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

Spinoza was this, but if Decartes was this then so am I.

What?

I know as little about Spinoza as Bertie Wooster did when he bought a copy of Spinoza's works for Jeeves.

I know a little more about Descartes due to his heavy involvement in logic, coordinate geometry and cosmology.

Spinoza sounds Spanish, but if Descartes was Spanish, then I'm a Frenchman!

Yes, you've found it, but the correct nationality/phrase is 'a Dutchman'.

This was a clue in a recent Listener Crossword, and received a lot of praise.

ahh. the answer isn't, then, "A bee" damn... foiled again *crals away and hides under a rock*

I thought I was making a joke rather than solving the puzzle.

odd. I thought I was solving the puddle, rahter than making a joke...

I'm going to duck if you try to solve the puddle.

Dublin has a small underground river called the Poddle.

So... apparently I still sometimes get words mixed up

There's a River Piddle in Dorset.

<BB<

I sometimes find myself up a river without a paddle.

I sometimes find myself in a puddle.

Well if that's a philosophical puzzle then I'm a nuclear physicist

Here's a philosophical puzzle:

What is the difference between theory and practice?

Uncertainty and randomness in the system or soemthing... probably...

It's a successful practice, but would it work in theory?

{What is the difference between theory and practice?}

I'd say one was the concept, and the other the application, but I'm guessing you want some different words. It's a big thing in Marxism, isn't it?

The best answer I've heard is "There's no difference in theory, but in practice there is."

It's not heavy, but it is bang on.