Number 94 : November 1998 |
Just received C93 thanks to the efficiency of Mozambican Postal services. I am taking a bit of a break before I plunge into year 2 of the studies so I haven't really got my mind in a philosophical groove and therefore I will only comment on others’ work this time instead of trying to raise any hares.
Norman Mackie (C93/7) : I hope some way can be found for Norman to continue to contribute.
Kevin Arbuthnot (C93/8-9) : PDG on the net : I agree that PDG on the web could create a two tier society but I think Kevin’s idea of Web Commensal extract, perhaps as a supplement to Commensal, could work. And just think,Theo, you'd never be short of copy - just pull something down off the net! :-). I have no problem with editorial privilege. It's a fact of life whatever publication you write for. Also I think that posting on a website which, by the way, could be "privatised" with a password, will encourage some people to come out of their shells. The only thing would be the cost of getting the site and then the webmaster to set it up. Perhaps that's the way to test the water. Solicit contributions for the costs. About £200 a year for a 20mb site and about £350 for a webmaster to set it up. By the way there are already a number of philosophical discussion groups on the web. Some a lot better than others. One I am currently watching is the philosophy group at www.miningco.com.
Valerie Ransford (C93/14) : As Theo said, my question about knowledge arises from a study of Epistemology - study of knowledge. To study this one must forget conventional ideas and word forms and look at what is real knowledge as different from what you are calling knowledge which is justified belief in epistemological terms. As Theo says some epistemologists think that we really don’t "know" anything at all. It also covers such areas as how we acquire knowledge and whether some knowledge can be considered as innate. There are a huge number of books on it but one good introduction is Dancy: "Contemporary Epistemology". However like many things in philosophy it’s a bit mind bending at first. You could also try "An introduction to Epistemology" by Landesmann.
Albert Dean - Mosquitoes (C93/16) : A very interesting biological titbit, but it doesn't answer my original question - Of what use are they ? Re my Epistemological questions and dreaming (C93/17) : I'm not sure how to interpret your reply - Surely a shut down body is dead and we have no known way of knowing when we're dead. Re knowledge : I'm not sure that I would call Dancy a cobbler especially if we refer it back to your definition of people involved in art. However, cynical as it may be, I have always used your approach to exam answers, usually reasonably successfully.
Anthony Owens / John Stubbings (C93/22) : Has anybody considered that the cave paintings might just be neolithic teenage vandalism arising out of boredom ? Imagine midwinter in a cave with the wind howling outside. No disco, no tele, not even scrabble or a magazine to read. Prisoners in solitary confinement draw, mark and otherwise deface the walls of their cells and maybe it is just a substitute for conversation, an effort to create a virtual third party with whom to communicate. And maybe the sorcerer was just some poor incarceree's (if that’s a legitimate word) way of getting back at his incarcerator by drawing him with an animal's head ?
Stef Gula - dreaming (C93/24) : You raise an interesting point about being aware you are dreaming whilst you are dreaming. It seems to throw a bit of a spanner into Descartes' theories because he said "how do I know that I am sitting reading and not dreaming that I am sitting reading". Now if you are truly aware that you are dreaming whilst you are dreaming and not applying, or maybe implying, subsequent knowledge in retrospect, it would appear that Descartes started from a wrong premise.
Me - Democracy (C93/37) : You're right, Theo, either I or the computer had a hiccup. It should read "....those that rule prevail."
That’s about all except to say I would be a "yes" type for Mensa at Braziers if I were to be in the U.K. at that time, but it seems unlikely.
John Neary