27 July 2006

Lucidity + Cora Diamond

I've ended my fast after only two days. I feel however quite lucid and awake--even though I didn't sleep much and I have a cold. I'm addicted to eating; I had to get my fix. If I had some sort of cause--i.e., being indefinitely and illegally interned in a human rights-violating facility--then I'm sure I could bring myself around to hunger striking.

I'm still reading Diamond's Realistic Spirit and I think it's marvelous. I've lost the last few days to other activities, but I expect to be far into it by the weekend. Her writing style is much different than the other Wittgenstinian whom I've read (Cavell). (Come to think of it, regarding my post on Shoshana Felman... I seem to remember Cavell having written an introduction for a Felman book. His nonsense detector must be a little better than mine.)

I've been thinking about Diamond's distinction between philosophic realism and the realistic spirit; I haven't yet taken far the idea, but I was surprised by her bringing in Berkeley immediately as a comparable figure to Wittgenstein. I've only read loose characterizations of Berkeley, and some limericks, but now I'm tempted to look into him.

Post-Socratic dialogues like Galileo's and Hume's crack me up.