M U L L A duel of ideas

Attention as the rarest form of generosity

Simone Weil  vs  David Foster Wallace

Weil called attention 'the rarest and purest form of generosity.' Wallace, in Kenyon, told the graduates that the freedom of an educated mind is the freedom to choose what you pay attention to. Both knew what most of us forget: attention is not the input to thinking. It is thinking.

What did your attention give away yesterday that you would not have given consciously?

Whose side are you on?

Want more duels like this?
Read another now →
Mull is a public library of idea duels.
Browse all