Post - Educationalism

For those who don't know who Pete Ashdown is, you should read this article from Wired . He's trying to take Orrin Hatch's (represents Utah) seat in the Senate. Ashdown makes some good points. Ashdown : Right now, there is nobody I can point to in the entire Congress that has a good grip on technology. I think the majority of them depend heavily on their interns for their messaging and e-mail needs. None of them know anything about computers beyond turning on the power button. Having somebody in there with technology expertise will provide immense clout for Utah and good leadership for this country, because what we've seen in countries like India and China is that when you get technocrats into office, you get better, more advanced public policy. You get an eye toward the future. Right now in Congress -- and especially Senator Hatch -- is grappling with the last 30 years and trying to understand it. Dennis Hastert comes out and says, "Well, we don't unders...

The trouble with virtual worlds: they create realities

I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it. - Terry Pratchett I think this quote is useful in describing the difference between Analytical Philosophy and Oridinary Language Philosophy. Most of the Analytics try to look outside of human experience (into the realm of metaphysics) in order to explain human experience (this raises some questions about our ability to explain anything outside the realm of humanity). But one of the main strategies for Ordinary Language Philosophers (Austin, Wittgenstein, Cavell) is turning our attention back to, borrowing a term from Cavell, the "everydayness" of life; looking for things that are already there, things that we have simply overlooked in our haste. This is, of course, a reduction of many of the great Analytics, and of the Oridinary Language Philosophers, but I think Pratchett is on to something.

If people never did silly things, nothing intelligent would ever get done. - Ludwig Wittgenstein I need more silly things in my life - me

What is Philosophy today? "As for what motivated me, it is quite simple; I would hope that in the eyes of some people it might be sufficient in itself. It was curiosity-the only kind of curiosity, in any case, that is worth acting upon with a degree of obstinacy: not the curiosity that seeks to assimilate what is proper for one to know, but that which enables one to get free of oneself. After all, what would be the value of the passion for knowledge if it resulted only in a certain amount of knowledgeableness and not, in one way or another and to the extent possible, in the knower's straying afield of himself? There are time in life when the question of knowing if one can think differently than one thinks, and perceive differently than one sees, is absolutely necessary if one is to go on looking and reflecting at all. People will say, perhaps, that these games with oneself would better be left backstage; or, at best, that they might properly form part of those preliminary ex...