tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7461948747659071092.post4719058935511064511..comments2023-09-29T02:49:02.989-07:00Comments on An Emphatic Umph: Why "Why" is a Silly, Dangerous QuestionDaniel Coffeenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03912050391869734890noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7461948747659071092.post-23820502272441796192014-05-16T06:42:12.478-07:002014-05-16T06:42:12.478-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Donaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08146554033321253679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7461948747659071092.post-15704609042400019132014-05-02T09:02:24.036-07:002014-05-02T09:02:24.036-07:00@ Dusty: Infinite interrogation is right out of Fo...@ Dusty: Infinite interrogation is right out of Foucault. And Socrates was indeed the grand inquisitor. I love that.<br /><br />@David: I really like what you write here; it's a beautiful ethic, if you will. I'm not sure, however, that it needs to be premised on Why. Why not how? One thing I love about science is that it's theoretical, not certain (despite many claims to the contrary). In this sense, science and philosophy — along with literature, music, poetry — are ways of distributing the how: this goes here, that goes there, voila! None are certain; all are theories. This is an infinite task: an unknowing knowing. <br /><br />Of course, this whole essay is a bit sophistic; why, like anything, has its place. I just wanted to be a little extreme to make a case.<br /><br />Oh, as for Though Catalog: I now publish everything first on TC and then here. I am good friends with the owner and continue to work with them, when needed, on big brand and vision work. Daniel Coffeenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03912050391869734890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7461948747659071092.post-2169773066075068552014-05-01T23:36:00.415-07:002014-05-01T23:36:00.415-07:00I see how this is an important distinction to make...I see how this is an important distinction to make. It reminds me of Design Thinking. #howmightwe #HMW<br /><br />Where I still see the value in why and related questions like "what if" is that they are invitations to wander, to converse, to swim in the part of the pond where you can't see the bottom. What if instead of people looking for God as the ultimate answer they know deep down inside that the ultimate answer of why is "I don't know, WE don't know, but let's deal with that unknowing as a community. Perhaps Why is the William Blake(ian) mover to How's verifiable status. <br /><br />PS- I thought you had left or sold Thought Catalog? Are all of your posts here cross-posted on Thought Catalog? davidtEDUhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17598155068655070970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7461948747659071092.post-13714452378461825242014-04-30T16:25:21.287-07:002014-04-30T16:25:21.287-07:00If the sophists where the lawyers of the ancient w...If the sophists where the lawyers of the ancient world than Socrates is the grand inquisitor.dustygravelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01877215902611486889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7461948747659071092.post-15843315855397863322014-04-30T16:19:54.241-07:002014-04-30T16:19:54.241-07:00Infinite interrogation, has a kind of Derridean ri...Infinite interrogation, has a kind of Derridean ring to it.<br /><br />dustygravelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01877215902611486889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7461948747659071092.post-28871975494873917502014-04-30T11:42:54.295-07:002014-04-30T11:42:54.295-07:00Lynchpin might be too strong a word. But why is a ...Lynchpin might be too strong a word. But why is a tool w/in a the liberal will to power — infinite interrogation, an indignation over one kind of authority while birthing a different kind. Why undoes the king while implementing the panopticon. Of course, we are probably using the word 'liberal' differently. Daniel Coffeenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03912050391869734890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7461948747659071092.post-38962352804228599602014-04-30T11:12:33.730-07:002014-04-30T11:12:33.730-07:00I can only agree that "'why' is the l...I can only agree that "'why' is the lynchpin of the liberal tradition." I guess I just don't see that much power in it. Such traditional liberalism seems to be going the way of Burke's conservatism, and the "why" in general is just so much spin.TomGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16146088152890068896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7461948747659071092.post-81665567313816535252014-04-27T23:56:53.282-07:002014-04-27T23:56:53.282-07:00@TomG: I do believe legal discourse, although not ...@TomG: I do believe legal discourse, although not always the courts, does indeed ask why. Which is why — ahem — psychologists and childhood play such an important role in sentencing. I just read a long New Yorker article about the father of the kid who shot all this school kids. The article keep reminding us, sadly, that we'll never know why he did it. <br /><br />'Why' is the lynchpin of the liberal tradition, birthing a certain sense of knowledge (a kind of science) as well as the overthrow of monarchic authority: Why does the kind have all the power? <br />Daniel Coffeenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03912050391869734890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7461948747659071092.post-37433093661196860192014-04-27T18:39:51.344-07:002014-04-27T18:39:51.344-07:00the question why?
That's why we seek and und...the question why?<br /> That's why we seek and understand more about the characters, events, ..... why?<br /> the original core to find the source, the secret of life.<br /><a href="//www.hopy1.com" rel="nofollow">hopy</a> Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05064788431678851569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7461948747659071092.post-641643064945821852014-04-27T07:51:21.582-07:002014-04-27T07:51:21.582-07:00"Why" — asking and answering — seems to ..."Why" — asking and answering — seems to be an element of being held socially accountable. Not so much today, since scientifically and legally, we don't ask "why" of people or things, just "how." But what I find more interesting is its the relation to authority. Henry Adams appreciated his grandfather, the ex-President, for saying nothing when he drug him by the ear to school. Authority, as I understand that incident, should not weaken or demean itself by making any kind of justification for what it does.TomGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16146088152890068896noreply@blogger.com