Marvin Conner Weblog

_An Essay on Man_, Cassirer. Bantam Books, NY, January 1970. Part I: What is Man? Chapter II: A Clue to the Nature of Man: the Symbol. pp. 25 – 28. As demonstrated by the biologist Johannes von Uexk ü ll, life must be understood not in terms of physics and chemistry, but as a distinct and self-subsisting actuality which takes on innumerable forms, each of which constitutes a unique mode of experience and, therefore, possesses a unique reality. The circular operation and interaction of anatomically identifiable receptor (Recall Gro ß ' “attention economy”) and effector systems, which determines and coordinates the environmental stimuli that affect the organism and its response to those stimuli, characterizes all life including human life. But, while this “functional circle” ( Uexk ü ll) forms a direct and immediate type of experience for animals, the receptor and effector systems are separated by a symbolic system in human life. This interposition of the symbol de...

_An Essay on Man_, Cassirer. Bantam Books, NY, January 1970. Part I: What is Man? Chapter I: The Crisis in Man's Knowledge of Himself. Section 4, pp. 18 – 24. Quote from Diderot, p. 18-19 (Google translation): “ We are touching the moment of a great revolution in the sciences. To the penchant that spirits seem to me to have in morality, in fine letters, in the history of nature, and in experimental physics, I would almost dare to assure that before it is a hundred years old, three great geometers will not be counted in Europe. This science will stop at a moment when Bernoulli, Euler, Maupertuis, and d'Alembert have left it. They will have laid the pillars of Hercules, and we will not go beyond them.” Because of some reservations concerning Enlightenment thought, Diderot asserted that the opportunities for mathematical innovation had been largely exhausted. He was, of course, proven wrong by the continued progress of mathematics and mathematical science thro...

(Janis Joplin's "Mercedes Benz" updated for the twenty-first century) Lord won't you buy me a great big SUV. My friends all drive'em and look down on me. I wanna ride up high, "Closer to Thee". Lord won't you buy me a great big SUV. Lord, won't you buy me an HDTV. Ain't got no resolution on this little screen, And I'm missing clues on CSI: Miami. Lord, won't you buy me an HDTV. Lord, won't you buy me a cellular phone. With no one in my ear, Lord, I feel so alone. I you will, Lord, from you I never shall roam. Lord, won't you buy me a cellular phone. Lord, won't you buy me a shiny new gun. It's my right by you and the Constitution, To have and hold a piece of American freedom. Lord, won't you buy me a shiny new gun.

A single, precise iron-bar blow, To the jaw, just below the ear. To seize the maw, and dam the spew. And maybe, Our speaker will taste The spite-incite-ful significance.

"Too stupid to live" are words I oft did hear Whilst yet a babe at Mother's knee. But contrary to the things you may hear, Mama weren't refer'n to me. That proverbial phrase she did employ As an eloquently concise critique Of the minds of those whose wild exploits Revealed ignorance beyond belief. And those she thus described are well-known, But I'll not be a name-namer. For, if I did, this would be much less a poem And much more of a legal disclaimer. For the times have changed since our phrase was coined, And now we must be correct politically. So let us say "negatively brilliant to the point Of biological non-viability". (Fox-like minds will deem career-Worthy, Those last two cleverly clever lines. But of such humor we've more than we're deserving, And even mere babes are heard to opine: "That Git'er man is gettin' on my nerbses.")

So saith Socrates: "Beware of herbal teas That smell of boiled pine trees." So saith Socrates.

This ain't your gran-daddy's "great" - or is it?

_An Essay on Man_, Cassirer. Bantam Books, NY, January 1970. Part I: What is Man? Chapter I: The Crisis in Man's Knowledge of Himself. Section 3, pp. 14 – 18. After Pascal's reformulation of the old and persistent conflict between classical metaphysics and Christian theology, the question of man starts to be approached from an entirely new direction. The element of a providential and hierarchical order that is common to the systems of classical reason and revelation, and which places man at the center of the universe, is displaced by empirical observation and logical interpretation. Copernican heliocentrism and other scientific developments reveal a cosmos that is indifferent to man, his culture, and his moral concerns, and this indifference is understood as the starting point of all knowledge, including that which man has of himself. Here we see the plausibility of extending scientific vision to the whole of life. If humanity is understood as just a small and ...

_An Essay on Man_, Cassirer. Bantam Books, NY, January 1970. Part I: What is Man? Chapter I: The Crisis in Man's Knowledge of Himself. Section 2, pp. 6 – 14. The moral obligation of self-criticism established by Socrates is extended and given universal and metaphysical significance by the Stoics including Marcus Aurelius. The inner harmony achieved and maintained through Socratic self-examination is regarded as an articulation of the principle that the order of the universe also “puts into evidence” (Veblen). This principle locates that which is truly real in the unchanging and unchangeable inner and outer forms that are disclosed and apprehended through the human's engagement with indeterminate life through her power of judgment. She achieves a harmony with and a moral independence from nature with the exercise of judgment and reason. But Christianity rejects this self-sufficiency and independence based on reason, and in this rejection can be seen the conflic...