In which a group of graying eternal amateurs discuss their passions, interests and obsessions, among them: movies, art, politics, evolutionary biology, taxes, writing, computers, these kids these days, and lousy educations.

E-Mail Donald
Demographer, recovering sociologist, and arts buff

E-Mail Fenster
College administrator and arts buff

E-Mail Francis
Architectural historian and arts buff

E-Mail Friedrich
Entrepreneur and arts buff
E-Mail Michael
Media flunky and arts buff


We assume it's OK to quote emailers by name.







Try Advanced Search


  1. Seattle Squeeze: New Urban Living
  2. Checking In
  3. Ben Aronson's Representational Abstractions
  4. Rock is ... Forever?
  5. We Need the Arts: A Sob Story
  6. Form Following (Commercial) Function
  7. Two Humorous Items from the Financial Crisis
  8. Ken Auster of the Kute Kaptions
  9. What Might Representational Painters Paint?
  10. In The Times ...


CultureBlogs
• Sasha Castel
• AC Douglas
• Out of Lascaux
• The Ambler
• PhilosoBlog
• Modern Art Notes
• Cranky Professor
• Mike Snider on Poetry
• Silliman on Poetry
• Felix Salmon
• Gregdotorg
• BookSlut
• Polly Frost
• Polly and Ray's Forum
• Cronaca
• Plep
• Stumbling Tongue
• Brian's Culture Blog
• Banana Oil
• Scourge of Modernism
• Visible Darkness
• Seablogger
• Thomas Hobbs
• Blog Lodge
• Leibman Theory
• Goliard Dream
• Third Level Digression
• Here Inside
• My Stupid Dog
• W.J. Duquette

Politics, Education, and Economics Blogs
• Andrew Sullivan
• The Corner at National Review
• Steve Sailer
• Samizdata
• Junius
• Joanne Jacobs
• CalPundit
• Natalie Solent
• A Libertarian Parent in the Countryside
• Rational Parenting
• Public Interest.co.uk
• Colby Cosh
• View from the Right
• Pejman Pundit
• Spleenville
• God of the Machine
• One Good Turn
• CinderellaBloggerfella
• Liberty Log
• Daily Pundit
• InstaPundit
• MindFloss
• Catallaxy Files
• Greatest Jeneration
• Glenn Frazier
• Jane Galt
• Jim Miller
• Limbic Nutrition
• Innocents Abroad
• Chicago Boyz
• James Lileks
• Cybrarian at Large
• Hello Bloggy!
• Setting the World to Rights
• Travelling Shoes

Miscellaneous
• Redwood Dragon
• IMAO
• The Invisible Hand
• ScrappleFace
• Daze Reader
• Lynn Sislo
• The Fat Guy
• Jon Walz

Links


Our Last 50 Referrers







« Angels in America | Main | "Master and Commander" »

December 05, 2003

 Nicolas Gomez-Davila

Dear Friedrich --

Nikos Salingaros has made a remarkable discovery -- the work of a Colombian philosopher named Nicolas Gomez-Davila, who shaped his thoughts into aphorisms. Never heard of him myself. Neither have you, and neither has anyone else visiting this blog, because Gomez-Davila's work has never appeared in English. Till now: Salingaros has translated a sampling of Gomez-Davila's aphorisms, and has provided a fascinating introduction here. Two of my faves:

• In philosophy, a single naive question oftentimes suffices for the whole system to collapse.

• For the progressive modernist, nostalgia is the supreme heresy.

Jim Kalb takes enthusiastic note here.

Best,

Michael

posted by Michael at December 5, 2003




Comments

Reminds me a bit of the great Polish satirist Stanislaw Jerzy Lec.

Literature is often blamed it makes escaping reality too easy for its prisoners.

But was Lec ever translated?

Posted by: ijsbrand on December 5, 2003 5:05 PM

At least one book by Lec was, it seems.

"Not every salvo announces the revolution."

"Truth will always be naked, even when turned out in the latest fashion."

"All is in the hands of man. Therefore wash them often."

More here:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/5344/lit/lecengl.html

But consume them in small doses.

Posted by: ijsbrand on December 5, 2003 5:18 PM

No house is ever cat proof.

Posted by: Alan Kellogg on December 5, 2003 10:07 PM

Individualism is the cradle of vulgarity.

I gather he wasn't an admirer of Ayn Rand, then.

Posted by: James Russell on December 6, 2003 3:50 AM

Salingaros prefaces his translations with: "I need to warn the reader that Nicolas Gomez-Davila was unashamedly conservative"

I wonder why he felt the warning was necessary? Are those people sympathetic to Christopher Alexander's ideas, who I assume are Salingaros' primary visitors, -- are they generally leftists? Or was the warning for Math profs?

It seems to me that if one accepts Alexander's "nature of order", it's hard not to accept a Hayekian view of the economy, and the politics that follow.

Posted by: Paul Mansour on December 6, 2003 3:14 PM

Please stop the spam

Posted by: FREE PORN on May 29, 2004 7:07 PM


Post a comment
Name:


Email Address:


URL:


Comments:


Remember your info?