Home, tired, and amused 10 Nov 2009 I arrived after a not-too-shabby flight on a Qantas A388. The American couple next to me couldn’t believe it was built by the French; I pointed out that a few other European countries also contributed. I actually slept for a while. Anyway, nothing sensible is going to come from me for a while, so here’s a page at 3 Quarks Daily on short definitions of philosophy. Some examples: Philosophy is the cure for which there is no adequate disease. Jerry Fodor He is a quantum philosopher. I can’t understand him and his position at the same time. S. Morganbesser His paper has a beginning, a muddle, and an end. Anon. Hegel loses a lot in the original. D. Stove Power corrupts. Powerpoint corrupts absolutely. Steffi Lewis Administrative Humor Philosophy
Humor But I don’t know any graph theory! 7 Jun 2010 If I were a Springer-Verlag Graduate Text in Mathematics, I would be Bela Bollobas’s Modern Graph Theory. I am an in-depth account of graph theory, written with the student in mind; I reflect the current state of the subject and emphasize connections with other branches of pure mathematics. Recognizing that… Read More
Evolution Larson on FAPP 15 Apr 2010 Ed Larson, an excellent historian of biology, takes Fodor and Piattelli- Palmarini to task for their ahistorical setting up of a strawman “Darwinism” in the Wilson Quarterly. Recommended reading. Read More
Book Favourite Terry Pratchett Discworld novels 17 Jun 2010 This popped up on alt.fan.pratchett (yeah, I know, I’m Avoiding Work), so of course I had to. Feel free to disagree, although anyone who dislike Pratchett and the Holy Discworld Scriptures is a lost cause and should not be replied to. Under the fold: Read More
… nothing sensible is going to come from me for a while …. No problem. Just let us know when (if) you make the switchover.
Or if the switch does not happen take some philosophical comfort from the words of Ben Franklyn. “The Pleasure arising to a few Philosophers, from seeing, a few Times in their Life, the Threads of Light untwisted, and separated by the Newtonian Prism into seven Colours, can it be compared with the Ease and Comfort every Man living might feel seven times a Day, by discharging freely the Wind from his Bowels?
“Were all men philosophers, the business of life could not be executed, and neither society, nor even the species, could long exist.” William Smellie, 1791
I still find myself with a case of culture shock when it comes to both science and philosophy, most of my family are historians. When philosophy works and cuts through the material making it sing, its a joy. But it seems to be rather a bitch to work with and requires considerable effort getting there.