AT THE STOA

I was amused by the idea that it was  purportedly Kant  who first used the phrase "always already," though it is more amusing that, at least according to  this  blogger, Gayatri Spivak in his introduction to Of Grammatology  currently holds the record for the most number of instantiations of said phrase. I would have wanted to verify that for myself were I younger, but presently that would require me to read pages ix to lxxxvii of the book's John Hopkin's paperback edition (1976), and ain't nobody got time for that. (Suffice it to say, though, that the semantic evolution of the phrase itself speaks very strongly based on  who  uses it most famously: first Kant, then Marx, then Heidegger, then Derrida). I would also, apart from being a lazy pedant, be careless and say that it needs one more "al-" in it: almost. The beauty of that word, apart from lending a necessary uncertainty to the monolithic formulation of "always already," is that it ca

Tell you what. If you happen to spend New Year's, or any celebration worthy of company, alone, try to do these. 1. Put a kettle on, and make some tea. Or make a cold mocha drink, so you'd have the comfort of chocolate and the kick of coffee and the who-knows-what of milk. (Cowness?) You'll have very confused physiological reactions not to mention wakefulness, but number 4 below will take care of that. 2. Put on a sweater, if you haven't already. Even if you live in Manila, it's somewhat cool enough this time of year to wear one. Preferably one with holes in it, just so that you know you're at home and nobody really would care. There is a small comfort in that. 3. Work, if you work at home. Don't overdo it (although if you work at home "overdoing it" might take on a different meaning, but whatever. You're at home. Nobody really would notice.) 4. Inevitably, go down rabbit holes.  Into the acoustics of St. Pancras O