Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Our escapee, the cogito

Trip like I do...

Vico’s New Science seeks the route to universal history – path of needles, path of pins - through reconstituting the trajectory of thought from the era when men ‘thought humanly’ for the first time to the moment when there comes a time to man and nation that thought dims, declines. Vico’s famous corsi and recorsi, that fatal consort of the society of the limited good, cyclical time, ruled over by nemesis. To be replaced, of course, by happy time, the time of Jack’s beanstalk, always growing, growing up to the sky, and troubled only intermittently by business cycles – the general equilibrium being the last faint gasp of an older temporal framework.

Vico does not suppose – heady thought of his contemporary, George Berkeley - that thought was disembodied, a free range agent. On the contrary, in keeping with his dictum that the true is the made, he clings to the fact that “that this world of nations has certainly been made by men, and its guise must therefore be found within the modifications of our own human mind.” But Vico is far from accepting that the world itself is made by men – not for him Descartes’ heroic cogito, the persevering captive of the genie malin, whose escape into the world out of the dark night of the logical soul proves that the world exists – for the whole logic of escape is escaping from something, n’est-ce pas? Vico, who in his previous discourses had pointed to the erroneous goal of certainty as the ruling purpose by which Cartesians and materialists thought they could grasp and advance philosophy and physics, is not averse to geometry himself – after all, like Spinoza, Vico seeds the New Science with axioms. Axiom enigmas. But these are not to serve us a models of deduction. Rather, in Vico’s eyes, the geometric method, properly applied, lends itself to the New Science as a model of construction. “Thus our Science proceeds exactly as docs geometry, which, while it constructs out of its elements or contemplates the world of quantity, itself creates it; but with a reality greater in proportion to that of the orders having to do with human affairs, in which there are neither points, lines, surfaces, nor figures. And this very fact is an argument, O reader, that these proofs are of a kind divine, and should give thee a divine pleasure, since in God knowledge and creation are one and the same thing.”

Here we strike upon a pleasure we are inclined to ignore – for in the culture of happiness, science is neither gay nor sad, but our neutral eye. Thus, we greet our proofs with the satisfaction felt by the escaping cogito – the satisfaction that attends opening and closing a door. But the divine pleasure of the New Science is, indeed, a cognitive pleasure of a different kind – it is Daedelian, the pleasure of an artisan or artist.

And in this, it too is rapt up with the ingenuity that Fontenelle, as well, astutely remarked as a hallmark of the modern. Subordinate to the escapee’s preference for the exterior – ever more exterior - that set the stage for the love affair between the positivist and the machine is the idea that the maker has a knowledge, a power over the made.

10 comments:

northanger said...

