h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

PPE = Politics, Philosophy & Economics

Ah! Cheers!

Perffusion of yellow.

This Philosphers Union, to which 'formerly Flinch' refers, seems to have some merit. If as suggested, some work action would clarify the 'why me' crowd I'm prepared to submit my name for membership in the PU. Is there a dental plan? Strike pay?
the artist formerly known as flinch said further:

"Let us take a popular moralisation:
"Hard work never killed anyone" this is a statement popular with soapbox moralists (often to soap dodging philosophers). However Descartes, during the productive period of his life liked to lie in bed almost all of the morning, philosophising. Toward the end of his life he was summoned to the court of the Queen of Sweden where he was employed to teach her philosophy and was required to rise for the cold, damp court at five in the morning. The resultant stress and fatigue weakened his health and he died soon after. A clear example of hard work killing."

I must object to this revisionist (but now popularly accepted) view of Descartes' demise. That he was aroused early and went straight to Queen's chambers is a matter of historical record. However the cause of death attributed to this activity has been altered (melo-)dramatically.
In part to protect the innocent, and in part merely a chauvinistic French prejudice against the Swedish climate generally and the attractions of one Swedish women in particular (and by implication, 'therefore', all Nordic women).

peace
~jwf~ PS: former flinch, you seem to have some knowledge of his life. Would you be so kind as to check my facts (not my interpretation of them thank you - just the facts) at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A624007
I was encouraged to write this entry by persons un-named in order to stop me constantly interupting philosophical threads with this rant. Henceforth I will simply post the link whenever I see the words 'cogito ergo sum' proudly waved by anyone as proof of anything.

"Cogito Ergo Sum" is not supposed to be a proof of anything. Nor is it an opening assertion in Descarte's work. It is conclusion reached at the end of a chain of reasoning thus:

In order to think about the world, I need to find something that I am certain of.
So what can I doubt?
Well, pretty much everything, since it could all be a big trick played on me by an evil demon of some sort...
But, even if this were so, I am still able to think it is so.
Therefore I exist.
That much i can be certain of.
So... what now?

The conclusion he eventually reached was even more limited: whenever I have the idea 'cogito ergo sum' I know it must be true.

"I think therefore i think i am."

well then. a philsopher's strike eh? well, since philosophy is the love of knowledge, if all the knowledge lovers and gatherers went on strike we'd all be stupid.

in fact, maybe the philosopher's strike *has* happened and we just haven't noticed...

thom

Perhaps not a full scale strike.
Hopefully it is just a temporary overtime ban.

Or even just a 'go slow'?

So Descartes is on an aircraft right, and the stewardess comes up to him and says "Would you like anything to drink sir?", He says "I think not" and disappears.

LOL!

I don't want to spoil the fun here, but I have a problem with the following argument:

"I think therefore I am" leads to "I don't think therefore I am not."
I don't agree... It is very clear, looking around you (yes, imagine the average human being, in fact) that this is not true... A lot of people don't think at all, and yet they're as present as they can be. Examples are easily found, unfortunately...

Isn't it so that the only conclusion you can logically draw from 'I think therefore I am' is : 'I am not therefore I don't think'? Unfortunately this is not an interesting statement to make.




What was I saying??
Damn, I think faster than I can type and now I've lost the point!
-can't have been that important anyway-


h³

You can't just reverse the semantics and get a new idea, just because something is true doesn't mean that the (apparent) opposite is true.

For example "Some men are clever" is true but doesn't prove "All women are stupid".


So does anyone else know any good philosophy jokes?

Jean-Paul Sartre is sitting at a French cafe, revising his draft of Being and Nothingness. He says to the waitress, "I'd like a cup of coffee, please, with no cream." The waitress replies, "I'm sorry, monsieur, but we're out of cream. How about with no milk?"

Freidrich Nietzsche walks into a bar with a pig under his arm.

Where did you get that?
Asks Ludwig Wittgenstein, who is polishing some glasses.

I won him in a raffle,
says the pig.

Contrpositives are always true (ie I am not, therefore I don't think). Converses (ie I am, therefore I think) and inverses (ie I don't think, therefore I am not) are not necessarily true.

Oh, and:

A mathematician, a philosopher, and a blonde all go to Hell and receive a challenge from the Devil -- if they can stump him, they're free to go to heaven instead. The philosopher goes first and asks the Devil a very hard philosophy question -- to which the Devil snaps his fingers, gets a book, and gives the answer. The mathematician tries as well -- but the Devil instantly gets the answer. When it comes to the blonde, she pulls up a chair and drills three holes in it. She then sits down in the chair and farts.

"Now," she says, "which hole did the fart come out of?"

"That's easy," says the Devil. "All of them."

"No, stupid! It came out of my butthole!"

Q: How many philosophers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Two: one to change the lightbulb, the other not to change the lightbulb!

38-J

JOTD: When we got married my wife only made toast... until she lost the recipe.

So, to sum up:



?

Thank you, the Jester.

I was beginning to think all of the hours studying logics were lost! (okay, the studying did take place about eight years ago, but still!)

h³

I probably think, so I probably am, unless I am talking which doesn't involve thinking so then I am not.
But how can "i be not" when i do not know for sure what it is that I am not, i can't so i must be, but what i know not, at least i think i don't know, unless i am not thinking in which case the re3verse must be true. Probably.
Perffusion of yellow.