David Foster Wallace's Speech : This Is Water

If a person never learns how to have control over what they think or how to view things differently then they will live much of their adult life arrogant, in their head, or upset. David Foster Wallace begins by discussing how liberal arts colleges “teach you how to think” and continues to discuss how he has always disliked this. He already believes he knows how to think, being that thinking is what got him in college in the first place. He explains how everyone thinks differently and has their own thing that they worship but, everyone views themselves as the center of the universe. This point of view can leave people living day to day life finding every reason to be angry or annoyed about everything surrounding them. With that, he says all

Irving Wallace, an American author and screenwriter, once stated: “To be one’s self, and unafraid whether right or wrong, is more admirable than the easy cowardice of surrender to conformity.” Wallace admired those who were not afraid to be the “lone wolf” and stick to their own individual ideas and character, no matter the consequences. People often view submission as the one and only route; they see a majority of the population following one another and figure it is the best option. Unfortunately, conformity does have its consequences. In The Crucible, Miller reveals that the overwhelming pressures to conform causes one’s rationality to be diminished, resulting in the destruction of their morals and ultimately a society through his use of situational and dramatic irony.

In the 2005 commencement address at Kenyon College, David Foster Wallace delivered an unusual message to the graduates. He uses a unique approach to the typical conventions of a commencement speech in order to catch the attention of the graduates and to reinforce the honesty of his message. By defying their expectations, he urges them to consider their own obliviousness and to look past their own natural biases in order to see what’s truly right in front of them.

In David Foster Wallace’s graduation speech, This Is Water, he uses logical and emotional appeals to discuss the importance of critical thinking. Wallace uses the term “conscious” to signal critical thinkers, while those who do not think critically are referred to as “unconscious.” Wallace’s main argument is that a person has the choice to think critically and should do so every day. Wallace’s analysis of consciousness and unconsciousness focusses too heavily on the logical and emotional appeals and ignores the possible ethical arguments that support the development of conscious societies, such as activism. In doing so, Wallace favours the self-interested members of the audience and alienates those who favour altruism, limiting the

While I understand why David Foster Wallace makes his argument, I believe that college does prepare you for life and gives you the knowledge and skills to become a well-adjusted person. It is the college experience that allows a person to really learn about themselves. I do not believe that anything is wrong with being self-centered and focusing on yourself. Being consumed with yourself does not necessarily mean that you have no awareness of what going on in the world or have limited ability to show compassion for others. In “Kenyon Commencement Address”, David Foster Wallace argues that as long as a person tries to adjust their natural settings and alter the selfish thoughts they have, they can be considered as more adjusted individual`s. Specifically, he wants students to know that learning what to think and how to think is important to becoming a well-adjusted person and it’s not something you learn in college. Some of Wallace’s arguments I disagree with are thinking outwardly, the average person is self-centered, and being well-adjusted.

“Natural, hard-wired default setting” is Wallace’s way of explaining the default and common life that people do because they don’t do what they want. Most of us are “deeply and literally self-centered” because of the harsh world everyone has grew up in, most people in the world have become self-centered, granted there are some that do kind acts to the community and people, but people tend to only think of themselves.

In David Foster Wallace’s Commencement Speech, he opens with a short parable about how a fish greets two other fishes and ask them how’s the water today, this parable introduces us to his message which is changing that default setting which is hard-wired into our brains to have a life worth living. I agree with his statement because this is’nt just the first time this formula has been brought to our attention. Many success people have said this statement in some form or fashion, we can even look at David Sedaris’s commencement speech.

One of the finest commencement speeches was given by David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College. Wallace’s speech can be viewed as enlightening to those who are often blindly single-minded. It forces the audience to take a look at the way they approach everyday situations, rather than being self-centered, consider others before yourself. However, many overlook Wallace’s impeccable rhetorical maneuvers, focusing on the constant clichés and fictional anecdotes used. What people don’t realize is these clichés and fictional anecdotes are what make Wallace’s speech effective and reinforce the basic principles we were taught as a child, to share and think of others before ourselves. Overlooking Wallace’s flawless technique is doing a disservice to

Many people tend to become frustrated with their daily lives and start to have a negative mindset of blaming other people for their problems. In David Foster Wallace’s speech, “This is Water,” he informed the audience of the importance for everyone to know they have a “natural default-setting,” which is the automatic way that a person feels they are the center of the universe and that negative situations are other people’s fault. He also discussed the importance of trying not to act in this “natural default-setting”, and try to think of problems that other people have to go through in their lives. The main purpose of Wallace’s speech was to persuade the audience to fight the urge of staying in their natural default setting to prevent frustration in a person’s daily life.

We are going to try to make it through our workshops, my little intro on David Foster Wallace and these two videos tomorrow. Might be a little too ambitious. These are wonderful videos, very uplifting, very important to the time we are living in. I think we are in for a fun week. The videos are listed below for your reference, and in case we do not make it through these tomorrow. You don't have to watch them. The first one is Wallace's commencement speech, the second is on meta-modernism in pop culture.

One way our natural default system is automatic one may be sitting in traffic or in the checkout line gives the individual time to actually think. However, if one is just there and is not completely aware one's mind may start to wonder either if it is daydreaming or subconscious thoughts. However, even if one is stuck in traffic or waiting in a checkout line, Wallace says “every time I have to foodshop, because my natural default-setting is the certainty that situations like this are really all about me, about my hungriness and my fatigue and my desire to just get home,.” Wallace brings out the point if you as a person is stuck in traffic or in a line that is when it becomes part of their universe. In the essay, Wallace talks about how people are repulsive and cow-like when people are in a line waiting because one is tired and wants to get out of the situation due to the fact that people are talking obnoxiously on their phones or if they are tired from a long day of work and on top of that they are hungry. However, even if one is not aware of their judgement a person has control over their worship.

One cannot truly change the world around without first mastering the art of looking beyond oneself and into the outside world. This idea of looking beyond oneself has been the focus of ancient and modern philosophers throughout the world. In “The Is Water”(2005), a commencement address, David Foster Wallace, a modern day philosopher, implies that people generally view the world from a selfish perspective and elaborates on how the world should work to reverse its self-centered ways. Wallace reveals his topic through a series of anecdotes, each highlighting a different way we are focused on ourselves and then providing a way to view each situation from a different perspective. Wallace’s purpose is to point out the faults in thinking only for

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.” -William James

Is thinking a necessity in dealing with or handling issues on a daily basis? Every day we are faced with situations that will requires us to think on different levels. Thinking is a very imperative method of how an individual’s thoughts when being read by someone else can generate a comprehensible concept.   In this paper, I will explain some of the perceptual blocks that have some bearing on my views and how I reply to it.

Critical thinking is crucial when trying to find a solution to a problem. It is important to look at a problem from different viewpoints in order to gain an insight of all of the possible solutions. What resonated with me the most in this article is that you must choose when to think creatively. This means that you should make conscious decisions about what kind of thinking to do in any given moment. This concept will aid me by making me think cautiously about decisions that I make in order to obtain many different options before I take action. In having more options, you are able to choose which will cause a greater outcome, allowing you to become more successful.