(Master of the Games)
Intro and Trail Guide to my Site
A “Trail Guide” to help you navigate this site can be found at the bottom of this Page.
But first, what is this site about? Glad you asked!
I’ve been reading and ruminating about philosophy for many years, since I first took a course my freshman year taught by Dr. George Schurr, professor of philosophy at Park College. However, it was not until 1998 that I discovered and began looking into the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne.
It was especially during the year that I devoted to reading all the books of Hartshorne that I began to see how philosophy could be fun—profoundly fun! On many occasions while reading his books I would laugh out loud, sometimes at the brilliance of one of his startling insights, sometimes at the oversights and mistakes he pointed out in the thought of other philosophers. It was a year of much mirth and satisfaction that paved the way for my reading of the works of Whitehead wherein, once again, I found myself laughing out loud, not only at his sheer genius but in the many ways he would turn things topsy-turvy, or upside down.
One of the many surprising adventures of reading Whitehead is to discover what to some may seem an extravagant claim: that much of our received wisdom is not only wrong but that some of our most venerated thinkers got it exactly backwards. Whitehead reminds us that “the doctrines which best repay critical examination are those which for the longest period have remained unquestioned.” In Process and Reality, time and time again he will cite an established idea only to say, “but the converse is true.”
A comic take on things, even serious things, has a long history in all places and at all times. To name only a few: the Laughing Buddha in the East, the rich humor in the Jewish tradition, and books such as Homo Ludens by Johan Huizinga and The Humor of Christ by Elton Trueblood. Instead of in vino veritas, James Joyce suggested in risu veritas—in laughter there is truth.
In the Category named Blague (for Blog), I will be presenting pieces that echo this theme. I use the French word Blague, meaning “joke,” instead of Blog to emphasize the lighter touch. My intention is to post a Blague on some, and sometimes most, of the days of the week, and maybe even, sometimes, every day of the week. My criterion for including the posts in this Blague will be that they have some element of fun, ranging from hearty laughs, to subtle smiles, to metaphysical giggles, to Cheshire grins. And, on this site, in addition to the Blague, you will find several different Categories to make room for offerings of a more serious nature, some strictly serious and some, as James Joyce would say, jocoserious.
Although the baby enshrined at the top of this page speaks in the language of Ba-ba-babble-ing, I will be translating some of the Babbles, or Babels, and posting them as poems or pieces on the Blague. The baby, whose full name is Bā-bē-bi-bo-bu, Bā-bē for short, is a child of sometimes meandering mirth, wandering words, jocund jocosities, and Wunderkind wisdom. For those who have two good ears to listen, Bā-bē’s Bodhi smile tells it all. O tell us all about Bā-bē-bi-bo-bu! We want to hear all about Bā-bē-bi-bo-bu. Tell us all. Tell us now. Well, you know . . .
Now, as to Navigation on this site . . .
At the bottom of this page you will find several Categories that contain the content of this site. Click on any of the Categories to bring up a list of the writings or articles in that Category. This site is still under construction, so there is much more to come. Happy trails!