I'm learning that many if not most of the world's problems are caused by bitter men in beards, many who were loner alchoholics, who decided they needed to tell the rest of the world how to get along with them.
They did so by writing grand volumes about how everybody sucked and needed to be corrected, molded and shaped according to their enlightened vision of what a person is supposed to be.
Almost to a man, the great philosophers of modern times were miserable assholes. I won't name names but they almost all wore beards.
So when a book professes to hold the secret to utopia, the reader should at least be warned this author couldn't hold a tea party without everybody leaving much less form an effective society.-- doctorremulac3, May 14 2010 Na, Monty Python just suggested they were all drunk, (and my only evidence that they might have been was Monty Python's song) I'm proposing that many of them were probably jerks projecting their problems on society.
The concept part is that consumers of their philosophy should at least be warned about who they're learning from. Kind of like a diet and exercise book written by a 350 pound guy, the reader should probably know about that.
Anyway, my study isn't comprehensive on this, but I have yet to read about a philosopher I'd want to go to a baseball game with.-- doctorremulac3, May 14 2010 Well, this doesn't judge or even address the philosophy, it just gives a point of reference about the person that might be nice to have.
Granted, being a nasty person doesn't mean they might not have some good ideas. On the other hand, being the most wonderful person in the world doesn't mean they have all the answers either, but if the guy decided the way to approach life was to sit in front of a typewriter and get drunk, well, it might be a useful data point when evaluating the guy's thesis on how to approach life.
Ernst Mach, the guy that had the speed of sound measurement named after him had some interesting views on how the location of the observer needed to be considered when evaluating the data being received and processed by that observer.
He also had a beard.
Taking the Monty Python reference out. It's confusing.-- doctorremulac3, May 14 2010 //Fact is, they did at least think about a utopia more than the next baseball game.//
And in many cases, the world would have been much better off if they had stuck to baseball.
My point of reference is from a person who believes plumbers have had a much more profound positive influence on society than philosophers so we might not see eye to eye on this one.-- doctorremulac3, May 14 2010 The baseball vs philosophy thing got me thinking.
Which of the two causes more wars: Sports that give a harmless outlet to man's natural aggression or philosophers?
Just a thought.
Point taken Big. Valid.
By the way, all this typing and philosofizzin' is making me thirsty, think I'll have a drink.-- doctorremulac3, May 14 2010 As long as it's the drinking version of the game where the looser of the round has to take a shot.
Nothing like a beer and a shot to flush out the id.-- doctorremulac3, May 14 2010 A classic.
I think when watching Monty Python it's good to remember that they were philosophers every bit as much as the guys they were capping on.
I always though that behind the facade of humor and sometimes vulgarity, they took their job pretty seriously and had some pretty spot on (as they'd put it) observations.
South Park's my fave now but I grew up on MP and Douglas Adams.
Good stuff.-- doctorremulac3, May 14 2010 Lighten up quest.-- doctorremulac3, May 14 2010 how bad food is (was) in England. hmmmm. yeah McDonalds is pretty grim.
I believe (believe because I was quite young and ignorant) that I worked with Karl Popper for a couple of years who was a cheery old man like father christmas but without the beard.-- po, May 14 2010 //cheery old man... without the beard.//
See? It's those itchy philosopher beards causing all the world's problems.
That might make a good shaver commercial. Show Siggy all shaved: "So, still think man's an out of control beast ruled by his animal instincts over his intellect?" Sig: "Naa. Hey, it's a nice day out, let's catch a baseball game."
No, I'm not picking on Sig. Just kidding Sig fans.-- doctorremulac3, May 14 2010 What people don't realise is that I'm actually right and all the rest of them are wrong. Why can't i get this through your thick skulls?
I'm beardless.-- nineteenthly, May 14 2010 //but in the US of A we usually put a little thing on the inside of the back cover called a "biography" of the author//Or, in the case of the King James version, the biog extends to the whole of the second book, written by ghosts.Beardies, the lot of 'em.-- coprocephalous, May 14 2010 //Almost to a man, the great philosophers of modern times were miserable assholes// I don't recognise this vision of wrinkly old bastards venting their frustrations onto paper. Sigmund Freud, by many accounts, was a nice friendly chap with a warm heart, a mischievous sense of humour, and a twinkly eye. Sometimes a baseball bat is just a baseball bat, as he might have said.
Friedrich Nietzsche had an enormous moustache, but went mad and died.
Adolf Hitler, who only had a small moustache, shot himself.
In even starker contrast, neither L.Ron Hubbard or Alistair Crowley ever sported facial hair of any kind, despite each being as unhinged as a sliding door - so I don't think beardyness is necessarily a guide to a balanced outlook on life.-- zen_tom, May 14 2010 me - what are you? british or english or both?-- po, May 14 2010 There is currently a very heated debate on pretty much exactly this subject, as applied to Martin Heidegger: the conventional wisdom is that his repulsiveness as a human being is irrelevant to his philosophy; the revisionists argue at book length that it is.-- mouseposture, May 14 2010 //neither L.Ron Hubbard or Alistair Crowley ever sported facial hair of any kind, despite each being as unhinged as a sliding door//
Thank God. If these guys had beards there's no telling how much damage they could have done.
Ok, maybe that's twisting logic to make reality fit the contention.-- doctorremulac3, May 14 2010 //One half of me just wants to get drunk//the other wants to sing... hah, I know the feeling then.-- po, May 14 2010 I think some exceptions are in order to the general principle at work here.
Beethoven was deaf.
Emily Dickenson was a reclusive basket case.
Osama Bin Laden is reported as being rather congenial.
DrCurry is a terrific party host I'm told.
I think the modern drunken philospher curmudgeons have all gravitated towards becoming conservative talk radio hosts.-- RayfordSteele, May 14 2010 //Alistair Crowley //Was he related to Aleister?-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, May 14 2010 These warning stickers belong in the self-help aisle, even moreso than they do (if at all) in the philosophy section. Imagine picking up a pastel-covered edition of "How To Heal Your Marriage" to find a sticker saying "Warning: Author thrice divorced; adult children won't speak to her"-- BunsenHoneydew, May 14 2010 I didn't know he was a philosopher (Re: Crowley).
Also, there is some recent research showing that eventhough depressed people have a harder time interacting with the people around them, their outlook is verifiably more realistic than their happier brethren.
I'll find the link. Point being, these poor bastards were often being quite contrite in their approach to the human condition, not simply pointing aggravated fingers at their vacuous peers.
And baseball is probably more boring than philosophy. Go figure.-- daseva, May 14 2010 //These warning stickers belong in the self-help aisle, even moreso than they do (if at all) in the philosophy section. Imagine picking up a pastel-covered edition of "How To Heal Your Marriage" to find a sticker saying "Warning: Author thrice divorced; adult children won't speak to her"//
Thank you!
Dr Laura Schlesinger's mom's body was found months after she died alone, the family advice Dr having not spoken to her for years.
In fact, changing my post to add that if you don't mind.-- doctorremulac3, May 14 2010 What about people named Johnathan? That's not John.-- doctorremulac3, May 14 2010 random, halfbakery