Spring 2012
Bookmark / The Philosopher’s Reaction Game
Grab and whoa
![The front and back of this issue’s bookmark. The front side shows different points on a reaction scale. The back side reads: “THE PHILOSOPHER’S REACTION GAME. From driving your car to playing a sport, reaction time is crucial—the more reactive you are, the better. But in
the philosophical tradition whose proponents include Friedrich Nietzsche and Gilles Deleuze, reaction is understood as negative: unlike action, where the creative deed is purely affirmative— always saying only “yes” to its own demands—reaction is a condition of existence that, as Nietzsche writes in “On the Genealogy of Morals”, “requires [external] stimuli to be capable of action at all.” And so we here introduce the Philosopher’s Reaction Game, which borrows from and inverts a familiar test of reaction time. Instructions: 1. Have a friend hold this bookmark in front of you. 2. Place your index finger and thumb three inches apart on either side of, but not touching, its bottom edge. 3. When your friend drops the bookmark, bring your fingers together to catch it as quickly as you can. The printed scale will determine how reactive a person you are.”](/issues/45/cabinet_046_bookmark.jpg)
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