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| Immanuel Kant |
I remember to this day April 8, 1966, because a week later, I was sitting on a bench (a fave of Jorge Luís Borges) in front of the tiger cage of the Buenos Aires Zoo, in my summer whites of the Argentine Navy, reading the Time Magazine that had Is God Dead? on the cover. Time never followed through (my opinion) with a Is Philosophy Dead? cover.
Today Friday May 3, 2024 I was delivered not only today's NYTimes at my door but also yesterday's as they had missed it. In that Thursday edition I realized more than ever the value of my reading this stellar newspaper in a city (Vancouver) where good newspapers are extinct.
In the Arts page, on the cover there was an article Vision of a World Liberated by Reason by Susan Neiman. Because I am able to give about 10 paywall-free links to the paper I will place it beneath so anybody who may want to tackle Immanuel Kant can.
In this beautifully explained essay on the philosopher, I was struck by this pair of sentences, "We are born and we die as part of nature, but we feel most alive when we go beyond it: To be human is to refuse to accept the world we are given."
It was a pleasure to read about philosophy in a newspaper. From 1962 to 1963 I received a good education on the subject from Ramón Xirau. I wrote about it here (below).
Ramón Xirau & my existential angst
I was so happy to read the essay that I wrote an email to Susan Neiman who is an philosopher. She responded a few hours later, proving that there are still people left in this century wanting to communicate.
Dear Alex Waterhouse-Hayward,
I have received some kind letters about my little Kant essay but yours moved me the most. Thank you for taking the trouble to write.
I see that you live in Vancouver, where I will be speaking about my latest book, Left is not Woke, (recently out in Spanish as Izquierda non Woke) at a conference at SFU in October. The book might interest you, as there is a lot of Kant in it. Perhaps we will have a chance to meet.
With very best wishes
Susan