QWERTY 8397 = VICO DOES NOT SUPPOSE - HEADY THOUGHT OF HIS CONTEMPORARY, GEORGE BERKELEY - THAT THOUGHT WAS DISEMBODIED, A FREE RANGE AGENT. ON THE CONTRARY, IN KEEPING WITH HIS DICTUM THAT THE TRUE IS THE MADE, HE CLINGS TO THE FACT THAT "THAT THIS WORLD OF NATIONS HAS CERTAINLY BEEN MADE BY MEN, AND ITS GUISE MUST THEREFORE BE FOUND WITHIN THE MODIFICATIONS OF OUR OWN HUMAN MIND." BUT VICO IS FAR FROM ACCEPTING THAT THE WORLD ITSELF IS MADE BY MEN - NOT FOR HIM DESCARTES' HEROIC COGITO, THE PERSEVERING CAPTIVE OF THE GENIE MALIN, WHOSE ESCAPE INTO THE WORLD OUT OF THE DARK NIGHT OF THE LOGICAL SOUL PROVES THAT THE WORLD EXISTS - FOR THE WHOLE LOGIC OF ESCAPE IS ESCAPING FROM SOMETHING, N'EST-CE PAS? VICO, WHO IN HIS PREVIOUS DISCOURSES HAD POINTED TO THE ERRONEOUS GOAL OF CERTAINTY AS THE RULING PURPOSE BY WHICH CARTESIANS AND MATERIALISTS THOUGHT THEY COULD GRASP AND ADVANCE PHILOSOPHY AND PHYSICS, IS NOT AVERSE TO GEOMETRY HIMSELF - AFTER ALL, LIKE SPINOZA, VICO SEEDS THE NEW SCIENCE WITH AXIOMS. AXIOM ENIGMAS. BUT THESE ARE NOT TO SERVE US A MODELS OF DEDUCTION. RATHER, IN VICO'S EYES, THE GEOMETRIC METHOD, PROPERLY APPLIED, LENDS ITSELF TO THE NEW SCIENCE AS A MODEL OF CONSTRUCTION = MADRIAX DS PRAF {TAN} CHIS MICAOLZ SAANIR CAOSGO OD FISIS BALZIZRAS IAIDA NONCA GOHULIM MICMA ADOIAN MAD IAOD BLIORB SOBA OOAONA CHIS LUCIFTIAN PERIPSOL DS ABRAASSA NONCF NETAAIB CAOSGO OD TILB ADPHAHT DAMPLOZ TOOAT NONCF GMICALZ OM LRASD TOFGLO MARB YARRY IDOIGO OD TORZULP IAODAF GOHOL CAOSGI TABAORD SAANIR OD CHRISTEOS YRPOIL TIOBL BUSDIR TILB NOALN PAID ORSBA OD DODRMNI ZYLNA ELZAP TILB PARMGI PERIPSAX OD TA QURLST BOOAPIS L NIMB OUCHO SYMP OD CHRISTEOS AG TOLTORN MIRC Q TIOBL LEL TOL PAOMBD DILZMO ASPIAN OD CHRISTEOS AG L TOLTORN PARACH ASYMP CORDZIZ DODPAL OD FIFALZ L SMNAD OD FARGT BAMS OMAOAS CONISBRA OD AVAVOX TONUG ORSCA TLB NOASMI TABGES LEVITHMONG UNCHI OM TILB ORS BAGLE MOOOAH OL CORDZIZ L CAPIMAO IXOMAXIP OD CA COCASB GOSAA BAGLEN PI I TIANTA ABABALOND OD FAORGT TELOCVOVIM MADRIIAX, ORZU OADRIAX OROCHA ABOAPRI TABAORI PRIAZ AR TABAORI ADRPAN CORS TA DOBIX YOLCAM PRIAZI AR COAZIOR OD QUASB QTING RIPIR PAAOXT SAGACOR UML OD PRDZAR CACRG AOIVEAE CORMPT TORZU ZACAR OD ZAMRAN ASPT SIBSI BUTMONA DS SURZAS TIA BALTAN ODO CICLE QAA OD OZAZMA PLAPLI IADNAMAD.

Roger Gathmann said...

Oh oh, the gematria-machine is going a bit bonkers towards the end there, North. You need to bump your muse!

northanger said...

QWERTY 308 = BAL IS THE SWORD, AND TAN THE BALANCES = THE FROST PERFORMS ITS SECRET MINISTRY.

QWERTY 1818 = …THE MOST INFLUENTIAL WORDS I THINK I HAVE EVER HEARD… THAT IS, THE LYRICS THAT ENCAPSULATE MY LIVING PHILOSOPHY, COME FROM FROM ONE OF MY GREATEST INFLUENCES, LUCIANO PAVAROTTI WHO STATED IN HIS SEVENTEENTH 'ARIA' PERFORMANCE AT MADISON SQUARE GARDENS IN 2002 = BENTHAM, JEREMY - WORKS T5_3. PART 3. [1843] / SWEARING TO THE EXISTENCE OF THE DEBTS, THE AFFIDAVIT-MAN IS FORCED TO SWEAR TO HIS … %HIS " TOT TIBI SUNT VIRGO DOTES QUOT SIDERA CALO :" IT IS THUS, … / WWW.SCRIBD.COM/DOC/29782495/BENTHAM-JEREMY-WORKS-T5-3-PART -3-1843.

