I asked around about the format for the German exam, and decided that, at least for now, I can't translate quickly enough to really stand much of a chance of passing. So I guess I'll be doing in the spring instead. In the meantime, I've got some practising to do. Oh, joy.
(Why didn't I study up for French instead? I could take a French exam instead of the German. The French language puts its verbs in sensible places, doesn't make its basic vocabulary play 3 or 4 drastically different roles, plus I studied the bloody language for something like 8 years. Mais que je suis bête!)
In case anyone's curious, here are the courses I'm taking at the moment.
First up is one on the philosophy of religion, from Hume to Kierkegaard. This is largely about the demise of natural theology. Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling and Philosophical Fragments are on the syllabus. Yay, Kierkegaard!
Next is a course on Plato's Protagoras. Ancient philosophy isn't really my thing, but Socrates was one of Kierkegaard's things, so that gives me a reason to pay some attention.
Last is a course on Heidegger's Being and Time. Reading Heidegger is a chore--which you would expect, since he was German. Of course, I'm reading it in translation, but no matter how well you translate German writing, you can never fully cleanse the sentences of their intrinsic awfulness. Still, he is very cool, and so far the prof has been targeting what strike me as the extra cool bits (his writings on philosophical method, and the significance of anxiety).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I asked around about the format for the German exam, and decided that, at least for now, I can't translate quickly enough to really stand much of a chance of passing. So I guess I'll be doing in the spring instead. In the meantime, I've got some practising to do. Oh, joy.
Since I was hoping to do German in the spring, maybe a couple'a group translation practice sessions are in order? I haven't done much German in the last year, so I'm going to have my work cut out for me in getting ready, and its been pretty hard for me to force myself to actually work on my German. Could a "Must Pass German Exam" Support Group be in order at some point? Just a thought.
Heidegger baby!
Wait till you find the clearing. The danger for you here Toby is that Heidegger (with Nietzsche) really has it going on. There are transcendent moments in Being and Time -- real existential moments that are far more satisfying and accessible to reason than your current belief system. When existentialism and reason exist in synergy, powerful things can happen.
I still find your conversion utterly fictitious and patently ridiculous (just wanted to use utterly and patently in the same line -- pay no mind). And I still think there' a girl involved. There's always a girl. Even Heidegger dreamed of milk maidens.
Your pal Jesus from the Study
Heidegger does indeed have some cool moments. Some of them are even so good as to remind me of Kierkegaard.
Which bits of Being and Time do you especially recommend for their deGoddifying power?
A quid pro quo recommendation for you: you should pick up Jonathan Lear's Radical Hope. It is, in part, an essay on Being-towards-death, and deals with issues of faith (interpreted religiously or otherwise). You might like it.
Post a Comment