Read the full article which is published on Philosophy Bits (external link)Even if I always do everything I possibly can to help others, there will still be those who won’t receive the compassion they need from me. Despite continuous effort to see what I must do and then do it, my actions can still fall short. This happens because my awareness is imperfect. Where my awareness is lacking, I’m unable to see the most compassionate course of action.
Even with an unshakable devotion to seeing clearly, I still won’t achieve perfect awareness. This is partly because the world around me is complex and varied, which means there are more kinds of experience than the ones I’ve already had or seen. It’s also because there is more to myself than I can fully grasp, and uncovering all of my hidden desires, aversions, and beliefs is itself an endless task. I can try to expand my awareness by allowing my attention to be open and free to explore everything I encounter, but my progress towards perfect awareness will always be partial.
Poststructuralism as a Regime of Truth: Foucault and the Paradox of Philosophical Authority
Foucault’s critique of power and knowledge shaped poststructuralism, yet its rejection of truth risks becoming its own orthodoxy. To remain...
