The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Richard Day's picture

    EPISTOMOLOGY VS. NIHILISM

    By Richard Day on Tue, 07/02/2013 - 1:35am |

    I have not been over to the Onion for sometime.

    I come across this perverted 'news' from time to time.

    I cannot find the link but the Onion article I caught spoke about the hazards of working in the subway.

    It cited the 'fact' that some 25,000 workers die every year attempting to save mass transit in a particular area; NYC!

    My reaction was (and still is) terrible.

    Every time I read this faux news item, I found myself laughing uncontrollably.

    The part where passengers on this stretch of mass transit feel bumps from time to time every single ride they take to and from work just tickles some demon deep inside my soul.

    And the bumps...

    SHANNON RUPP

    I happened upon some monograph about the lies of Hitchens and then a C-SPAN special concerning a man who wrote a book about the lies of atheism or some such.

    And here is Shannon Rupp.

    And then it finally got to me.

    Language and mathematics (which is a language after all) and philosophy and logic and all those things we eschew most of the time might come to mean something; even when our spouses and children demur!

    Rupp really grabbed me.

    Euphemistically of course. Hahahahah

    Or metaphorically as it were! (More on this later.)

    (I have to add here that I just read an article at a real blog site telling me we have only 2 years plus left on Obama's Presidency; we have three years plus but who the frick is counting as they say? The arsehole could not even count and he is paid to write!)

    So without going deeply into the philosophy of Spinoza or Aquinas or Augustine or Nietzsche or a hundred other 'philosophers' (which I welcome you all to cite, and I really mean you all) I have come to the conclusion that we all do not know what in the hell we are talking about!

    Including me for chrissakes.

    I wish to initiate this discussion with Shannon.

    Instead, I tell people the most useful classes I took were all in philosophy.

    Shannon recalls his first introduction to Philosophy in College:

    I spent a semester defining ordinary things. Hats. Chairs. It’s harder than it looks. And I remember a classmate’s resistance to it. He kept ranting that it was stupid — everyone knows what a chair is! — before dropping out.

    I love this!

    I recall arguing what a chair was.

    That is how stupid I was and how stupid I still am.

    I loved arguing the subject.

    I mean, a log at a 'fire side chat' can become a chair for chrissakes!

    And yet there are artistes who spent their entire lifetimes making a few 'chairs'.

    I understand this argument better than I ever will understand current political thought!

    I swear to Almighty God! Even though we will get into the 'idea' of Almighty God later on in this continuing essay.

    There is a wonderful exposition concerning the mental sanity of Josh Lyman in West Wing:

    Leo is explaining stuff to Josh about the hole Josh finds himself in:

    The hole that he finds himself in has terribly high walls.

    And a doctor walks by and looks down and hands out a prescription.

    And the doctor just walks on by.

    Then a priest walks by:

    And he throws the fellow a prayer.

    And the priest just walks on by.

    And then a friend walks by and he jumps on down the hole

    Are you stupid, now we are both down here!

    Yeah, but I have been down here before! And I know the way out!

    I dunno, this little ditty from West Wing really got to me.

    West Wing (Season 2, Episode 10)

    Hahhahaha

    Josh had been shot in an assassination attempt that went awry! And Josh is losing his grasp on 'reality'.

    Leo is attempting to inform Josh that he is not alone.

    Leo does not feel it prudent to fire a victim of an assassination attempt, even when the victim is acting entirely 'out of bounds' as they say.

    Good for Leo.

    You cannot be free when you are down in some hole.

    I dunno, but we have all these writers and professors and philosophers who come in from time to time on Dagblog.

    I just was caught up in Shannon's perspective.

    I am not going to change anybody's mind.

    If nihilism is reality; well I lose.

    And that's okay, I have lost a significant portion of my entire life thru stupidity and certainly the last couple years of my internet life!

    Epistemology — the study of what we can know — turned out to be particularly useful, since people love to tell reporters what they believe as if it’s a fact. Well, to be fair, they often don’t know the difference between their beliefs and facts. They think the mere fact that they believe something is true — for example, that angels watch over us — makes it true. While it’s true that they’re not lying, exactly, sorting out meaningful information from the mis- and dis- versions used to be the job of ink-stained wretches. Nowadays most of us produce advertiser-driven content, of course, but still I find the discipline inherent in epistemology useful when dealing with car sellers, alternative health practitioners, and marketers of all sorts.

