… in the Wall Street Journal.
The German philosopher Martin Heidegger once wrote that it is only necessary for a man to think one thought all the way through to the end. If only Heidegger, an enthusiastic Nazi, had taken his own advice.
Still, the quote says something about the German intellectual temperament, inclined to grind away at a single complex idea profoundly and often beautifully, year after year. Kant, Beethoven, Einstein, Porsche.
The Stuttgart-based sports car company has been unpuzzling the 911 idea for decades, and just when you think the rear-engine sport coupe can’t get any better, it does. It also tends to get more expensive, so if you’ve been longing for a new 911, brace yourself. The Carrera S I drove around the Black Forest in late October had a base price of $97,350… Philosophy majors need not apply.
Scathing Online Schoolmarm thinks this would have had more impact if the author had not hidden behind Heidegger and had instead begun with something like
The German leader Adolph Hitler once wrote that he had no use for knights; he needed revolutionaries.
And then onto the thing about the German intellectual temperament, etc.
Also: SOS thinks the writer should have put the price of the car in his first paragraph. Maybe something like
Hitler’s ideas cost the world dearly, and the new Porsche Carrera S will definitely set its purchasers back too — to the tune of $97,530.
November 15th, 2011 at 7:13AM
I don’t agree. Heidegger provides the organizing principle here (following an idea through), and the kicker on price is tied nicely to recent reports on the low financial returns to certain liberal arts majors. The Nazi bit is just a necessary but clunky disclaimer. Start with Hitler and you’ve got a totally negative review, withe the reader’s thoughts going straight to tailpipe emissions.
November 15th, 2011 at 7:50AM
Mr Punch: If you lose Hitler, you lose the incredible power, insane expense, and macho hardness (v. softness exemplified by the liberal arts) of the Porsche 911.