A Conversation for h2g2 Philosopher's Guild Members Page
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Tommy Mac Posted Jul 26, 2003
'never test the depth of water with both feet at the same time '
Tommy Mac
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Recumbentman Posted Jul 27, 2003
"There was a real me once, but I had it surgically removed"
-Peter Sellers on the Muppet Show
h2g2 Philosopher's Guild
Tommy Mac Posted Jul 27, 2003
'Never test the depth of water with both feet '
Tommy Mac
Thus Spake Zarathustra
Recumbentman Posted Jul 27, 2003
Toxxin -- you asked where my Wittgenstein quote is from. Chaiwallah brought up the category of things W said we must pass over in silence, I replied--
"oh he tried to pass them over
till his face went black and blue
but he couldn't pass them over
any more than me or you"
--but I wasn't quoting anyone.
What W wrote in the Tractatus was "Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darĂ¼ber muss man schweigen" which has been variously translated; you give something close to the 1922 version, which I also find the best ("Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent").
The soul was called a 'thing' earlier in this thread, an example of what Wittgenstein warned against. 'Thing' is used as a place-holder, a soft key, a cypher with no baggage implied, and then a sentence later the soul is expected to be found among the list of "things in the world", objectified. Perhaps the reason why Wittgenstein said right at the beginning "The world is the totality of facts, not of things"; we can treat the soul etc. as facts, without being suckered into expecting them to behave like 'things'.
Thus Spake Zarathustra
Recumbentman Posted Jul 27, 2003
Well aint that a bitch! I thought Wittgenstein said "Wovon man nicht *reden* kann, darĂ¼ber muss man schweigen" but checked my Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and it said "sprechen" so I quoted that above. *Then* I do a google and find it was reden all right. Sheesh.
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Tommy Mac Posted Jul 29, 2003
The trouble with a virgin is ;- she is always on the verge.
Tommy Mac
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Tommy Mac Posted Jul 30, 2003
Tommy Mac
Once you have shaken off your apathy.you cant be bothered to do anything else
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Recumbentman Posted Jul 31, 2003
Great one from Isaac Bashevis Singer:
"Of course I believe in free will; what choice do I have?"
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Tommy Mac Posted Aug 1, 2003
Recumbentman
Sounds like tho old Communist Dogma ,
Oh course you are free to do as you like :-provided it is what we allow you '
Tommy Mac
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chaiwallah Posted Aug 2, 2003
This thread seems to have reverted to being a mere dumping of quotes, whereas it had , for a while, given rise to some entertaining philosophical jousting. My understanding was that one was required to produce a suitable quote in order to join the thread. Was I mistaken?
Anyhow. Here's one of my all-time favourite quotes, from none other than the great Recumbentman himself:
"One could be so happy, were it not for one..."
Against which gloomy view I would offer: "If you become the whole, you can't fall down it!"
Thus Spake Zarathustra
Researcher 185550 Posted Aug 2, 2003
No no, it wasn't a quote, it was just me faffing around. I do that a lot.
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Opticalillusion- media mynx life would be boring without hiccups Posted Aug 2, 2003
opticalillusion what is this wacky world coming too?
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Tommy Mac Posted Aug 2, 2003
I have been rich and I have been poor :- on the whole : rich is better .
Tommy Mac
h2g2 Philosopher's Guild
Recumbentman Posted Aug 2, 2003
Chai--
The great charm of this thread is the minimal chat, as against the maximum desultory quoting, that it consists of. Quotes are often golden, chat is nearly always excessive.
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World Citizen Posted Aug 3, 2003
I would like to know more about Scott Adams. Sounds interesting. Also I'd like to know about Descartes, or at least where to find his casual adequacy thought. Any book recommendations?
Recently in a Scientific American, it mentioned about the world and how it might be a holograph. It got really technical, and unfortunitly I don't know enough to understand it very well. Has anyone else read it?
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Researcher 185550 Posted Aug 3, 2003
Scott Adams is the cartoonist who draws Dilbert. If you want anything philosophical from him, read "Thriving on Stupidity in the 21st Century". Not only is it a very amusing read, the last chapter really makes you think. Unfortunately, the last chapter is not so amusing. In any case, it's great fun.
Descartes is one of those modern philosophers that everyone in philosophy class suffers. It's probably better that you don't have to suffer each chapter going at the speed of the notes, noting logical fallacies in a highly artificial manner. Read his Meditations if you wish, it's very ground level stuff (he starts out with sceptical rationalism, and ends up with empiricism, I'll explain those words too if you don't know what they mean). I think the full title is "Meditations on the First Philosophy". Make sure you get a good translation; it was either written in French or Latin first, and can make fairly heavy going if you're not used to that style or his philosophy.
I saw something very similar in New Scientist, something about... I don't remember. If you do a bit of background reading, I suspect mainly philosophy of mind and philosophy of science are the key areas, you will gain a very interesting insight into both of those areas and be able to understand this article .
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Recumbentman Posted Aug 3, 2003
Not philosophical, but let me indulge myself. Rather, try and stop me.
"They were perhaps not so much reflections as a dark torrent of brooding where past and future merged in a single flood and closed over a present forever absent. Ah well."
Samuel Beckett, 'Mercier & Camier'
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World Citizen Posted Aug 3, 2003
Well, speaking of what to read, just curious...what are some good basic philosophy books that you'd suggest for philosophy of mind and philosophy of science? I suppose I just need a path... all of those philosophy books at the library... ahh! kind of makes my head spin. Thankyou!
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Researcher 185550 Posted Aug 3, 2003
Well, as for philosophy of mind;
Pretty much the first philosophy book I read was "Introducing Philosophy" by Jon Nuttall. However, as I'm not sure where you are located, I can't really say whether you'll be able to get that. I got it in Waterstones, it's a paperback with a picture of a drop into a pool of water and the ripples. It has a good section on everything except philosophy of science. "Enquiries concerning Human Understanding" by David Hume is also good for philosophy of mind.
I expect it's probably good for philosophy of science as well- Hume had a go at everything. But apart from that, I can't really help you with philosophy of science.
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- 302: Tommy Mac (Jul 26, 2003)
- 303: Recumbentman (Jul 27, 2003)
- 304: Tommy Mac (Jul 27, 2003)
- 305: Recumbentman (Jul 27, 2003)
- 306: Recumbentman (Jul 27, 2003)
- 307: Tommy Mac (Jul 29, 2003)
- 308: Tommy Mac (Jul 30, 2003)
- 309: Recumbentman (Jul 31, 2003)
- 310: Tommy Mac (Aug 1, 2003)
- 311: chaiwallah (Aug 2, 2003)
- 312: Researcher 185550 (Aug 2, 2003)
- 313: Opticalillusion- media mynx life would be boring without hiccups (Aug 2, 2003)
- 314: Tommy Mac (Aug 2, 2003)
- 315: Recumbentman (Aug 2, 2003)
- 316: World Citizen (Aug 3, 2003)
- 317: Researcher 185550 (Aug 3, 2003)
- 318: Recumbentman (Aug 3, 2003)
- 319: World Citizen (Aug 3, 2003)
- 320: Researcher 185550 (Aug 3, 2003)
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