Excerpts from 2006 notes
Human contradiction. We are like mechanical machines that perform as long as energy goes through them. Our energy is blind force. There can be no deliverance from blind force: we act as long as blind force goes through us, that is, as long as we live, just like machines keep on going until the moment the power supply is discontinued. Yet, we are conscious of this fact and forever long to escape our enslavement to blind force.
*** False impression of infinity in mathematics. 7¸3=2.333...: one can go on dividing forever. Now, imagine a situation in which there are 9 loaves of bread that have to be divided equally between 3 people; 9¸3=3: 3 loaves of bread each, then there is no more bread; the limit is 3. Yet, in the case of 7 loaves and 3 people the mathematical operation gives the impression of limitlessness when, in fact, the limit is lower than the '9 loaves 3 people' situation. Of course, infinity has its meaning in mathematics and in reality. What I'm arguing is that it is important not to let signs – the conceptual malleability of signs – distract us from a clear engagement with reality and from a clear grasp of the concept of limit.
Language offers endless false impressions of infinity when, as Weil would say, it becomes a relation of signs rather than a relation of signs to reality. Distance from reality always brings a false sense of limitlessness.
*** To say that satisfaction is irrelevant (Latin relevare: to lighten; Latin levis: light in weight) is meaningless. Just as meaningless as to say that an object possesses more or less weight without specifying whether the object is on earth, or on the moon, or in water, etc.; as if weight was intrinsic to the object rather than related to many other factors such as gravitational pull or enveloping medium. It would be more meaningful to say that satisfaction is relevant in the order of desire and irrelevant in the order of attention. The same applies to death: relevant in a certain order and irrelevant in another. “There is no difference between life and death." (Suzuki.) It is consistent to say death is the most important thing one day and the next day to say life is the most important thing.” (John Cage) But what orders are these?
*** The verb 'relate', as in 'a relates to b', is a meaning-poor verb because it does not say anything about the relation between a and b. The more precise the verb that defines the relation between a and b is, the more meaning-rich the verb is. For instance, 'a cuts b' is more meaning-rich than 'a acts on b', which, in turn, is more meaning-rich than 'a relates to b'. Always be attentive when you write, speak, or think, in order that you achieve the most elevated meaning-richness that you are able to achieve at that determinate moment. The notions of 'meaning-richness' and 'meaning-poorness' are pragmatic (Peirce-inspired) alternatives to the notions of meaningful and meaningless which, as absolutes, cannot be conceived except as 'what cannot be conceived'.
*** “A photograph cannot say that anyone has been seen.” (Paul Ryan)
*** I want to focus on the wording of the following passage from Peirce:
“The opinion which is fated to be ultimately agreed by all who investigate is what we mean by truth, and the object represented in this opinion is the real.”Peirce didn't write: the opinion which is fated to be ultimately agreed by all who investigate is truth and its object is the real. Peirce wrote:
“The opinion which is fated to be ultimately agreed by all who investigate is what we mean by truth, and the object represented in this opinion is the real.” (My italics.)That is, for Peirce, 'truth' is a meaning, not an essence or individuality, not something that one can isolate and say, “There is truth”. Moreover, for Peirce, the 'real' is not the object of opinion but the object represented in opinion.
*** An (imagined) occurrence that would fill me with joy. An album of drawings by Giotto would be found. It would be found in Padova. Giotto would have produced the drawings while working on the Scrovegni Chapel.