reflections on ..things that we know without knowing

What does philosophy teach us that empirical science does not? The things we know without knowing it, says Žižek, the silent presuppositions that constantly shape and inform our perception. It's important to be able to observe our surroundings and act on them, but we also need to understand what we're seeing and why we're seeing it. "The danger today is precisely a kind of a bland, pragmatic activism. You know, like when people tell you, oh my God, children in Africa are starving and you have time for your stupid philosophical debates. Let’s do something. I always hear in this call there are people starving. I always discern in this a more ominous injunction. Do it and don't think too much. Today, we need thinking."


In the Shadow of Hegel: How Does Thought Arise Out of Matter?

What does philosophy teach us that empirical science does not?

The things we know without knowing it, says Žižek, the silent presuppositions that constantly shape and inform our perception.

.. things that we know without knowing ..

..realising .. fathoming .. delving into .. the ..pure essence of it .. a new .. dumbfounding perspective ..

..we know .. but we do not know ..how ..we know .. if this does not make us ..stupid .. then what is ..

reduces .. knowledge ..as we know it .. and profusely use it .. as ..regurgitated nonsense .. which we slap the label ..knowledge .. merely based on how many times is repeated ..and by how many .. and ..most importantly .. by who .. another one's ..résumé ..

.. deprives us ..of our agency .. the ultimate machine, the human unit, ..unable ..incapable .. to fathom ..itself ..

we .. have the nerve .. to talk down .. machines ..animals ..their intelligence .. only .. to find out that we are not at all different ..

creationist .. created by .. it feels like it .. whether we ..like it ..or not ..

a spiral .. a loop .. what is ..created .. creates .. the human ..creates the machine .. what has created the human .. has been created by .. another ..

It's important to be able to observe our surroundings and act on them,

... but we also need to understand what we're seeing and why we're seeing it.

what we know, without knowing .. the need to understand ..what we're seeing ..and why we're seeing it

"The danger today is precisely a kind of a bland, pragmatic activism.

You know, like when people tell you, oh my God, children in Africa are starving and you have time for your stupid philosophical debates. Let’s do something.

.. they will keep starving .. as the reasons why they are starving .. evades us .. are not taken into consideration .. being mere .. patches in the world canvass ..

I always hear in this call there are people starving. I always discern in this a more ominous injunction. Do it and don't think too much. Today, we need thinking."