Filling in the Blanks

Eugene Gendlin claims that he wants "to think with more than conceptual structures, forms, distinctions, with more than cut and presented things" (WCS 29).1 He wants situations in their concreteness to be something we can think with, not just analyze conceptually. He wants to show that "conceptual patterns are doubtful and always exceeded, but the excess seems unable to think itself. It seems to become patterns when we try to think it. This has been the problem of twentieth century philosophy" (WCS 29). As a result he has "long been concerned with what is not formed although always in some form" (TAD 1). In this essay I would like to explore some of the issues surrounding the relation of the unformed and the formed. Gendlin says that "we get beyond the forms by thinking precisely in them" (TAD 1). The two emphasized words have to be considered separately as well as together. In many essays Gendlin's main concern is with the "precisely": can something that is not fully formed and definite still direct us as we carry forward language and action? My discussion begins with that issue; I suggest ways that Gendlin's proposal connects with and differs from some current ideas in epistemology and the philosophy of language. Then my discussion moves to the "in": what sense can we make of the formed being unformed? Finally I suggest that Gendlin's program runs into some difficulties in this connection

Self-criticism in a broken mirror

If we have no transparent access to our self, what kind of self-criticism is possible? Neither modernists nor postmodernists yet this pragmatic issue correct

"Authenticity with Teeth: Positing Process"

The goal or criterion of "authenticity" for judging a change in art or ethics or culture is notoriously vague and can be dangerous. This essay proposes a version of authenticity based on a quasi-Hegelian version of the process of development rather than on any specific patrimony to be preserved. Oddly enough, the proposed criterion has many similarities with one proposed by a staunch anti-Hegelian, Gilles Deleuze

MULTIFUNCTIONAL POWER QUALITY CORRECTION SYSTEM

Study the system of electric power quality control based on AVI with PWM in the systems of group feed of electromechanics with the direct-current unibus

Braking and bouncing

I discuss the case for an efficient orbital braking mechanism in CVs, and the effect of nova outbursts on the observed range of mass transfer rates. I review the continuing problem that models have in interpreting the short-period cut-off of the CV period distribution.Comment: 10 pages, including 5 figures. To appear in "The Physics of Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects", eds. B. Gaensicke, K. Beuermann, K. Reinsch, ASP Conf. Serie

"Real Places in Virtual Spaces"

Despite what might seem to be the case, "Virtual" reality can be used to create fully "real" places with their own grammar and norms, where real events take place

"Hegelian Buddhist Hypertextual Media Inhabitation, or, Criticism in the Age of Electronic Immersion"

What can it mean to criticize when you are inside the work itself? In a immersive electronic or digital environment critic is not distanced on a platform based on firm principles. Yet criticism self-awareness and commentary remain possible. This essay examines various techniques for dealing with immersive environments critically

Impure Postmodernity -- Philosophy Today

Hegel, Heidegger, Postmodernity reconsidered after 20 years

Hit Men and Midwives: Christian Witness at Work and at Worship

(Excerpt) Well, it has finally come to this: even a liturgical institute has to discuss evangelism. Almost certainly some people will look at the combination of liturgy and witness and observe from one point of view or another how this sort of thing could never have happened a generation ago