QWERTY 1723 = LOOKING FOR THE CORRECT SPELLING OF "CALO AFFIDAVIT SIDERA" IN FIRMAMENT ENTRY I FIND BENTHAM, JEREMY - WORKS T5_3. PART 3. [1843] - GOOGLING "SUNT VIRGO DOTES QUOT SIDERA" RETURNS #2 LINK: "A LIGHT-WEIGHT ARTIFICE": EXPERIMENTAL POETRY IN THE 17TH CENTURY = THE SUBJECT IS OF SO MUCH MOMENT, AS BEARING ON THE RELATION BOTH OF OUR OWN AND OF THE GREEK CHURCH TO THE ROMAN, THAT I WILL SET DOWN THE CHANGES IN THE DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH, WHICH FLEURY ASCRIBES TO THE FORGED DECRETALS (The Church of England a Portion of Christ's One Holy Catholic Church).

northanger said...

QWERTY 1242 = THE ENOCHIAN CALLS. THE CALL OF THE THIRTY AETHYRS. PAGE 32. MADRIIAX TORZU OADRIAX OROCHA / MADRIIAX, ORZU OADRIAX OROCHA / YOU HEAVENS, ARISE! THE LOWER HEAVENS UNDERNEATH YOU = THIS IS A PARAPHRASED AND MISSPELLED QUOTATION FROM HOWARD CARTER'S ACCOUNT OF THE OPENING OF THE TOMB OF TUTANKHAMUN IN HIS 1923 BOOK THE TOMB OF TUTANKHAMUN.

QWERTY 101 = MADRIIAX ORZU = PAINTER'S GATE.

QWERTY 484 = A LIGHT-WEIGHT ARTIFICE: EXPERIMENTAL POETRY IN THE 17TH CENTURY = EVIDENT THAT BALANCE AND FITNESS ARE ESSENTIAL TO ANY PERFECTION.

QWERTY 2513 = THE MINOR POETS SPECIALIZING IN THIS KIND OF RHETORIC USED THE SAME METHODS AS MANTHO, IF WE ARE TO BELIEVE MICHEL LECOMTE'S EXPLANATION OF "THE ART, METHOD AND MANNER (A FAIRLY DIFFICULT THING) OF CONJURING NAMES": TO WIT, TO DO IT WELL, YOU MUST WRITE THE NAME IN NICE BIG LETTERS ON THE / PAPER, WELL SPACED OUT, IN ORDER TO CUT THEM UP AND SEPARATE THEM. WHEN (A Light-Weight Artifice) = BUT EVEN IF THE INFLUENCE IS ENTIRELY INDIRECT AND SOMEWHAT COINCIDENTAL, THE CONNECTION OF TIME AND PLACE REMAINS. SOMETHING HAPPENED TO THE LANDSCAPE OF TREBON, AND PERHAPS OUR BEST ANSWER IS TO SAY THAT THE EVENTS SO CHARGED THE ENVIRONMENT, WITH A RESIDUE OF SENTIENT ANGELIC PLASMA, THAT CHANGE TOWARD A STABLE BIOSPHERE WAS INEVITABLE = DE SAUSSURE'S EDITOR REMAINS SKEPTICAL, SUGGESTING THAT THE THEME WORDS MAY GENERATE THEMSELVES IN SOME TWILIGHT REALM HALFWAY BETWEEN THE CONSCIOUS WILL OF THE WRITER(S) AND THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE ITSELF — WHILE DE SAUSSURE HAD TRIED TO FORCE AN ABSOLUTE DICHOTOMY BETWEEN "CHANCE" AND "CONSCIOUS DELIBERATION" TO EXPLAIN THEIR PRESENCE.

northanger said...

