tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post2384626630300007874..comments2024-02-20T12:26:24.682-05:00Comments on language goes on holiday: Be yourselfDuncan Richterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15708344766825805406noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-16265407497927454212011-07-29T17:09:02.103-04:002011-07-29T17:09:02.103-04:00Thanks, Matt. I like that movie, but I'd forgo...Thanks, Matt. I like that movie, but I'd forgotten that bit. Very appropriate. And the repetition of the question both questions the question and suggests that there might be serious ways in which one fails to be oneself.<br /><br />Yes, peace of mind seems obviously better than disquiet, but not just any peace of mind is desirable. It does need to be honest. I don't think chemically induced peace of mind is necessarily dishonest, exactly. If someone needs Ritalin to function, say, then I wouldn't count this as a strike against their honesty. It might not count against their integrity either, although there could be room for debate about that. But if you only have something like peace of mind as a result of the continued use of something external to yourself (such as a drug) then I wouldn't say you were <i>being yourself</i>. Maybe it doesn't matter, but this just seems like the wrong language to use in that kind of case.Duncan Richterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708344766825805406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6454161596094447448.post-28987995365063466562011-07-29T15:52:55.436-04:002011-07-29T15:52:55.436-04:00There's a funny moment in I [heart] Huckabees ...There's a funny moment in <i>I [heart] Huckabees</i> where Jude Law's character says with exasperation, "How am I not myself?" and Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin (I think) just keep repeating this over and over. See it <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZCpXngFXoU" rel="nofollow">here</a>.<br /><br />I've been thinking about "peace of mind," in relation to my paper about integrity and struggle, and Cottingham's picture of integrity as tranquility. I guess the encouragement to "try and find / peace of mind" makes enough sense. But at the same time, I guess I would say that one might try to do this in ways that are dishonest (not true to one's reasonably conflicted self). That might be related to what you said about only feeling like yourself when you've had something to drink, etc.Matthew Pianaltohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16380038537888895216noreply@blogger.com