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Melvin A. Kivinen
Melvin A. Kivinen

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Published in Circuitus

·Jul 17

Narcissism and Society

Narcissus, the son of Cephissus and Liriope, is known for his beauty. Despite the ubiquitous longing for Narcissus, he rejects all his suitors, including Echo, a nymph who has been condemned to repeating the words of others, unable to properly express her love. Echo thus tries to embrace Narcissus, who…

Philosophy

14 min read

Narcissism and Society
Narcissism and Society

Jun 10

On Faith and Reason

The nature of faith itself has been a troublesome category, and the relationship between faith and reason has been tumultuous, yet as Eagleton recognises, ‘without reason, we perish; but reason does not go all the way down’. There is something too subliminal to be integrated into traditional rationality, and as…

Philosophy

13 min read

On Faith and Reason
On Faith and Reason

Jun 9

Modernity and the Existential Entrance into Language

Contradiction and Complexity Amidst the contradictions and complexities of modernity, the modern subject is forced to embrace the orderlessness of things, or attempt that impossible retour à l’ordre. …

Philosophy

10 min read

Modernity and the Existential Entrance into Language
Modernity and the Existential Entrance into Language

Jun 2

Katábasis in Cinema

The katábasis has endured through antiquity to modern cinema, for its broad applicability, which perhaps speaks to how the katábatic mythology resonates with something fundamental in the human psyche. The katábasis can be seen in Ford’s The Searchers (1956), Cameron’s Inception (2009), and Lucas’ Empire Strikes Back (1980), which in…

Philosophy

11 min read

Katábasis in Cinema
Katábasis in Cinema

Published in Circuitus

·May 20

Modernism and the Sign

“Modernism had two great wishes. It wanted its audience to be led toward a recognition of the social reality of the sign (away from the comforts of narrative and illusionism, was the claim); but equally it dreamed of turning the sign back to a bedrock of World/Nature/Sensation/Subjectivity which the to…

Philosophy

13 min read

Modernism and the Sign
Modernism and the Sign

Published in Circuitus

·Apr 13

Fine-Tuning and the Multiverse

That the universe is able to support life depends upon a set of fundamental conditions, and laws and constants of nature (E). Various responses to E are proposed: it is a coincidence; it will be accounted for in future science; it was created by some intelligent designer (D); it indicates…

Philosophy

10 min read

Fine-Tuning and the Multiverse
Fine-Tuning and the Multiverse

Published in Circuitus

·Apr 1

Prufrock, Bloom, Odysseus

Bloom is Joyce’s bourgeois modern Odysseus: he is an outsider, but holds an ability to envision the ‘inclusive state’, which thus makes him uniquely alienated in the modern scene. Whereas Stephen is concerned with his own perception, Bloom is concerned with those of the cat: whilst Stephen is celibate and…

Philosophy

27 min read

Prufrock, Bloom, Odysseus
Prufrock, Bloom, Odysseus

Published in Circuitus

·Mar 28

Eliot’s ‘Game of Chess’

“My nerves are bad tonight. Yes, bad. Stay with me. “Speak to me. Why do you never speak. Speak. “What are you thinking of? What thinking? What? “I never know what you are thinking. Think.” I think we are in rats’ alley Where the dead men lost their bones. “What…

Philosophy

4 min read

Eliot’s ‘Game of Chess’
Eliot’s ‘Game of Chess’

Published in Circuitus

·Mar 28

The Descents of Heracles, Theseus, and Orpheus

Heracles, Theseus, and Orpheus all attempt the katábatic descent, wherein ‘an extraordinary protagonist … [aided by] a god, … travels alive to the subterranean world of the dead with a well defined purpose and with the intention to return (irrespectively of whether his purposes or the return are fulfilled)’, as…

Philosophy

7 min read

The Descents of Heracles, Theseus, and Orpheus
The Descents of Heracles, Theseus, and Orpheus

Published in Circuitus

·Mar 13

Vertov and the Noumena

Freud’s ‘Rat Man’ case is the conflict between love and hate, the friends and family of the Rat Man being the object of both emotions. The Rat Man was burdened by an obsessional, obstructing, recurring thought of somebody dear to him, such as his father or the woman he admired…

Philosophy

22 min read

Vertov and the Noumena
Vertov and the Noumena
Melvin A. Kivinen

Melvin A. Kivinen

plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

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