM (Barron’s How to Prepare for the Gre Graduate Record Examination) by Sharon Weiner Green, Ira Wolf Ph.D.
· 1 of: The Essential Epicurus: Letters, Principal Doctrines, Vatican Sayings, and Fragments (Great Books in Philosophy) by Epicurus, Eugene Michael O’Connor (Translator)
· 1 of: Breaking the Spell : Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel C. Dennett
· 1 of: History of Political Philosophy by Leo Strauss (Editor), Joseph Cropsey (Editor)
· 1 of: Mathematics for Economists by Carl P. Simon, Lawrence Blume
· 1 of: 10,000 Days by: Tool
· 1 of: Hypnotize [Explicit Lyrics] by: System of a Down
· 1 of: Meds (CD+DVD) [Explicit Lyrics] [Limited Edition] By: Placebo
· 1 of: Pearl Jam By: Pearl Jam
· 1 of: Living With War By: Neil Young
· 1 of: The Laws of Plato By: by Plato, Thomas L. Pangle (Translator)

Still to come:
· 1 of: The Structure of Economics: A Mathematical Analysis by Eugene Silberberg, Wing Suen
· 1 of: On Tyranny by Leo Strauss, Victor Gourevitch (Editor), Michael S. Roth (Editor)
· 1 of: QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter by Richard P. Feynman
· 1 of: Diogenes Laertius: Lives of Eminent Philosophers (Loeb Classical Library #184) by Laertius Diogenes, R. D. Hicks (Translator)

Up next: The Quest for 1080p! Laptops and Televisions, displays, oh my!

I have decided that I cannot stomach analytic philosophy. For some reason, I’m deeply entrenched in the continental tradition. This is not to say that I don’t value rhetoric, logic, or the clear, careful and precise explication of a position or argument… But I find there is value elsewhere, too. I don’t understand how real value can be placed on the Ancients under the type of presuppositions that are found in the analytic tradition, and I find this unfortunate. Perhaps it is my perspective - I find philosophy is about the problem, and not about the argument per se. Granted, there is interaction, but understanding of the problem is more than an argument in favor of one aspect of the problem.

I have some mild manner of literary flare. I appreciate the esoteric in writing, and in my opinion, much of philosophy is esoteric in origin. There is a purpose in ambiguity that spurs debate. The idea that all philosophical problems are mere semantic issues is an idea I find perversely disturbing. This destruction of skepticism is just illogical, and the irony of inronies is that it comes from extremist “rationalism.”

Secondarily, I have found the largest impediment that I face today. I write like crap. Frustratingly, complete and utter crap. Too many things desire to be stated for me form a cohesive argument, a logical progression of premises towards a derived and solid conclusion. At something over 5 pages, I break down. Ah well, practice, practice, practice, eh? Hopefully I’m more apt at that than those piano lessons from over a decade ago.