The Los Angeles Central Public Library doesn't open until 10 in the morning. By that time a crowd gathers outside each of the library's three entrances waiting for the doors to open, and when they do, everyone rushes inside. It's the most excitement I've ever seen directed at a library.
4 comments:
I am always bowled over by how appropriate that bas relief is for philosophy in LA: all of philosophy being contained by the morning star and the evening star... Frege's puzzle, the deepest philosophical problem.
p.s.--I was curious about how perspective adjustment would work on this picture, so I did one:
http://saveitforyourblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/philosophy-bas-relief-la-public-library.html
I noticed "Hesper" and "Phosphor" on the façade, but I didn't connect it to UCLA's prominent position concerning debates on the significance of the fact that they're one and the same.
Is the point of the bas relief that the wisdom of the east (represented by Zoroaster et al) and the wisdom of the west (Kant et al) are the same? That would be an informative identity.
I really like that reading of the bas relief. It accords better with the morning star/evening star symbolism than the pluralist/multi-culturalist reading that LA Conservancy tour guides normally give it.
I have to say that although it's a way of getting at topics that I'm very interested in, I don't think I share the feeling that Frege's puzzle is the deepest philosophical problem.
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