Loyola University New Orleans, a Jesuit and Catholic institution of higher education, . . . prepares [students] to lead meaningful lives with and for others; to pursue truth, wisdom, and virtue; and to work for a more just world . . . Through teaching, research, creative activities, and service, the faculty, in cooperation with the staff, strives to educate the whole student and to benefit the larger community.
So it involves a pursuit of truth and a sort of rite to be a person "with and for others," as Ignatian teaching says. Perhaps here Morton's notion of Ecological Thought gains relevance, because in this sense of learning to be in the world, then we do need think in terms of interconnection with others, both human and nonhuman, "think ecologically."
Well. How do hyper/deep attention and education relate to the iPad, and how does the iPad relate to "the" ecological thought? I'm still thinking about it. But I can see a relationship... I just can't quite see its inner dynamics of it yet.
Rolando, I find your statement regarding how one thinks ecologically to be a person for others quite interesting. I wish I had awake Morton about this today, but I had a hard time not getting distracted by all of his funny and brilliant stories. My question for you is "why ecologically"? Why not sociologically? I am just windering about your thoughts on this. I have always had a difficult time conceptualizing ecology as I am rather ignorant on the subject.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I had a challenging time figuring out how Morton worked in with our class until I heard about his prospective on the iPad and technology in general.
Chelsea, you bring up a really good question: Why ecologically and not sociologically? Well, if we really want to think about the ideas of "community" and the "with and for others" seriously, then it goes way beyond humans (sociality or society). If we want to redefine "sociology" to include other beings and things ("objects"), that might be fine. But the idea of ecology is quite handy because it already includes everything: you can't isolate anything in any reducible way. Ecology draws attention to how things coexist—not in an optional way, but in a necessary way. Seen this way, I think we might actually think about sociology as an interesting *part* of ecology...one that focuses on the interactions and organizations of a specific species (humans). Likewise, economy looks at how people create value and distribute it or make it scarce. But ecology would always be including these things: it is about coexistence, on all scales.
ReplyDeleteI think Morton's discussion of the possibility (or inevitability?) of intimacy within virtual communication was quite compelling, if also counter-intuitive.
As someone who went to grad school for sociology, I see the discipline's limits with regard to the concept of ecology. I also see it beginning to encompass the environmental movement, however. Maybe we are beginning to see a general collapse of the traditional disciplines--just look at the various disciplines Morton wove into his talk the other night.
ReplyDeleteAlso, in terms of the counter intuitive nature of digital communication, look at how we are able to construct identities on the internet. I think for many this is truly liberating and maybe helps us to move beyond certain discriminatory practices we find in the "real" world.
On Ecological Thought:
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading the intro, I couldn't help but see how Morton's writing style shares some similarities with Martin Heidegger's. I say this because Heidegger, in all his writings, addressed the question of "being," and not just "being in general," but more specifically that of "the being who questions itself," "Dasein." Anyway, the reason I say this is to address Chelsea's comment: Morton, somewhat like Heidegger, wants to get at something total, at something that encompasses everything. An interconnectedness of... things.
I was also surprised by Morton's view of the digital community.
I've always been able to communicate better through writing than through speaking, so I wasn't as startled by Morton's view of digital communication as I think a lot of people were-- but I almost wonder if digital communication, not always, but when it reaches that level of intimacy where you feel like you've been halfway absorbed into the other person's brain, requires a deeper attention than "regular" social interaction, which to me has always seemed like a particularly strenuous version of multitasking. You have to pay attention to what your face is doing, where your eyes are looking, where your hands are, how you're holding yourself, how the other person is holding their self, what they expect you to say and what you're actually thinking and what you can say of what you're thinking without breaching the implicit social contract, the terms of which are dictated by their facial expressions and their posture and how often you've spoken to them before, and you have to make all of these judgements incredibly quickly and respond in a voice which doesn't sound too strangled. When I'm talking to someone online, I only have to worry about the words on the screen. It's extremely liberating, and I think it allows me to communicate my ideas more effectively.
ReplyDeleteI agree w/ Amelie about not being "startled by Morton's view of digital communication." But I *was* startled by his view of digital communication as it relates to its paper contemporaries. It seemed a strangely superficial decision on Morton's part that he would so easily say digital books, for example, are more ecologically sound than paper ones. Clearly, the destruction of forests and the manufacturing of paper pulp are two extremely damaging industries to the environment; however, so is the manufacture of what Joshua pointed out is the intended obsolescence of e-readers, for example. In fact, in a somewhat unrelated example, when I asked my mechanic if it is more eco-conscious to buy a hybrid car, he said flatly, "no." And he said no b/c rather than throw out the old technology, I should run it into the ground and then replace it w/ a new hybrid or bio-diesel vehicle, b/c to manufacture all the bits of these new hybrid cars, the emissions of pollutants are much higher than older manufacturing processes. In effect, my mechanic was saying that we should not simply throw out old stuff in favor of the new b/c the new isn't always as eco-friendly as we might think at first look. Plus, the old then piles up in landfills, leaching pollutants into the ground, etc. And when I paired this anecdote w/ Morton's response to planned obsolescence, I immediately saw the image of telephone dials piled high that he showed in his Nunemaker lecture. It's a conundrum to be sure, and I there's no an easy answer. So, again, I was surprised at how quickly and easily Morton was able to answer Joshua's question.
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