There's a subway poster up these days, quoting Kant: "Out of the crooked timber of humanity, nothing entirely straight can be built." The Times riffed on that the other day, declaring that it was descriptive of present-day dysfunctional Albany.
But I wonder, is the corollary true?Out of the straight timber of humanity, nothing crooked can be built.
So Utopian, no?
13 April 2009
Kant and Corollary
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10 comments:
even out of the crooked timber, great things can be built.
neither trees nor humans are perfect, after all.
Ya, I wonder if we want straight at all. I don't think I do.
God, call me a cynic but I just can't buy humanity as straight timber. Call me a cynic but just don't call me a Kantian.
hmmm...i think what's most interesting is a subway poster featuring kant. these are strange times indeed.
I would question the assumption that "straight" is a desirable condition, valued above crooked.
Straight isn't 'always' the best, isn't it?
Do you ever read Crooked Timber? It has some interesting stuff once in a while.
For the most part, I don't see the timber, the raw material, as crooked - I see it bend, twist, curve gracefully in the winds of chance even as it strives ever upward.
Of course, that could be the chocolate talking...
Shade and Sweetwater,
K
something about moments like the one you describe, seeing that there reminds me of order in the chaos.
I wish all timber were straight. My husband the carpenter says, sorry, but no.
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