A Crisis of Attention

[Philosophy Now]

Paul Doolan attends to our culture of attention demanding.

https://philosophynow.org/issues/169/A_Crisis_of_Attention

[Walker]

Paul Doolan attends to our culture of attention demanding.

https://philosophynow.org/issues/169/A_ ... _Attention

Conclusion
Setiya frames the loving attention of Weil and Murdoch as being an effort ‘to appreciate what’s there’ (Life is Hard, p.128). However, we no longer linger, because new information is constantly demanding our attention. Han argues that anything that is time-consuming ‘is on the way out’ (Non-things, p.6). Intense forms of attentiveness are being banished by destructive hyperactivity.

We give our attention away to a constant stream of trivial information. While the fish is still alive, we need to take the time to look into its eyes, recognize its creatureliness, attend to its suffering, then set it free. Then we need to spread the message of attending, before we descend into complete madness.

© Dr Paul M.M. Doolan 2025

Commentary:

A meditation practice that involves sitting still for at least a half hour or so on a regular basis cures fidgeting and distraction, and attention is then free to effortlessly focus and linger. Crises for humanity thus averted at the human level.

[TrentonCollier]

Paul Doolan attends to our culture of attention demanding.

https://philosophynow.org/issues/169/A_ ... _Attention x trench run

I think Doolan's post is a much-needed reminder that we should revalue attention. Instead of letting it be sucked away by the fast, the cheap, the noisy, let's give it to the real, the deep, the worthwhile.