Kuangchi Program Service
This is the long-delayed Part II to Canberra. Here’s where I resume my writing. I will probably spend the first phase of it just recalling where I left off as I had done at the House of Writers in Canberra.
This time, however, I’m hiding away in Kuangchi Program Service in Taipei, where I spent two years as a regent back in the early 90s for my media training. It’s a historic media production house started by the Jesuits decades ago, and it has left an indelible mark on the history of Taiwan television and documentaries.
I arrived the other day a little before noon, getting off the express bus at the Sogo Department Store at the intersection of 忠孝 and 復興 Roads. It was a sunny day, so I decided to walk to Kuangchi just a few blocks down the road. As I was waiting for the elevator door to open, one of the janitors recognized me and said hello. That was a nice welcome.
The Jesuit residence on the 4th floor was abandoned, so on my own, I found a room and assumed it was for me until Jerry Martinson came over later to show me a much more spacious room. It used to be the room of the late Bob Ronald, my spiritual director. I miss Bob.
There’s something about Kuangchi that makes me feel so much at home. Too bad that they will soon tear down this building. This may well be the last time I get to stay here! I’m going to try to accomplish two things here: Do some serious writing and stop worrying about school.
Yesterday, I did some actual writing, focusing on a couple of big ideas about epistemological development. What I found interesting is the insight that the two shifts that span the three epistemological stages correspond to changes in particular epistemological beliefs. The first has to do with one’s view of the nature of knowledge (whether simple/complex or certain/uncertain). This “Perspectivist Shift” seems to be a prerequisite of epistemological development since one’s view of simple and certain knowledge undergoes a revision into one that recognizes its complex and uncertain nature; hence, the possibility and legitimacy of multiple perspectives.
The second epistemological shift deals with how one relies on authority or expert knowledge (whether uncritical or critical). This critical stance towards authority–sometimes leading to outright rejection or a virtual rebellion–seems to be a condition for the third shift, which has to do with the justification of knowledge, specifically, the role of the self. The self takes on a more active and independent role vis-a-vis authority and other external sources of knowledge.
More than ever, I realize that writing is thinking–disciplined thinking–something we so easily take for granted. Even as I wrote that, I returned to my draft for some revision of thought.
I’m tempted to be purely task-oriented and be concerned about getting the writing done. But the more important goal, the more valuable gift here in Taipei, is the space and silence to think, wrestle with, and understand this animal called epistemology.
strugglingSCHOLAR 