|
| Name
William Irwin Thompson |
| 19 |
| followers |
| Biography |
| William Irwin Thompson is known primarily as a social philosopher and cultural critic, but has recently been writing mostly poetry. He has made significant contributions to cultural history, social criticism, the philosophy of science, and the... |
| more..
|
|
|
| |
| Followers |
|
- Visit Dr. Mardy's iWise Blog
Gift it
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=112646&author=Thompson"e=In+Europe%2C+you+do+philosophy+by+performing+discourse+on+another+guy%27s+text%2C+and+so+Derrida+will+go+over+Heidegger%2C+and+Habermas+will+extend+Marx%27s+corpus%3B+but+in+America+you+could+never+get+away+with+kinky+stuff+like+that%2C+for+you+have+to+generate+philosophy+from+real+things%E2%80%94like+computers+or+television.+You+need+to+look+at+Omni+magazine+to+get+a+feel+for+this+new+kind+of+mail-order%2C+Popular+Mechanics+science+of+mind.+It%27s+full+of+articles+about+meditation+helmets+and+downloading+the+soul+into+computers+so+that+when+your+body+wears+out+you+can+live+forever.+What+is+completely+missing+in+Europe+is+precisely+what+you+will+find+in+America%3A+namely%2C+an+electronic+Umwelt+in+which+history+is+replaced+with+movies%2C+education+is+replaced+with+entertainment%2C+and+nature+is+replaced+with+technology.+This+peculiar+wedding+of+low+kitsch+and+high+tech+generates+a+posthistoric+world+that+no+European+literary+intellectual+can+quite+fathom.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2Fimages_web%2Fauthor_no_icon.png){kind=link}
![Powerpoint](http://www.iwise.com/downloadPPT.php?quote_id=112647&author=Thompson"e=In+the+shift+from+direct+democracy+to+representational+democracy%2C+the+printed+book+became+an+embodiment+of+thought+for+the+physically+absent+author%3B+and+so+the+popular+art+form+of+the+popular+book+and+the+pamphlet+re-presented+ideas+and+contributed+to+the+public+space+of+political+philosophies+of+the+Enlightenment.+Television%2C+however%2C+now+brings+forth+this+new+kind+of+public+space%2C+and+it+calls+into+being+this+new+world%2C+not+of+the+educated+citizenry+in+a+republic%2C+but+of+the+electropeasantry+in+the+state+of+Entertainment.+Recall+how+people+stopped+singing+in+pubs+when+they+brought+in+the+TV+set%2C+and+you+will+appreciate+the+new+passivity+in+which+people+stop+voting+for+their+representatives+as+TV+takes+over+the+electoral+campaigns.%0A&image=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwise.com%2Fimages_web%2Fauthor_no_icon.png){kind=link}