"But above all we must avoid conceiving of society once again as a fixed, abstract thing opposed to the individual. The individual is the social being. His life, therefore, even when it is not manifested in a directly communal way or as accomplished in common with others, is a manifestation and confirmation of social life. Man's individual life and species-life are not different, even though, necessarily, the mode of existence of individual life will be a more particular or more universal mode of species-life, or the mode of existence of species-life a more particular or more universal individual life."
"In his species-consciousness man affirms his actual social life and simply repeats in thought his actual existence, just as conversely his species-being is affirmed in his species-consciousness and, in its universality, exists for itself as a thinking being."
"Consequently, each individual man, however particular he be - and it is precisely his particularity that makes him an individual and an actual individual species-being - is just as much the totality: Both the ideal totality, i.e. the subjective existence of society present to itself in thought and feeling; and in the actual world, in his contemplation and actual enjoyment of social existence, a totality of human manifestations of life."
The colonial period of U.S. history contains a variety of interesting lessons. One of these pertains to the concept of a "virtuoso." The virtuoso was primarily characterized by curiosity. Rather than being overly specialized, the virtuoso explored a wide range of interests. The study of nature, art, literature, and theology all would have been pursuits common to this stereotype. This blog aspires to take this early category and use it as a point of departure for exploration and reflection.
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