adornable

I've been mentally bathing in the sea of the early 20th century for the last month. It started through a confluence of three rivers of circumstance: we started covering the 20th century in music appreciation, I brushed up on Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire for an interview and video, and I started reading Alex Ross's The Rest is Noise. I find that period fascinating for its instability and change, a time of opposition between violently creative and destructive forces ultimately leading to the Great War and it's illegitimate offspring, WWII.

And so I'm studying up on Adorno. But thanks to the teleological nature of Western civilization leading up to the last century, it's hard to jump into the river mid-stream; by then the water is flowing too fast. But the roots of Adorno are in Marx, rooted in Hegel, rooted in Kant, reacting to Hume, and so on all the way back. Which is to say to the Greeks: all Western philosophy is just footnotes to Plato, right?

Fortunately, the early 20th century also saw the end of a single (Germanic) teleology and a disillusionment with progress. But though there's more diversity in philosophy, it's still ultimately about the Germans and the Greeks.


Aside from drowning in philosophy, I felt motivated and inspired today and worked on music all day. Had to get out of the house to enjoy the snow. It's so white! Tomorrow my plan is to plan more in the morning--not just for the rest of the week, but for the next 3 months. There's a lot to do but there's a limitless future in which to do it. Time to get down with some cartography and chart a course.