Comments on: How would a philosopher cross a crowded room? http://usuphilosophy.com/2008/07/19/how-would-a-philosopher-cross-a-crowded-room/ Happenings in and around the USU Philosophy program Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:43:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Mike http://usuphilosophy.com/2008/07/19/how-would-a-philosopher-cross-a-crowded-room/#comment-1356 Mike Wed, 30 Jul 2008 06:10:26 +0000 http://usuphilosophy.wordpress.com/?p=237#comment-1356 You're right, I failed to capture his broader sentiment. I haven't read him except for reference for years. <b>Seneca</b> (while sneaking ginger ale on the side): "Want not the bar, instead turn your gaze toward the divine." You’re right, I failed to capture his broader sentiment. I haven’t read him except for reference for years.

Seneca (while sneaking ginger ale on the side): “Want not the bar, instead turn your gaze toward the divine.”

]]> By: Huenemann http://usuphilosophy.com/2008/07/19/how-would-a-philosopher-cross-a-crowded-room/#comment-1355 Huenemann Wed, 30 Jul 2008 02:50:32 +0000 http://usuphilosophy.wordpress.com/?p=237#comment-1355 These are great! But I think James's has to be punchier. Something like: "Life is short and my throat is parched. Let us march on! For even if we do not make the bar, it is the difference the march will make to our lives that will make this party burst into significance!" These are great! But I think James’s has to be punchier. Something like: “Life is short and my throat is parched. Let us march on! For even if we do not make the bar, it is the difference the march will make to our lives that will make this party burst into significance!”

]]> By: vince54 http://usuphilosophy.com/2008/07/19/how-would-a-philosopher-cross-a-crowded-room/#comment-1353 vince54 Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:54:41 +0000 http://usuphilosophy.wordpress.com/?p=237#comment-1353 <strong>Kafka:</strong> Eveyone has a drink from the bar, but me. All look with horror in my direction. I begin to ask if my zipper is down, but several people drop their glasses and slap their hands over their ears in pain at my screeches. I glance at my reflection in a nearby window. I am a dung beetle and can no longer experience the bar for humans. Kafka: Eveyone has a drink from the bar, but me. All look with horror in my direction. I begin to ask if my zipper is down, but several people drop their glasses and slap their hands over their ears in pain at my screeches. I glance at my reflection in a nearby window. I am a dung beetle and can no longer experience the bar for humans.

]]> By: Mike http://usuphilosophy.com/2008/07/19/how-would-a-philosopher-cross-a-crowded-room/#comment-1352 Mike Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:10:45 +0000 http://usuphilosophy.wordpress.com/?p=237#comment-1352 <b>Shakespeare:</b> "To bar or not to bar, that is the question." <b>James:</b> "A genuine experience of the bar is inexplicable yet formative and in a certain percentage of the population can be experienced with the aid of ginger ale. In any case the profound nature of these sorts of experiences is hard to dismiss. As psychologists, we should probably go over there and get some ginger ale." <b>Montaigne</b> (while reserving ultimate judgment): "To best guarantee our access to the ginger ale, let's ask Socrates and all these other philosophers to get us some AND we should call in an order of ginger ale AND head over there directly AND..." <b>Descartes:</b> "Before we can figure out how to go to the bar we need to free our minds of everything except that which we cannot doubt." <-- never makes it to the bar Shakespeare: “To bar or not to bar, that is the question.”

James: “A genuine experience of the bar is inexplicable yet formative and in a certain percentage of the population can be experienced with the aid of ginger ale. In any case the profound nature of these sorts of experiences is hard to dismiss. As psychologists, we should probably go over there and get some ginger ale.”

