Well, its been months since I've posted (sorry to you 3 readers lol) but now is a time in my life where I must let my ideas flow and take hold. I'll be working (hopefully) diligently on my undergraduate thesis this semester. So far it has been a real bitch because I don't have a concrete idea of what I want to work on. Additionally, I think I've over worked myself up to this thesis; I keep having this feeling that this thesis will define me as a thinker. It's not that I have a deep issue with defining myself as a thinker through writing, I believe that is fair, but I don't know if I am ready. The prospect of the manifestation of my 4 years of learning, inquiry, and passion above all else is not an easy pill to swallow. I know the author I am going to center my study around, and for anyone who knows me could easily guess Karl Marx; however, being somewhat dogmatic about Marx's philosophy, it makes it difficult to critically analyze his work or find something that needs interpretation. An idea I've had, not to mention a very preoccupying idea, has cautioned against by my thesis supervisor. On the bright side I have rethought the idea a bit and will present it again soon in hopefully a more informed light. In Marx there is what's called a historical minimum, basically what the working class needs above their wages. Consider beer for the English and wine for the French. I would like to argue that today's historical minimal content is individualism. To me, the soft relativism known as individualism is something the worker needs above his wages. The feeling that one's locus of moral standards is good enough for them self is a dominant attitude in the world today. To me, this is a mistake; centering on the individual dampens the social impact of the (social) world. The individual takes over and leaves the social aspects of life on the wayside. I see a fueling of capitalist society as people use their instrumental reason to justify stepping on everyone to get to the top. "As long as they are happy" makes this type of action all right to the world. To me, our lives are shaped and defined by social relations, so by forsaking the social for the individual people are only taking further steps to alienate themselves. Man is social, so why is it that the dominant moral stand is the preference of the individual.
I've been preoccupied with this idea as my thesis, and its either going to be my subject or it will have to be wretched from my mind in an almost offensive way. We'll see on Monday when I go to restate my thesis proposal.
On a completely unrelated note, I should update my readers from a post or two ago about looking at dogs. I am now officially a dad, or dog owner, whatever you want to call it. My dog, majestically named Troy is a very sweet male German Shepard cross; crossed with something large we are not exactly sure of.
have a look:
Well, that's about all I have time to say for now - it's back to the manifesto of the Communist party for me!
