March 2012
69 posts
4 tags
Caution: Rich People Whining →
Schiff, 46, is facing another kind of jam this year: Paid a lower bonus, he said the $350,000 he earns is enough to put him in the country’s top 1 percent by income, but doesn’t cover his family’s private-school tuition, a Kent, Connecticut, summer rental and the upgrade they would like from their 1,200-square-foot Brooklyn duplex.
Wow, Schiff, that is really unfortunate for you. I...
1 tag
“I’m not living high on the hog and going to St. Barts. I mean my summer rental...”
– Andrew Schiff who earns $350,000 a year
I think we have very different ideas of what “living high on the hog” is…
“Open your mouth only if what you are going to say is more beautiful than...”
– Arabic Proverb (via nostalgic-souls)
This is my motto whenever I give a talk. Especially when someone asks a question. I take a good long time to formulate my answer before speaking. Science-y people get annoyed by it, but fellow philosophers totally understand. :-)
Dear Mom,
You think you are being really progressive when you say that you don’t believe someone can just wake up and decide not to be gay. And then say that they would have to go through extensive therapy in order to be ‘cured’. You think that, in saying these things, you are being really open-minded and wise…
But you aren’t.
February 2012
197 posts
3 tags
“It would be optimistic to rest your hopes for an afterlife on philosophy. More...”
– Alex Byrne, “Cheating Death: Philosophers Ponder the Afterlife”
5 tags
Great intro to personal identity →
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“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better....”
– Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
Just played 'enthalpy' for 91 points in Words With...
Not as good as my all-time high of 102 points for a word, but pretty close.
If only I could do this well against helvetebrann. She is kicking my butt. We have the highest scoring games though, so it’s still fun. ;-)
helpless1 asked: In reference to your discussion with anarchyfla, my concern would be that you only appear to have the ability to go off grid and live in the woods. This is because of two things. First and less interesting, governmental structures have monopolized most of the land that you would like to be able to do this one. Second and more interesting, people are raised with certain values and views that...
4 tags
anarchyfla asked: If you're interested in the subject a good primer is Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson. For a more in depth look Ludwig Von Mises' Human Action and Murray Rothbard's Man, Economy, and State are the books of reference for Austrian economic theory and libertarian political philosophy. As far as being a choice, it isn't much of one. I find it akin to saying that...
loverandnotafighter asked: I am absolutely Fascinated with quantum mechanics, but I do not even understand it most of the time! Lol
Quantum mechanics
is like those road signs would pop up in front of Wile E. Coyote.
Philosophy is just cruising along and BAM!
I’m not bitter.
Well, I’m trying not to be bitter.
4 tags
What does everyone think about backwards...
Because I really don’t know what to think.
Disturbed
atheistbiblestudy:
I try to avoid posting things from my personal life on this blog because I like to stay on topic and keep things pretty professional, but I think this is a worthy and somewhat relevant exception.
For the past week, some sick member of my apartment community keeps butchering birds and leaving their remains on the sidewalk. I mention it here only because the butchering is...
“In theory, practice and theory are the same. In practice they are not.”
– Yogi Berra (via amore-semper)
anarchyfla asked: This is one of those scenarios where we'll just have to agree to disagree. I have no choice but to drive on government roads. As far as everything else that you mentioned goes, there is ample evidence to confirm that all of the things you mentioned would exist, and in all likelihood be cheaper and more efficient if the government left it up to the people. I understand that the mainstream...
Blessed Irony
politicalprof:
Interesting news tidbit: A lesbian local trial judge in Texas is refusing to perform marriage ceremonies for straight couples as a matter of principle.
h/t: BB
I approve.
3 tags
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”
– James Madison, “Federalist No. 51”
anarchyfla asked: It made sense, but I'm inclined to disagree with you. My position is that I never consented to be governed, and I was never given a real choice in the matter. I don't feel that it is the job of the government to simply give people what they want, especially when it requires a huge infringement on someone else to do so. I don't consent to taxation either, but it isn't up to me....
5 tags
“But this must not be interpreted as if it meant his acceptance of a belief in...”
– Rudolf Carnap, “Empiricism, Semantics, and Ontology”
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OMG--Look What I Found! →
It’s The Onion, philosophy style!
A new study confirms what philosophers have long suspected: ordinary folk disapprove of violently killing innocent bystanders.
At first I was like: “Huh, I didn’t think the results of thought experiments could be falsified…” And then I got it.
anarchyfla asked: I understand your argument, but it leaves me wondering where government gets its authority to grant rights and take it away. My primary reason for asking this is to try to understand where people that view rights and government differently from me are coming from and where they see the state as deriving its power. I don't know if this is a subject that you're particularly interested in,...
“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so...”
– J.K. Rowling’s 2008 Harvard Commencement Address (via small-as-a-world)
But I’m not sure I want to believe that I can’t live without failing…
thecasjerem asked: Philosophy and science. Can they depend on each other and still coexist?
dirtyfilthyliberal asked: What are you planning to do with your philosophy degree? I had the scary realization the other day that I'm two years from getting my phil B.A. and that I'm going to be confronted with having to answer that question myself, not that I'm not already being asked that by my father a billion times a day.
godlessscience asked: What are your thoughts about string theory, multiverses, and their implications for the human race?
Questions?
anarchyfla asked: What is your opinion of natural rights as described by John Locke? I'm not particularly versed in philosophy and have never studied it formally, and although it implies a creator, as an atheist it still makes sense to me. I just want to get the opinion of someone who has studied the subject who won't simply revert to arguing instead in favor of the social contract.
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“Our argument is not flatly circular, but something like it. It has the form,...”
– W. V. Quine, “Two Dogmas of Empiricism”
What does it mean???
2 tags
"War Against Theocracy" is much more accurate than...
Get it right, Religious Right!
6 tags
Philosopher's Dog: Mindfuck →
notoriousamarius:
philosophersdog:
Thomas Hobbes’ social contract theory is often presented as a group of people agreeing to forfeit some of their freedoms for the sake of bettering their life in one way or another (not getting killed, their land taken… etc.). But, in fact, Hobbes’ never claims that a person must give up some of…
I don’t get this, what’s the difference between giving up...
6 tags
Mindfuck
Thomas Hobbes’ social contract theory is often presented as a group of people agreeing to forfeit some of their freedoms for the sake of bettering their life in one way or another (not getting killed, their land taken… etc.). But, in fact, Hobbes’ never claims that a person must give up some of their freedom when they enter into a social contract. He does say that people must...
4 tags
Positive and Negative Freedom: The Two-Party...
In Philosophy of Freedom, there are two concepts of freedom: positive and negative. Negative freedom is merely a lack of restriction. A person is negatively free when they have nothing impeding their actions—no policing force. Positive freedom, on the other hand, is a bit more difficult to explain. Positive freedom uses force or restriction in order to promote a greater freedom. The idea is...
6 tags
Sir Isaiah Berlin's "Two Concepts of Liberty" →
The best most comprehensive essay written on the topic of freedom. Everyone should read this.
agrain asked: There's a Firefox extension called "Readability" that works wonders.
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“Like all dreamers, I mistook disenchantment for truth.”
– Jean-Paul Sartre
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I still cry over David Lewis' death.