Philosophy

[dgriffin]

Here I'm out of my depth!
Just as a friend introduced me to a short work, "Think," by Simon Blackburn, I found a great novel called "Sophie's World."
In it, a 14 year old Swedish girl begins to receive letters in her mailbox from a "philospher," who takes her through the complete history of philosophy and helps her to relate it to her life.

It's a great device, because the reader allows the author to talk down to him through the mind of a teenager. And so I don't feel so bad about being fed philosophy from a baby jar, hahahah!

Has anyone read either of these books? I've only just begun them.

[stoney]

Ah, philosophy. As the great pholosopher Rene' Descartes would say~~ I drink, therefore I am.

[Clipper]

I guess I have read some philosophical works over the years, but I never was into sitting down and reading Aristotle or anything like that. I'm just a red neck I guess, haha.

It is kinda like English Lit. and the classics. It was never of interest to me, but now I consider reading some of the classics just to have the personal satisfaction of having read them.

Lately I have still been trapped in my reading of paperback mystery and crime novels. Nothing cultural or educational. Just light bedtime reading. It has been a chaotic summer and I hope to get back to normal reading habits again soon. I sleep much better when I relax with a good book at bedtime.

[dgriffin]

Cliipper: I don't think even college professors read through the ancient works as we would a novel. It takes someone to make the original come alive. I never read an English translation of Cicero's works (though I have a partial one), but Anthony Everitt's "Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician" painted a compelling picture of what it was like to live in his time and the dangers of being a politician in Rome. Much of life (for the rich) paralleled our own in the 21st century, except when they all were trying to kill each other. I never understood, for example, how and why Rome became such a large empire until Everitt explained how political success was tied to marching off and capturing yet another country or territory. And how as supply lines lengthened and the leftover lands were infertile and unproductive, wealth-sucking dried up and the empire imploded.
I was taken with common slices of life when I read Claire Tomalin's "Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self." Tomalin interpreted Pepys' diaries in which he wrote down (in a personal shorthand) everything he did for nine years in the 1660's, from skimming money off the top while in civil service to the King, to chasing his maid around the house when his wife went off to visit her brother.
There's nothing as exciting as real life.

[dgriffin]

Oct 3, 2008 13:17:49 GMT -5 @stoney said:

Ah, philosophy. As the great pholosopher Rene' Descartes would say~~ I drink, therefore I am.

Stoney, Blackburn spends a few pages on Descartes' meditations that led him to 'cogito ergo sum. (I think, therefore, I am).' It's of course deeper than it appears, and it's a fascinating look at something most of us have always wondered about, "How do I know life isn't a dream?"

[concerned]

If life is just a dream then would you kill yourself to wake up?

[dgriffin]

Oct 5, 2008 10:09:20 GMT -5 @concerned said:

If life is just a dream then would you kill yourself to wake up?

I'm glad you asked that!

Seriously, Descartes wouldn't, since he concluded life is not a dream.

Concerned, if you have a free long distance calling plan, call me at Family of Woodstock on 845 679 2485 on Tuesday mornings. Ask for Dave and if they tell you I'm busy, say "Yeah, he's just sitting there eating a donut."




www.familyofwoodstock.org/Need%20someone%20to%20talk%20to.htm

[kim]

I took a philosophy class in college and loved it. It was at 8:30am, small class, I'd bake cookies and bring my coffee and we'd sit around the class and talk about Star Trek. It truly was one of my favorite classes.

[dgriffin]

Kim, one of the most enjoyable books I've read regarding the media was entitled The Making of Star Trek. A soup-to-nuts early history of the show that portrayed Gene Roddenberry's philosophy, his dream for the show, the Show Book (character, plot and environment guidelines for prospective script writers, so that you didn't write dialog that was unnatural to a character, e.g., "Mr. Sulu, throw me another beer!) "Making" was published in the '60's, after Roddenberry died, but while the show was still running. It's been 40 years since I read it, but I remember the some of the show's elements that seemed minor, like how Spock got his pointed ears (everyone on the crew and cast thought they were too silly), the various Enterprise personnel uniforms styles they tried out before settling on the rather plain final version, and those memorable sliding doors. I think of them every time I walk through their modern equivalent, which don't move at half the speed as they did on the Enterprise. (All "exterior" shots of the ship are of a large model, 6 or 8 feet long, if I remember correctly.) You'll remember that when anyone came on the bridge (or through any door on the ship) the doors would swish open at break-neck speed. They had no motors or technology to actually do it, so instead two production crew members did it by hand on cue. It made such a racket that there could be no dialog during the procedure, and in the first takes the walls shook so badly that they had to build a reinforced panel that would not shake when the two guys hauled off and pulled and then slammed the doors. As I watched the show after reading the book, I saw many times where there was a cut between the open and close. Evidently, the two guys took a moment to recover. Reportedly, you can see a slight wince cross Kirk's features on one show after he came through the door.
The book reports a lot of argument over what technology would be available, what it would like, etc. A number of scientists and the like were retained for advice. And then the conclusions had to be warped (no pun intended) into great television in styles suitable to the times.
There are cheap copies ($1 !) of "Making" available on abebooks.com, and if you're a trekie you might want to consider getting one.) Do you remember the Trekie favorite, "The Enterprise Maintenance Manual," complete with diagrams of the fictional ship's photon drive engine, etc.?

[kim]

I read that book! You know, I'm such a geek...I admit that I've even attended a Star Trek convention!

[stoney]

Dave, I'm still trying to figure out if I am really here in life. How do we know we are?

[dgriffin]

Oct 7, 2008 12:46:37 GMT -5 @stoney said:

Dave, I'm still trying to figure out if I am really here in life. How do we know we are?

Sex !


Seriously, Descartes said in his first meditation (so I read in Blackburn's book) that if we were dreaming, we would have to exist, otherwise there would be no dream. If we were in someone else's dream, we wouldn't be able to think about it. Since we're thinking about it, we exist. "Cogito ergo sum" is more properly translated, "I am thinking, therefore I am."

Or something like that.
(Someone help me!)

[clarencebunsen]

Dave,
Ponder "Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum"

It's bedtime

[dgriffin]

Hahahaha.!

I thought I thunk I wasn't drunk, until I found me in my bunk.

I suppose in the original that would be:

Cogito, cogi-toed, non ergo drunkissi mode.

- From our sophomore days.

[dgriffin]

Oct 7, 2008 7:26:09 GMT -5 kim said:

I read that book! You know, I'm such a geek...I admit that I've even attended a Star Trek convention!

I remember hearing of those! There was a very large following of serious fans. I think most of it took place after the last episode was filmed. Trekies watched re-runs.