Philosophy
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Saturday Morning Pam-toons. Footnotes to Plato.
The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. –A.N. Whitehead– Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, Gifford Lectures 1927-28, New York: The Free Press, 1973. Internet Archive, accessed April 10, 2021. Part II, Section I, Chapter I. For budding Phil-nerds, here is the… Continue reading
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Saturday Morning Pam-toons. So … what did you do?
So … what did you do? I broke the Law of the Excluded Middle. Continue reading
drawing, excluded middle, foto, graphic, humor, humour, LEM, logic, logician, pencil, philosopher, Philosophy, photo, proposition, satan, sketch, tautology -
An example of beautiful prose in Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan.
You’ve surely had that experience where you’ve set down your keys, or a phone number, or a bank card but can’t remember where. You turn your pockets inside out, rifle through the cushions on the sofa, search the crevices of your vehicle, call your friends … all to no avail. You’re on the verge of… Continue reading
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Thoughtlets . xxxviii.
Lately I’ve been troubled by laughing-at-stupid-people infotainment, especially in partisan news media, and on both sides of the political spectrum. I’d like to watch a broadcast that doesn’t devolve into some version of nanny-nanny-poo-poo-you-have-stinky-pants. That the frowning anchor wears a suit and tie, or a presentable dress, makes the content no less childish and vitriolic. But… Continue reading
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Plato’s Legacy: Intellectual Curmudgeonry
Try this. When you step out of bed in the morning, open the curtains, take a big breath, and exclaim: What a wonderful day! I can’t believe how rational people are! It’s because somebody, like Plato, opened the curtains one morning, looked out at the world and said Oh… My… Gawd! What’s wrong with people?! Can’t… Continue reading
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Thoughtlets. xxxiv.
The Assumption(s) of the Soulless Shoes David Hume noted, That the sun will not rise to-morrow is no less intelligible a proposition, and implies no more contradiction, than the affirmation, that it will rise. David Hume (1711-1776). David Steinberg, Ed. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Second Edition. Hackett Publishing Company:Indianapolis. 1993. Section IV, Pt.I, p.15… Continue reading
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Thoughtlets. xxix.
Today’s Thoughtlet is a quote on freedom of expression that originates with Tacitus, a Roman historian who lived in the first century CE. This quote, translated as follows, appears in Latin on the title page of the first edition of Hume’s A Treatise of Human Nature, “Seldom are men blessed with times in which they may… Continue reading
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New, old, permanence, and change. A montage of thoughts and quotes. (Repost, Feb. 23, 2020)
Note: May 18, 2021. I’m thinking about aging tonight, and the passage of time. Which reminded me of the following montage of thoughts and quotes that I assembled last year. “Not everything was better in our ancestors’ days, either — our own age, too, has produced many instances of excellence and artistic merit deserving to… Continue reading
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‘Freedom’ is Not a Well-Formed Formula
Freedom! is a common rallying cry that some pledge to fight to the death to defend. And do. So it might be a tad unseemly to point out that ‘freedom’ is not a well-formed formula. By which is meant ‘freedom’ requires an indexical, as in freedom-to and freedom-from. And then to-what and from-what or from-whom,… Continue reading
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