Philosophical Ramblings

Saint Anselm's ontological argument for the existence of god is as such:

1. God is that which none greater can be conceived
2. God is perfect

Therefore, if we can conceive an idea of that which none greater can be conceived, then we can easily conceive of something greater: if that idea does exist.
Ergo, if we can conceive the idea of god, god must exist.

This proof, however, is self-entrapping: you can't conceive existence, because what you "conceive" is just that -- a concept. Following Anselm's proof, if we cannot conceive anything greater than the concept of god, and god is that which none greater than can be conceived, then god must exist as a concept.


Kant was a brilliant man, but his refutation of Anselm's idea, hinging on the word 'if,' was nearly Clinton-esque in ridiculousness and futility.

Striations

It's interesting. I never noticed it before, but there seems to be rows in the human skin. Not columns, though, unless you are standing on your side.

In philosophy, the jock in front of me decided to get to know me better, or something, so he reclined in his seat (ooh, weird. As I wrote this, he leaned forward) (curses, he's back!). The back of his neck could use a good shave, as I can see each individual black follicle, aligned neatly in levels in the lines of his flesh (come to think of it, he could use a good moisturizing, too) (and a shower).

Hey, the lines on my hands are pretty neat, too. Like the spiderwebbing of a smashed windshield, or the craquelature of an old painting.


Oh, crap. I didn't take my concerta today.

A Scientific... Release

You know, you really do learn something new every day.
Today, we learned the roots of the word “Philosophy.”
Philosophy breaks down into:
“Philia” which means love, and—
“Soph” which means wisdom.

That’s all fine and good, but can anyone define wisdom?
It’s tricky. But here, today, I will break it down for you a bit further.

Are you ready?

Wisdom actually breaks down into two words rooted in modern english:
"Wizz," which is a verb meaning "to urinate on," and—
"Dome," a colloquial term for one's head.


Ergo, Philosophy is the “love of wisdom,” or “the love of urinating on one’s head.”






Hey, it explains all of the pretentiousness.

Day 2, Part 1

I woke up more or less on time today — on time being 6:30 for an 8:00 class. I set up my coffee maker to brew around that time so i’d have a cup to wake up to, but for reasons unbeknownst to me, it didn’t start and I had to start it myself. C’est la vie, I still had my coffee (for those interested, Coffeemate’s™ Blueberry Cobbler [limited edition] non-dairy creamer powder is amazing).
I grabbed my breakfast, consisting of a cup of tangerines, a granola bar and a bottle of Lipton’s™ diet white tea with raspberry, and headed to the student union to meet up with Elyssa C. so we could head off to philosophy together. Along the way, we ran into Dr. N., our professor. We said hello, to which he replied “Hi. Are you in my class?”

Needless to say, I sat front row center today.

Class was interesting, again. We discussed Care of the Soul, the philosophy of being a good person. Or something close to that.
Being right in the line of fire, Dr. N. questioned me, lengthily, about whether, given the choice, I would date a beautiful girl or an intelligent one. I answered honestly, saying I could never get a[nother] pretty girl, but after discussing it with him, I realized that I could not put into words what makes an intelligent girl appealing.

“So you say it makes her interesting?”
“Yeah, I suppose.”
“Interesting how? If you tell your mother that your new girlfriend is interesting, she’d say ‘Oh, that’s nice.’ But what can she say besides that? What does interesting mean?”

Gah.

We also discussed the 3 traits an ideal mate should have.
The first is intellect. They should be intelligent. But, intelligence can also be used for evil. Ergo, the second trait is a moral will. Right from wrong, good from evil. A developed sense of judgement. But then, what’s to say they won’t be boring? So, the third trait is a creative mind — spontaneity.
Honestly, though, there is so much more than that. Rikki fit all three of those things, and while it was wonderful for a long time, in the end we weren’t right for each other. Now I just need to figure out what the rest of the pieces are, what makes someone right for me.

Now i’m sitting here in the cafe with my new buddy Kristyn L. (Shannon’s friend), typing, and... I suppose i’m happy. I like it here.
Last night, Joey A. and I went to the reflecting pool (the large fountain in the middle of the campus), and just sat on the steps talking for half an hour. Almost nobody came by and bothered us, and we just talked. I got a chance to think about things, and I feel good.




In an hour, I go to my sociology class. If I get inspired, I may write about the second half of my day later.
Don’t worry, once I get back into the swing of things, my posts won’t be so boring.


But right now, this is for me.

The root of “happen” is “hap,” the Middle English word for “chance” or “luck.” That is also the root of the modern English word “happiness.” This is an indication of how little we know ourselves, how materialistic and externalistic and shallow we habitually are. We think happiness “happens.”
--Peter Kreeft, Philosophy 101 by Socrates

First Day of School

I really like the smaller of my philosophy textbooks (Philosophy 101 By Socrates, Peter Kreeft)

"[Y]ou shall hear from me the whole truth; not eloquence, gentlemen, like their own, decked out in fine words and phrases, not covered with ornaments; not at all — you shall hear things spoken anyhow in the words that first come. For I believe justice is in what I say."
--Socrates, at his trial

First day of school wasn't bad at all. I did wake up an hour late, but because I had actually planned to wake up an hour early it all canceled out (I refuse to believe that it is spelled canceled and not cancelled, but whatever).
My Philosophy professor Dr. N. is a really funny guy, and an amazing teacher. He teaches through the Socratic Method (it's philosophy, duh) but he does so to such a degree that you end up rethinking anything you believe about the question. And it's only the first day.
The girl next to me, as sweet as she was in the beginning of the class — complimenting me on my shirt — was absolutely incensed when the teacher rejected her answer outright. She was muttering under her breath for a good minute. Then again, her answer was kind of pretentious and... of dubious quality.

Between classes, Elyssa C. and I went to get our textbooks from the book store, and after she left for her Astronomy class, I relaxed in the cafe and transcribed all of my notes from philosophy into an outlining program that I found hidden in the depths of my mac.
I ended up recognizing this girl Kristyn L. whom I had met once before (in 8th or 9th grade...). She's a friend of Shannon and the gang, so she's a friend of mine. I sat next to her while she read, and ended up reading my philosophy assignment (10 solidly interesting pages) about 3 times. The author is absolutely brilliant.

"'Know thyself' was inscribed over the Delphic oracle's temple. It was the first commandment of the god Apollo, who supposedly inspired the oracle (the 'Sybil,' a prophetess who spoke in the god's name). The second was 'nothing in excess.' These two commandments summed up the wisdom of Apollo."
--Peter Kreeft, Philosophy 101 by Socrates

It's nothing special, but it isn't dry and boring. Hush, I like it.

After Kristyn and I parted ways, I went to my sociology class, where, while waiting outside, I was approached by Jose, an aerospace engineering major from Guatemala who lives off campus with his brothers. He had recognized me from our philosophy class, but it didn't go much further than that.
In class, I sit down next to a girl who kept dropping her pencil (I, of course, was gentleman enough to keep picking it up for her), and eventually just collapsed her desk and sent her stuff flying everywhere.
The girl behind me was giving her number to the girl sitting next to her, when her friend proclaimed "Yeah, why not just tell everyone here!" So, she finished her number a bit more quietly. Obviously, I turned around and asked her to 'repeat that last part.'

The class went off without a hitch, except once the professor didn't give us enough time to copy a slide. But with my new outlining software, I kept it all neat and organized. Hooray!

---

I've been walking so much lately that both of my achilles tendons are strained, and my legs feel like i've worked them out.

Which, incidentally, Joey A. and I are about to do. So, I bid you adieu until next time.