QWERTY 5238 = MANTHO USES LITTLE SQUARES MADE OF POPLAR WOOD — SUPPLE WOOD FROM A TREE ASSOCIATED WITH PROPHECY (NAMQUE ARBOR SORTIBUS APTA / POPULUS HERCULEA EST). THESE SQUARES, UPON WHICH THE LETTERS OF A NAME ARE INSCRIBED, ARE THROWN INTO AN EMPTY URN WHERE THE WORD IS BROKEN UP (IN QUADRATIS RITE NATAVIT / POPULEIS TABULIS… / VACUAMQUE INIECIT IN URNAM). THEN THE PIECES ARE TOSSED OUT AND THE LETTERS FORM A NEW MESSAGE, CARRYING THE WEIGHT OF A PROPHECY. ADMITTEDLY THE LETTERS DO NOT IMMEDIATELY FALL UNTO A SATISFACTORY ORDER, AND MANTHO STARTS OVER AGAIN UNTIL SHE OBTAINS A COHERENT TEXT: …LEGIT ET MISCETQUE QUATITQUE / ATQUE ITERUM, ATQUE ITERUM, DONEC TER IN ORDINE FACTUM / CARMEN LEGIT IDEM… (A Light-Weight Artifice) = THE ACTION THAT TOOK PLACE ON 29 APRIL 1582, A SUNDAY, BROKE AT LEAST ONE OF THESE INJUNCTIONS AS IT BEGAN AT 8:15 IN THE EVENING. MICHAEL APPEARED AND ANNOUNCED THAT HE WAS ABOUT TO REVEAL AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIVINE AND EARTHLY POWERS. "WE SHOW UNTO YOU THE LOWER WORLD: THE GOVERNORS THAT WORK AND RULE UNDER GOD." THIS WAS TO BE DONE BY REVEALING THE NAMES OF THE FORTY-NINE ANGELS "WHOSE NAMES ARE HERE EVIDENT, EXCELLENT AND GLORIOUS." FORTY-NINE IS NUMEROLOGICALLY SIGNIFICANT, BEING THE SQUARE OF SEVEN, AND THE NUMBER OF HEAVENLY BODIES IN THE COSMOS (THE SUN, MOON, MERCURY, VENUS, MARS, JUPITER, AND SATURN). "MARK THESE TABLES," HE COMMANDED. "MARK THEM. RECORD THEM… THIS IS THE FIRST KNOWLEDGE".

northanger said...

QWERTY 143 = THE FIRST KNOWLEDGE = THE ENOCHIAN CALLS.

QWERTY 1886 = ADMITTEDLY THE LETTERS DO NOT IMMEDIATELY FALL UNTO A SATISFACTORY ORDER, AND MANTHO STARTS OVER AGAIN UNTIL SHE OBTAINS A COHERENT TEXT: …LEGIT ET MISCETQUE QUATITQUE / ATQUE ITERUM, ATQUE ITERUM, DONEC TER IN ORDINE FACTUM / CARMEN LEGIT IDEM… (A Light-Weight Artifice) = I HAD DETERMINED TO DO AN EXPLORATION OF A SQUARE OF AN ENOCHIAN TABLET FOLLOWING THE DIRECTIONS AND SYSTEM DESCRIBED BY REGARDIE IN THE GOLDEN DAWN. I SELECTED A SQUARE FROM THE EARTH TABLET, "T" OR "M"1, THE RIGHTMOST KERUBIC SQUARE OF THE FIERY LESSER ANGLE = WELL YOU MAY THINK I'M FOOLISH / FOR THE FOOLISH THINGS I DO / YOU MAY WONDER HOW COME I LOVE YOU / WHEN YOU GET ON MY NERVES LIKE YOU DO / WELL BABY YOU KNOW YOU BUG ME / THERE AIN'T NO SECRET 'BOUT THAT / WELL COME ON OVER HERE AND HUG ME / BABY I'LL SPILL THE FACTS.

northanger said...

