Re: Fort's Philosophy
Thanks LBD; despite being a philosophy student myself, I had not wanted to begin to sift through philosophical thought to find starting places; tho, as Fort would remind us, we can find elements of all things in all other things; such is an organic universe.
I would disagree that
Originally posted by littleblackduck
Fort doesn't seem to give a damn about religion and spiritualism--its time is past, or perhaps yet to come, as an intellectual fashion as far as Fort is concerned.
I don't think Fort thought any more or less about anything; things come and go and come again, and nothing attains or achieves any more or less prominence or importance than anything else. I think perhaps Fort was weary of spiritualists and religionists; recall his comment in a letter to Aaron Sussman about the Fortean Society, in which he objects to the FS' formation, because it will attract (amongst others) spiritualists and zealots who will not listen because they have not been listened to. Fort requires openness of mind and surrenderance of intellectual ego-- not a common feature of those committed to dogma, as are many religionists and spiritualists. I don't think he wanted them because they didn't want him-- or, his ideas. Fort would be happy, I think, to admit dogmatists, so long as they would accept the possibility that they would listen and perhaps leave with their dogma challenged, if not removed.
I think also that there is much to be said for Fort's style, which in philosophy, or the expression of ideas, is as important as the substance. Aristotle is legendary for his polymathy and intellect, but was also a renowned stylist. Like Nietzsche, Fort has a unique, dynamic, poetic and almost violent style (tho Nietzsche's was far more so), with a particular skill for aphorisms: I have long thought that a good philosopher is one whose philosophy can be concluded in or deduced from a short series of quotations. Consider Fort's three cardinal sayings (.one measures a circle..', .conceive of nothing in..', and 'i belive nothing of my own..'), as well as other almost off-the-cuff musings, and you have a style that is as infectious and memorable as it is profound. Though, of course, I don't believe a word of it
P.S. I also like something Tiffany Thayer said in his introduction (xi) to the 1940 Henry Holt edition of BOTD,
'Mental genuflection is not characteristic of Forteans'