"Good drawings have been produced by many men and women of talent, but, as in the case of author, poet, musician, or orator, only a genius can produce a great work of art of any kind, a great drawing which, in addition to skillful handling, instantly brings to us the thought, the emotion of the artist at the time of creation." The Pocket Book of Great Drawings by Paul Sachs.
We lack a firm tradition of sketching in philosophy, though surely there are examples in the work of the Pre-Socratics, of Nietzsche, of Kierkegaard, of Wittgenstein. Philosophers habitually produce tomes, extended treatments, and it is natural to think that brief remarks are preparatory to longer remarks. But that is true without any prejudice to brief remarks, and brief remarks, brief responses, may have their own kind of philosophic excellence, continuous with the sorts of achievement we aspire to in conversation, where droning on is strictly prohibited.
This possibility of identifying and clarifying a concise philosophic literature attracts me to blogs. It is liberating to find a way to speak briefly about a lot of different things -- and them be done with them for awhile.
Posted by shea0017 at September 29, 2004 12:14 PM