QWERTY 5396 = MANTHO REPRESENT HERE THE IMAGINATION OF THE POET, ACCORDING TO GENEVIÈVE DEMERSON (191, 214), AND THROUGH MANTHO, DORAT ATTEMPTS TO LINK HIS OWN ANAGRAMMATIC POETRY TO THER HERMENEUTIC AND PROPHETIC TRADITION THAT GAVE THE PROCESS ITS CLAIM TO FAME, AND WHOSE PRINCIPLES I WILL NOT RECAPITULATE HERE. IT IS TRUE THAT UP TO AND INCLUDING THE PRACTICES OF DORAT HIMSELF, THE ANAGRAM WAS INCREASINGLY RELIEVED OF ITS HERMENEUTIC FUNCTION, BECOMING A FIGURE OF EPIDICTIC RHETORIC, OFTEN ACCOMPANYING — IF NOT REPLACING — AN EMBLEM OR A MOTTO. THE MINOR POETS SPECIALIZING IN THIS KIND OF RHETORIC USED THE SAME METHODS AS MANTHO, IF WE ARE TO BELIEVE MICHEL LECOMTE'S EXPLANATION OF "THE ART, METHOD AND MANNER (A FAIRLY DIFFICULT THING) OF CONJURING NAMES" (A Light-Weight Artifice) = TRUE WILL IS A TERM FOUND WITHIN THE MYSTICAL SYSTEM OF THELEMA, A RELIGION FOUNDED IN 1904 WITH ALEISTER CROWLEY'S WRITING OF THE BOOK OF THE LAW. IT IS DEFINED AT TIMES AS A PERSON'S GRAND DESTINY IN LIFE, AND AT OTHER TIMES AS A MOMENT TO MOMENT PATH OF ACTION THAT OPERATES IN PERFECT HARMONY WITH NATURE. THIS WILL DOES NOT SPRING FROM CONSCIOUS INTENT, BUT FROM THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN THE DEEPEST SELF AND THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE. THELEMITES IN TOUCH WITH THEIR TRUE WILL HAVE ELIMINATED OR BYPASSED THEIR FALSE DESIRES, CONFLICTS, AND HABITS, AND ACCESSED THEIR CONNECTION WITH THE DIVINE. THEORETICALLY, AT THIS POINT, THE THELEMITE ACTS IN ALIGNMENT WITH NATURE, JUST AS A STREAM FLOWS DOWNHILL, WITH NEITHER RESISTANCE NOR "LUST OF RESULT".

northanger said...

QWERTY 1657 = THIS PERFORMANCE WAS RECORDED IN 1984, BY THE BERLIN RADIO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA AND CHOIR, CONDUCTED BY RICCARDO CHAILLY, WITH SYLVIA GREENBERG, SOPRANO. IT IS IN MY OPINION THE FINEST RENDITION OF THIS MOST DIVINE WORK = IRONICALLY THEN, JUST AS THE UNITED STATES TRIGGERED VIRILIO'S GLOBAL ACCIDENT, IT JUST MIGHT BE ON THE VERGE OF *ACCIDENTING THE ACCIDENT*, REVEALING THAT THE CITY OF PANIC CAN ALSO BE AN AMERICAN CITY OF TRANSFORMATION (City of Transformation: Paul Virilio in Obama's America) = THE WAXING HEMICYCLE OF THE CYCLIC PROCESS INVOLVES THE ARCHETYPAL QUALITY WITH ORGANIC FORMS AND STRUCTURES, WHICH BECOME INCREASINGLY COMPLEX AS THE QUALITY DIFFERENTIATES AND A SENSE OF INDIVIDUALITY DEVELOPS.

QWERTY 551 = IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO ESCAPE THE TECHNOLOGICAL ACCIDENT THAT HAS BECOME US (City of Transformation) = IN QUADRATIS RITE NATAVIT / POPULEIS TABULIS… / VACUAMQUE INIECIT IN URNAM (A Light-Weight Artifice).

northanger said...

