Phil(19)

French newspapers are publishing, today, the questions
to the Philosophy exam given to  the Literature Option
students of the French Bac (University entrance). The student
has four hours to tackle one of these and - given they are
literaure students - expressivity will be considered;
this has to be a good read!

For me, nice to connect with the 'expected' answers but, from the
point of view of being a Senior, things might look a bit different.

1. Can one escape time? Sounds like a boozy question, or something
one might joke about. But in all seriousness, no, one cannot. I diligently
peruse my videoshop catalogue for a movie to watch and there is
never anything. New movies are irrelevant and old movies no longer
pertinent. Welcome to old age. I spent 40 years dining on brocoli and
low-fat dairy to avoid disease, but dislocated my shoulder. I buy a
new dress and people remark I look like the 1960s to a tee. Time is
inéluctable.

2. Under what conditions should one explicate a work of art?  Art critics are
invaluable to someone wanting to appreciate a work. But artists themselves
have a responsibility to be 'measured' for the people they create for. There
had been a plan to wrap the Arc de Triomphe to help Parisians re-discover
a familiar landmark. This has been postponed to next year in view of the
gilets jaunes protests. The latter events having given non-Parisians an
opportunity to explore the Capital, and recognize its beauty. An ironic situation.

3. Is Hegel right in his view that 'man affirms having within himself  the measure
to what is just'. The problem with Hegel is that he was so influential in his time,
his views have become the unquestioned norm. But Marx came after, and the
issue for us might be what man/woman are we talking about. I, for one, have
often felt the feeling of injustice to be a child's sentiment, and rightly so. But the
business of law, and law-making, has become a learned discipline currently
grappling with issues of long-term sustainability and human responsibility to the
natural world.