    Anyway, read this fine short essay and tell me what you think.

    I see no way that in the next five or six blogs that I will find the time to quote Spinoza or Augustine or Aquinas.

    That is not my point in this series.

    My point will be to simply take a look at the regular polit talk and see where we end up.

    I ask for everyone's input, even Peracles. Actually I just like to write the word 'Peracles'. It makes me feel important. I was a Classics minor after all!

    I would like to take the opportunity to discuss words like 'freedom' and 'religion' and 'god' and America.

    I am so goddamn mad when I watch a Palin suck on a 50 ounce slurpee and tell me what these words mean!

    I am not a professor; but I have read an awful lot as they say and unlike others, I can at least give you the names of the newspapers and magazines and nutrition labels that I have read on a regular basis.

    FREEDOM!

    We talk about freedom all the time and I have no idea what the hell that word means.

    I really don't.

    When I was six I had no problem with the concept.

    I mean: just do whatever your teachers tell you to do, stay away from the cops and obey your drunken parents. Then you will experience all the freedom you need.

    People who had no freedom included Chinese communists who were always dying of hunger and people in Russia who had no idea what freedom meant because they simply did whatever the bald guy told them.

    If you have to work two jobs in order to pay rent and put food on the table and purchase used clothes; I have no idea what you feel free to do; as it were!

    Today, as a 'grown-up' I can skip viewing an interview on Leno with Adam Sandler for instance!

    That is because I have the freedom to do so. And I feel safe in the belief that I shall not be arrested for skipping the Adam Sandler segment!

    I skipped onto the third talk show guy to see Johnny Depp because I am an American after all and I do love Tonto.

    Now there are those who would prohibit or at least inhibit our rights regarding freedom.

    FOX News has recently attacked Mr. Rogers, for instance.

    FOX ATTACKS MR. ROGERS

    Because, evidently, Mr. Rogers was a very, very evil, evil man.

    It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day in the neighborhood;

    WILL YOU BE MINE, WILL YOU BE MINE?

    Have you ever heard a more homosexual invitation in your life?

    So Mr. Rogers has nothing to do with FREEDOM?

    Well freedom means different things to different peoples!

    YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO CRAB LEGS!

    "He looks at the king crab legs and looks at his ground meat and realizes," Gohmert said, "because he does pay income tax ... he is actually helping pay for the king crab legs when he can't pay for them for himself."

    So crab legs are not inalienable I guess?

    BRIT HUME SAYS WE HAVE NO FREEDOM TO GO TO MARS WITHOUT MUSLIMS.

    But then again, I have no freedom to throw feces upon Brit Hume. Although I am inclined to do so, it seems appropriate not to.

    And therefore, I have given up any rights to throw my feces upon Brit Hume.

    Did I give up that right freely?

    You decide!

    I have gone on much too long in this first chapter.

    I only wish to underline how difficult it really is to define 'freedom'.

    In the future discussions on this topic I will hopefully cover many basic 'freedoms'.

    In Minnesota, we can still purchase 72 ounce Slurpees.

    I am not that sure how to spell that word but I am an American.

    Freedom is just another word....

     

     

     

    Comments

    "... without going deeply into the philosophy of Spinoza or Aquinas or Augustine or Nietzsche or a hundred other 'philosophers' (which I welcome you all to cite, and I really mean you all) I have come to the conclusion that we all do not know what in the hell we are talking about!"

    Spinoza:

    I have laboured carefully, not to mock, lament, or execrate, but to understand human actions; and to this end I have looked upon passions, such as love, hatred, anger, envy, ambition, pity, and the other perturbations of the mind, not in the light of vices of human nature, but as properties, just as pertinent to it, as are heat, cold, storm, thunder, and the like to the nature of the atmosphere, which phenomena, though inconvenient, are yet necessary, and have fixed causes, by means of which we endeavour to understand their nature, and the mind has just as much pleasure in viewing them aright, as in knowing such things as flatter the senses.... 

    Tractatus Politicus as translated by A. H. Gosset (1883) Full text online 


    by EmmaZahn on Tue, 07/02/2013 - 8:43am

    Nice citation. 

