{"id":2858,"date":"2020-10-22T12:51:46","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T12:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2020\/10\/22\/people-and-their-works\/"},"modified":"2020-10-22T12:51:46","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T12:51:46","slug":"people-and-their-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2020\/10\/22\/people-and-their-works\/","title":{"rendered":"People and Their Works"},"content":{"rendered":"

This from a reader:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Your comment about Husserl's picture on your wall reminded me of a line from my notes: "I try to admire works but never people, as people invariably let you down." It's, I think, a line from Peter Hitchens.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"Socrates'<\/a>People regularly, though not invariably, let one down. True. But being a person, I need persons to show me what is humanly possible and to serve as examples of how best to live. No book can render that service. While I cannot emulate (equal or excel) Husserl or Socrates in all respects, I can hope to do so in some, in respect of intellectual probity and devotion to the truth. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes we<\/em> are at fault when others disappoint us. We pegged them too high.  To be just in our assessments of others is extremely difficult. No man is worthy of worship and no man of utter contempt. No one is an angel and no one a demon. We regularly go to extremes.  <\/span><\/p>\n

One way to avoid disappointment in one's heroes is by not meeting them in the flesh.  Distance permits idealization. Propinquity militates against it.<\/span><\/p>\n

And if you want to avoid inspiring disappointment in those who haven't met you but will, request of your advocates and admirers that they not sing your praises!  Let the former  think that you are just an ordinary schmuck schlepping down the pike. And then surprise them.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This from a reader: Your comment about Husserl's picture on your wall reminded me of a line from my notes: "I try to admire works but never people, as people invariably let you down." It's, I think, a line from Peter Hitchens. People regularly, though not invariably, let one down. True. But being a person, … Continue reading “People and Their Works”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,61,221],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-predicament","category-praise-and-blame","category-psychology-and-personality-typology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2858\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}