QWERTY 470 = LE KRACH ACTUEL REPRÉSENTE L'ACCIDENT INTÉGRAL PAR EXCELLENCE (Paul Virilio : "Le krach actuel représente l'accident intégral par excellence") = POPLAR WOOD — SUPPLE WOOD FROM A TREE ASSOCIATED WITH PROPHECY (A Light-Weight Artifice) = IN THE HISTORY OF ORACLES, FONTENELLE - WITH HIS NATIVE DEADPAN DELIVERY (on belief and practice) = BY PONDERS RIGHT, WITH NUMBER AND MEASURE WISELY SOUGHT = CLOSE YOUR EYES GIRL / LOOK INSIDE GIRL / LET THE SOUND TAKE YOU AWAY = POSSESSION, WITHOUT SUCCESSION AND PERFECT, OF INTERMINABLE LIFE = PRINCES AND PRELATES.--(3.) VASSAGO; (12.) SITRI; (22.) IPOS; (33.) GÄAP; (36.) STOLAS; (55.) OROBAS; (70.) SEERE = SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION = SUPPORTS EXTENSION AND ENHANCED UTILIZATION OF THE SPACE STATION (FY2011 Budget) = WHEN YOU TRANSUBSTANTIATE THE SIX -+ CATALYST ON THE 7TH.

QWERTY 497 = THE CURRENT CRASH REPRESENTS THE PERFECT 'INTEGRAL ACCIDENT' = WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES, IN ORDER TO FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION = IT IS WHAT CONNECTS THE SUBJECT TO THE TOTAL SOCIAL PROJECT = PARIS? I LEAVE YOU ALONE, FOR JUST A LITTLE BIT, AND OFF YOU GO GALLIVANTING.

QWERTY 1005 = A PROPHET OF THE WIRED FUTURE, PAUL VIRILIO'S THOUGHT ALWAYS INVOKES THE DOUBLED MEANING OF APOCALYPSE — CATACLYSM AND REMEMBRANCE (City of Transformation) = AMEN. WHILE NORMAL ECCLESIASTIC PRACTICE PLACES THIS WORD AT THE END OF THE PRAYER, ON THIS OCCASION IT SEEMS RIGHT TO PUT IT UP FRONT = THE BLUE ETHEREAL SKY WAS REGARDED AS A SOLID CRYSTAL SPHERE, TO WHICH THE STARS WERE FIXED (COMPARE THE CÆLO AFFIXA SIDERA OF PLINY, II. 39 AND XVIII. 57).

northanger said...

QWERTY 1032 = LESS WRITING IN THE TRADITIONAL SENSE THAN AN UNCANNY SHAMANISTIC SUMMONING FORTH OF THE DEMONOLOGY OF SPEED WHICH INSCRIBES SOCIETY (City of Transformation) = EXODUS 20:2 I [AM] THE LORD THY GOD, WHICH HAVE BROUGHT THEE OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, OUT OF THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE. {20:3} THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME = IF LOVECRAFT REMAINS THE ARCHETYPE OF A HYPERSTITIONAL PRACTITIONER, IT IS BECAUSE HIS FICTIONS HAVE LONG SINCE ESCAPED THEIR PUTATIVE AUTHOR = UNION BETWEEN THESE TWO MYTHS: THE ARTIFICIAL WOMAN AND THE PARTURATING MAN COME TOGETHER IN THE CRUCIBLE OF THE HOMUNCULUS.

QWERTY 3276 = BUT FOR ALL THAT HISTORY WILL NOT LONG BE DENIED. JUST AS NIETZSCHE ONCE PROPHESIED IN THE GAY SCIENCE THAT WITH THE BIRTH OF HUMAN SUBJECTIVITY, TWISTED AND SCARRED AND DELIRIOUSLY UNPREDICTABLE, THE GODS ACTUALLY STOPPED THEIR GAME OF WAGERS AND TOOK NOTICE BECAUSE SOMETHING NEW WAS MOVING ON THE EARTH — A GOING ACROSS, A TREMULOUS WAKENING, A PATHWAY OVER THE ABYSS — SO TOO WITH VIRILIO, THE GODS OF HISTORY TAKE NOTICE ONCE AGAIN.

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