The document reflects on the philosophical exploration of subjectivity and its importance, contrasting it with the quantifiable aspects of life, emphasizing that both are essential for a holistic understanding of existence. It includes references to various philosophers, such as William James and Ralph Waldo Emerson, and discusses the limitations of rationality in capturing the depth of human experience. The text encourages embracing the subjective dimension of reality to foster empathy and creativity in literature and the arts.

1. MALA 6030-A Stroll
Through Western
Civilization
Philosophy in the peripatetic style
Summer 2016, Middle Tennessee State University
Photos by Dean Hall
5.25.16

2. Thursday, May 26, 2016
What's real
We took our Stroll out into the empty, summery courtyard
late yesterday afternoon, pondering our "Knowledge is
power" chapter and wondering if it's true that what can't be
measured and quantified is not quite real. I say no. I think
that's what Louis Jenkins says too, in today's poem.
The speaker points out that we don’t really have
much of a grasp of things, not only the big things,
the important questions, but the small everyday
things. “How many steps up to your back yard?...

4. With the right measurements we can build bridges and
rockets and computers, cure diseases, etc. etc. But we
must also acknowledge the limits of quantifiable
engineering, and the depths of imprecise and subjective
(hence non-quantifiable) but still very real experience.
Such is the source of some of our best poetry, music,
literature, and philosophy. More than that, the lack of an
appreciation and aptitude for the non-quantifiable
dimension of life would deprive us of some of our most
winning human qualities: empathy, compassion,
toleration, respect.

6. Some students balk at this, mostly I suspect because
they're frustrated by encounters with others' subjectivity
(as imperfectly represented in language) rather than
fully attentive to their own. Words are slippery,
compared to numbers. We love that about them, we
humanists and innumerists (see, I think I just made up
another slippery word), while engineers and
mathematicians mistrust them. We should all mistrust
them, but they're a currency we must trade in if we
want to scratch beyond the bare surface of inner life.

8. "The fons et origo of all reality is subjective," said
William James. Subjectivity is real. It's "the deepest
thing in our nature, a dumb region of the heart
which is yet our deepest organ of communication
with the nature of things." Taking it seriously means
admitting the Buzz Lightyear principle: reality goes
to infinity and beyond. That's the objective truth.

10. Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Old nonsense
“Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild
air,” urged Ralph Waldo Emerson, born 213 years ago
today. And, finish every day and be done with it. You
have done what you could; some blunders and
absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as
you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it
serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered
with your old nonsense.”

12. Speaking of old nonsense, today's stroll (it's Week 3 of our
13-week "Stroll Through Western Civilization" course)
brings us to Plotinus and the Great Chain of Being, the idea
that we occupy a midpoint between divine perfection and
imperfect nullity, a notch below the angels and above the
animals. Matter on this scale is literally next to nothing.
Nonsense. William James, contemplating the mortal
remains of a dear friend, spoke of the "sacred" matter that
had been capable of assuming such exquisite form…
Up@dawn

14. "My thoughts fall asleep if I
make them sit down. My
mind will not budge unless
my legs move it."
Montaigne

15. "Solvitur Ambulando. It is solved by walking."
Diogenes the Cynic