    My passions will always keep me from standing in the shoes of Gohmert or Hume I guess.

     


    by Richard Day on Tue, 07/02/2013 - 3:54pm

    I was a philosophy T/A at the University of Pittsburgh--which requires philosophy for all undergrads. I used to teach Plato's forms by asking students to define a chair. I gave them the full Socratic method, entertaining the various criteria they proposed before poking each one full of holes. Some students went for physical description, but there are chairs that don't look like chairs and objects that look like chairs but aren't. Others went for function, but there are objects we use for sitting that aren't chairs and chairs that no one sits on.

    It was always my favorite class to teach. I well remember the deliciously puzzled looks of some students when they realized that they couldn't articulate what a chair was--and also the eye-rolling of other students who couldn't see the point.

    Fwiw, I think professional philosophers often take the wrong lesson from this exercise. Most assume that every concept in the human mind can be articulated with enough work and hard thinking, though heavy concepts like freedom may be very difficult and defy even the most brilliant thinkers.

    But they're wrong. Fully defining most concepts, even mundane ones, is not just hard. It's impossible. I would challenge anyone, even Plato himself, to define a chair in a way that permits no exceptions. That's because human understanding is not limited to logic or even language.

    In other words, we can never hope to fully articulate what we mean by freedom--or any other significant idea. But that's not to say that we can't make a lot of progress and expand our understanding by trying.

    PS For the record, Mr. Rogers and his puppets creep me out.


    by Michael Wolraich on Tue, 07/02/2013 - 2:44pm

    One size never fits all; and that even applies to tube sox!

    I promised myself not to do it but I am spending a couple hours a day checking into the murder trial that seems to be preempting all the rest of the news on cable.

    It just goes on and on and on.

    The purpose?

    Well the purpose is simply to delve into the minutiae of a ten minute event in order to define the concept of 'self-defense'!

    It just occurred to me that if the defendant had died, Martin would be claiming self-defense.


    by Richard Day on Tue, 07/02/2013 - 4:01pm

    I like Kierkegaard's definition of freedom as having the ability to do things. The approach doesn't blow off other ways to talk about freedom that are grounded in ideas of determinism or oppression. The idea doesn't attempt to explain why aspirations are achieved or don't pan out.

    But the idea does touch upon how we balance obligation with desire and ties what we can actually do to limits we impose upon ourselves in combination with restrictions that are imposed by others. Whether I can play piano or plant a garden is not just about "me" or those other annoying people.

    In other words, there is a relationship between what we select for ourselves and what binds us otherwise that is worthy of our notice and respect. It might not be inappropriate to feel afraid when thinking about it.

    Whether it is appropriate or not, the connection scares the hell out of me.

     


    by moat on Tue, 07/02/2013 - 8:24pm

    I like Kierkegaard's definition of freedom as having the ability to do things.

    That statement is monumental!

    What is 'me' and what is 'them'.

    Moat, your comment takes us to other planes or planets?

    I am afraid, or at least I used to be. When you are numb, there is less fear. hahahaha

    At the risk of minimizing your comment I hereby render unto Moat the Dayly Comment of the Day Award for this here Dagblog Site; given to all of you from all of me.

    AND I MEAN IT!

     

     


    by Richard Day on Tue, 07/02/2013 - 9:11pm

    Is this The Onion subway worker story link you referred to?: http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-80-of-subway-track-repairmen-run-over-each,32929/

    I majored in philosophy in college and enjoyed most of my classes in it.  My experience was that on hearing that someone was a "philo" major, fellow students seemed typically to have 1 of 2 basic reactions:

    1. This person must be really deep.

    2. This person must be a total naval gazer/space cadet, with no common sense or practical ability to function amidst humans.   

    Of course, these two possibilities may not be mutually exclusive.  smiley


    by AmericanDreamer on Wed, 07/03/2013 - 2:32pm

    THAT'S THE LINK ALL RIGHT!

    Thank you.

    Alas we are stuck in this new twitter age; we have short attention spans; we seek immediate results. 

    I swear that articles found on the web are getting shorter and shorter. my curiosity can be tweaked by some headline and after a click I just find a series of tweets. There is no article!

    Oh well...


    by Richard Day on Wed, 07/03/2013 - 3:18pm