Montaigne (while reserving ultimate judgment): “To best guarantee our access to the ginger ale, let’s ask Socrates and all these other philosophers to get us some AND we should call in an order of ginger ale AND head over there directly AND…”

Descartes: “Before we can figure out how to go to the bar we need to free our minds of everything except that which we cannot doubt.” <– never makes it to the bar

]]> By: Kleiner http://usuphilosophy.com/2008/07/19/how-would-a-philosopher-cross-a-crowded-room/#comment-1351 Kleiner Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:32:23 +0000 http://usuphilosophy.wordpress.com/?p=237#comment-1351 Plato - That bar there will come to be and pass away. We will arrive at the real, eternal Bar not by walking, but through dialectic. Zeno - We will never get to the bar, as doing so would require us traversing an infinite number of midpoints on the way. Augustine - Go to a bar? Are you crazy? I feel guilty as hell over sneaking a few pears!! Hume - Why go to the bar? Just because, in the past, I have been able to get a drink there gives me no reasonable guarantee that I'll be able to get a drink there this time. Pascal - Either we make it to the bar or we don't. If we do make it to the bar, we will have a great time sharing spirits. If we don't make it to the bar, we will have wasted a little effort pushing through the crowd. I wage that it is worth risking it. Sartre - Hell is other people, so why would I want to go to a bar? Plato – That bar there will come to be and pass away. We will arrive at the real, eternal Bar not by walking, but through dialectic.

Zeno – We will never get to the bar, as doing so would require us traversing an infinite number of midpoints on the way.

Augustine – Go to a bar? Are you crazy? I feel guilty as hell over sneaking a few pears!!

Hume – Why go to the bar? Just because, in the past, I have been able to get a drink there gives me no reasonable guarantee that I’ll be able to get a drink there this time.

Pascal – Either we make it to the bar or we don’t. If we do make it to the bar, we will have a great time sharing spirits. If we don’t make it to the bar, we will have wasted a little effort pushing through the crowd. I wage that it is worth risking it.

Sartre – Hell is other people, so why would I want to go to a bar?

]]> By: vince54 http://usuphilosophy.com/2008/07/19/how-would-a-philosopher-cross-a-crowded-room/#comment-1350 vince54 Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:21:21 +0000 http://usuphilosophy.wordpress.com/?p=237#comment-1350 <strong>Schopenhauer:</strong> The bar is there because it is the object of my will. I must 'will' myself through this miserable party to eventually come to the bar where the art of beer can help me forget this lothesome gathering. Schopenhauer: The bar is there because it is the object of my will. I must ‘will’ myself through this miserable party to eventually come to the bar where the art of beer can help me forget this lothesome gathering.

]]> By: vince54 http://usuphilosophy.com/2008/07/19/how-would-a-philosopher-cross-a-crowded-room/#comment-1349 vince54 Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:10:57 +0000 http://usuphilosophy.wordpress.com/?p=237#comment-1349 <strong>Russell:</strong> "Let me summarize all the ways that people have proposed to cross the room, but I think Wittgenstein knows the way. I just don't understand anything he says." Russell: “Let me summarize all the ways that people have proposed to cross the room, but I think Wittgenstein knows the way. I just don’t understand anything he says.”

]]> By: vince54 http://usuphilosophy.com/2008/07/19/how-would-a-philosopher-cross-a-crowded-room/#comment-1348 vince54 Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:00:38 +0000 http://usuphilosophy.wordpress.com/?p=237#comment-1348 I would like someone to fill in a few that I can't capture (also I hope second attempts are welcome)-- Plato Aristotle Augustine Ockham Montaigne Descartes Locke Hume Pascal James Camus Satre This task is a bit like philosophical haiku. I would like someone to fill in a few that I can’t capture (also I hope second attempts are welcome)–

Plato
Aristotle
Augustine
Ockham
Montaigne
Descartes
Locke
Hume
Pascal
James
Camus
Satre

This task is a bit like philosophical haiku.

]]> By: Mike http://usuphilosophy.com/2008/07/19/how-would-a-philosopher-cross-a-crowded-room/#comment-1347 Mike Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:39:51 +0000 http://usuphilosophy.wordpress.com/?p=237#comment-1347 I'd like to append "Besides, I just brewed a batch of homebrew with some friends, an IPA. Want some?" I’d like to append “Besides, I just brewed a batch of homebrew with some friends, an IPA. Want some?”

]]> By: Huenemann http://usuphilosophy.com/2008/07/19/how-would-a-philosopher-cross-a-crowded-room/#comment-1346 Huenemann Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:48:34 +0000 http://usuphilosophy.wordpress.com/?p=237#comment-1346 Oh, and Mike's additions are good, too; that does sound like Huenemann! Oh, and Mike’s additions are good, too; that does sound like Huenemann!

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