Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The “Lords of Life”: Fractals, Recursivity, and “Experience”

The “Lords of Life”: Fractals, Recursivity, and “Experience” Abstract: This article uses the fractal as a device for explicating the narrative strategies of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Experience.” Each of the seven “lords of life” of “Experience” incorporates aspects of its six complementary “lords,” so this article argues that each “lord”—and its corresponding section of “Experience”—represents a fractal recapitulation of the whole course of “Experience.” Applying a fractal narrative to “Experience” casts further light on the process of recursion within Emerson’s prose and on the way in which Emerson’s writing can seek to perform the methods of consciousness; the recursion of the fractal offers a lens for viewing the self-referential qualities of consciousness. Using the initial “lord” of “Illusion” as a microcosm for viewing the fractal qualities of the other “lords,” this article then examines the implications of this fractal dynamic for the themes of “Experience” as a whole, including the relationship of part and whole, the role of human partiality, and the intricacies of self-awareness. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Philosophy and Rhetoric Penn State University Press

The “Lords of Life”: Fractals, Recursivity, and “Experience”

Philosophy and Rhetoric , Volume 45 (1) – Feb 7, 2012

Loading next page...
 
/lp/penn-state-university-press/the-lords-of-life-fractals-recursivity-and-experience-q1Q2PgsxSw

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
Penn State University Press
Copyright
Copyright © The Pennsylvania State University.
ISSN
1527-2079
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Abstract: This article uses the fractal as a device for explicating the narrative strategies of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Experience.” Each of the seven “lords of life” of “Experience” incorporates aspects of its six complementary “lords,” so this article argues that each “lord”—and its corresponding section of “Experience”—represents a fractal recapitulation of the whole course of “Experience.” Applying a fractal narrative to “Experience” casts further light on the process of recursion within Emerson’s prose and on the way in which Emerson’s writing can seek to perform the methods of consciousness; the recursion of the fractal offers a lens for viewing the self-referential qualities of consciousness. Using the initial “lord” of “Illusion” as a microcosm for viewing the fractal qualities of the other “lords,” this article then examines the implications of this fractal dynamic for the themes of “Experience” as a whole, including the relationship of part and whole, the role of human partiality, and the intricacies of self-awareness.

Journal

Philosophy and RhetoricPenn State University Press

Published: Feb 7, 2012

There are no references for this article.