Afternoon. I had lunch at the coffee shop that I go frequently. It was raining this morning, but it's getting sunny and warm. Fine autumn day.
Late Morning. I was studying and listening to music with mr. e till dawn, and then we both got tired and went to bed: actually, 'went to bed' may not be the proper expression; for one slept on the sofa, the other on the ground, or to be more precise, on the corrugated cardboard.
Then someone woke me up. I guess I really shouldn't sleep in the student room of ethics, but the good point about it is that there is always someone coming and waking me up:-).
Afternoon. I'm wasting my time away. I guess I'm not very prudent, in that I can't prepare for the not so distant future as next Tuesday.
Carol King's "So Far Away" is echoing in my mind.
'So far away.
Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore?
It would be so fine to see your face at my door.
Doesn't help to know that you're just time away.'
'One more song about moving along the highway.
Can't say much of anything that's new.
If I could only work this life out my way,
I'd rather spend it being close to you.
O, but you're so far away.'
I feel I'm getting slightly melancholic. Is it because mr. e is so far away right now? :-)
Sunny afternoon. In my master's thesis, firstly I will argue against Fred Rosen, that the principle of utility sure is 'the critical standard' as H.L.A. Hart said. But I need to consider exactly what Rosen mean by saying that it's not so, and whether Hart and Rosen mean the same thing by 'critical standard'.
Secondly, I will consider P.J. Kelly's claim that Bentham didn't have a direct utilitarian theory of moral obligation but some form of indirect theory. To put it my way, this is the question of whether the principle of utility, which is the sole standard and measure of right and wrong, also provides us moral obligations to do what it dictates. My provisional answer to this question is nearly the same as Kelly's, but I must have a close investigation of Hart's and Kelly's arguments before I can give a definite answer.
Anyway, in this paper I will try to make my arguments as clear as possible. I'm really sick and tired of obscure, confused and what-are-you-saying-doesn't-make-any-sense-at-all-to-me thinking of some people. Well, I sure will try.
Evening. Good deal tired. Last night I was still writing the handout of my master's thesis for the presentation on next Tuesday. I had to make copies of it and hand them out to the people attending the class today, so that they can read them beforehand.
So I slept for about three hours in the morning. Then I attended the philosophy of science class, the 'cultural theories and ethics' class, and my colleague mr o's presentation on the connection between Hume's theory of possession and his theory of causation.
I know what I need: sleep. I could sleep for a thousand years.
I slept way too much yesterday. I shouldn't loosen up too much; the presentation has not yet done.
About an hour before dawn. Got to study. I must make a 'clear and distinct' handout.
Evening. The sun set about an hour ago.
My head is crying, "I'm tired! Please don't drive me too hard!", so I decided to let him have some rest. So bye for now... .. .
Midnight. My presentation is tomorrow! I feel time is getting faster than ever before; someone must have wound the spring of the clock too much.
Evening. I've been doing the editorial work of Jissen Tetsugaku Kenkyu all day long. Feel exhausted. Better get some sleep.
morning. i'm now writing this using a computer called 'sun ultra 10'. this is actually not a computer, but a workstation, at least so i heard. what is it good for? nothing!
ya, i don't yet see the advantages this expensive workstation is supposed to have. the monitor is good. because it's big.
late afternoon. somehow, i feel very heavy. something heavy got stuck in my breast. i feel weak...
afternoon. something good has happened. now i feel exhilarated. what a contrast compared with yesterday!
a few minutes before noon. very sleepy. my master's thesis is getting nowhere. shite. shite. shite.
tuesday morning. it's the busiest day of the week, you know.
afternoon. it's next to certainty that i'm gonna fall asleep in the next class.
nearly midnight. bad day. not everything is solved by discussion, i must remember. (but i guess i was brought up that way.) sometimes you have to guess and not to ask how a person feels. and it's very difficult task but you've just got to do it. for he or she doesn't speak out all of what they're thinking; they just show the tip of the iceberg. and after all, i myself don't always speak out what i'm thinking.
evening. spent much time on computer setting. shite.
check it out. an old book fair is being held in a temple called `chion-ji', near kyoto university. it's from 10/30-11/03.
midnight. i feel i've been trying to escape from the reality (of having to write my master's thesis), but i know i really shouldn't. for if i go on this way, sooner or later i'll be in deep trouble.
yeah, i know, i know. but i just can't...
midnight. yesterday i slept way too much and couldn't attend prof. kato's lecture on the recent study of hegel. what a fool i am...
midnight. when i first read rousseau's social contract, i thought the general will is virtually the same as the principle of utility, in that both represent the greatest possible satisfaction of all the people's self-interests. and now i find bertrand russel is expressing the same thing (although he does not explicitly say so).
so tired.
midnight. yesterday i overslept and didn't go to some university to help selling `jissen tetsugaku kenkyu (studies for practical philosophy)'. i feel very sorry about it. i really do.
it seems that sleepiness is my greatest adversary. i guess i have to get along with it.
early morning. wow, time warps. got to study, buddy.
early morning. time really warps.
early morning. i have decided to study at home rather than at school, so this page will be updated less frequently. sorry about that.