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

thanks bruce. good thinking bruce.
thom

Isn't a BA a Bachelor of Attendance?!?

38-J

JOTD: The road to success is always under construction.

I hope not for the sake of all of my fellow students. Unless it's attendance in the bar.
thom

4+7= perfusion of yellow.

4+7= perfusion of yellow.

Well it could be incredibly dangerous if all the philosophers went on strike.

If it is true, as a well known drunkan fart once said: "I think therefore I am" it then follows that "we think, therefore we are"

If our professional thinkers cease to think, we will cease to exist.

*ka-boom! no more humankind!*

*run's madly to the nearest pub to buy a philosopher a to ensure the future of life on this planet*

***B

As overheard on a bus: "never mind love, take it philosphocally, don't think about it"

Well it could be incredibly dangerous if all the philosophers went on strike.

If it is true, as a well known drunkan fart once said: "I think therefore I am" it then follows that "we think, therefore we are"

If our professional thinkers cease to think, we will cease to exist.

*ka-boom! sudden implosion - no more humankind!*

*run's madly to the nearest pub to buy a philosopher a to ensure the future of life on this planet*

***B

As overheard on a bus: "never mind love, take it philosphocally, don't think about it"

Good point.
But it erroneously assmunes that the majority of philosophers think.
I have found this to be regularly untrue.
Still, go and buy that philosopher a just to make sure
thom

Just a general question, given that there has been a rise in philosophy students over the last fifty years, (more people are studying philosophy before going on to careers in the real world I mean), why is it the world seems to be a more morally bankrupt place than ever before? Or am I missing something ?

I think that it is because philosophy training only helps you to talk about a problem in the real world. This makes the world seem worse because:
1. loads of people keep pointing out what's wrong with this or that (and they're all rather pretentious ex-philosophy students, resentful because they've had to go and get a job)
2. no-one actually get round to *doing anything* about it. They just go and make a cup of tea and then discuss it a bit more.

Although, I do feel that the world's been a pretty morally bankrupt place since, well, the dawn of time.
thom

That also presupposes that philosophy teaches morality, of course.

On the subject of practicality, there was an interesting point in the Sunday Times three or four weeks ago. The article said that in British Universities the emphasis is on theoretical acheievement, not vocational or problem solving achievement. Our finest are taught to write long carefully constructed essays. Is it any wonder while members of our civil service couldn't find their backsides with both hands and a torch, they can and do produce report after report after report...?

Having spent 12 months working with Germans, Swedes and Americans, (not to mention South Africans, Danes, Norwegians, and a scattering of other nationalities too) I concur that the British system of education is woefully irrelvant. The Americans in particular are practitioners not theoreticians.

In fact if I had children (which I don't) I think I might well put the, through a non British Education system. The International Baccalaureat followed by a European University and and American Business School would be a hard combination to beat.

***B

As a happy-go-lucky, gratefully-employed, down-to-earth type of ex-philosophy student, I'd like to say a few quick things:

First: isn't it good that there are people around who are prepared to think things through before acting?- or even before someone else acts? If everyone just acted without thinking, would that be better?

Second: To take just one example, the philosopher Rene Descartes risked his life and went against the religious dogmatism of his time to present a novel formula for thinking called rational inquiry. This now forms the basis of modern scientific method. It isn't just action that has pragmatic consequences- Ideas are just as powerful.

Third: We are all philosophers- some of us are just more formal about it than others. The philosopher primarily always asks a question and is never satisfied with the answer. I think it is a good thing that we have a formally sanctioned space for this activity in our society. If that space was shut down, I'd start to get worried.

Now, more ?

I wish Immanuel Kant had gone on strike. His critique of pure reason was not an easy read.
I think my boss must be a philosopher because he sent me this e mail the other day,,,,

"I know you believe
you understand what
you think I said,

But I am not sure,
you realise, that
what you heard, is
not what I meant."

I think I need a

very very good point ben. covered well in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenence (Robert M. Pirsig) and The Conselations of Philosophy (Alain de Botton).

That said, I also agree with pod, since I think abstract thought is necessary and extremely lacking in society. I personally find that the biggest problem with UK universities is that in fact they cater for neither abstract OR practical thought. Basically all I am taught is how to group together the ideas of a variety of already respected philosophers or philosophy students. It's rather dull.
thom

Shopsoiled, I think you are missing something: the world seems more morally bankrupt now precisely because information and knowledge are far more widely available than they used to be.

Minifig Thom said, "Basically all I am taught is how to group together the ideas of a variety of already respected philosophers..."

Yes, grouping and pattern recognition. That's all they teach in schools today, no matter what 'subject' or 'discipline' you think you might be pursuing. Maths, Physics, Literature, History, Zoology, Anthropology..it's all really the same course of learning how to recognise patterns and groups and bunch 'em all up into pre-established forms with pre-determined behaviours and outcomes.
We have all been trained as postal sorters.

This is sufficient to allow the student to function as a normal citizen in a color-coded, pigeonholed, pre-demarcated culture. This training allows you to recognise at a glance which consumer products you want, which programs you will watch and who you will go drinking with or the kind of girl you will marry. It also stifles the introduction of anything new into a safe secure conservative status quo. As Minifig says, "It's all rather dull."

pax gravitas
~jwf~

Oh my god, don't say I am agreeing with Zen and the Art, which is dishonest and self-serving crap. At least that's what it seemed to me when I read it in the early 80s. I haven't been able to bring myself to read it again.

I blame all the 'quality' initiatives of the late 80s on the fact that the guys in middle management who hit 35 in 85 had all been stoned little hippies who bought into Zen and the Art in their footloose feckles 20s.

a cynic called Ben

So, in summerry;
all education in the UK sucks.
All peoples are K-rupt.
If phylosphers go on strike; then the We think therefore the human race is" thought will not be thought and the human race will cease to exist.

Conclusion:
Best thing would be for the phyolosiphers to go on strike so the human race ceases to exist; as when it comes down to it we (the human race) has never done any good, but has done a lot of harm.
Therefore this would sort out all of the problems of the human race and everyone is happy, especially the trees, the frogs, the perfussion of yello, the number 9 and the mice.

The mice NEED us, though...

38-J

JOTD: The light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming freight train.

Couldn't the Mice manage fine without us?