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Materialists versus Idealists or When Metaphysicians Collide


OldGreyEagle

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So I was taking a philosphy class recently and we touched on the issue of metaphysics and the question of reality came up. One rather abrupt young man who had long bored the class with his long and rambling dissertations containg all manner of quotes from ancient philosophers and was roundly booed for it asked the professor if he could name a more modern philospher who could meld Idealism and Materialism into a coherent theory of reality.

 

The professor wrote on the chalkboard "I Kant" to which the young man replied, I know spelling doesnt count for much anymore, but at least the professors should be able to...

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A philosopher once had the following dream.

 

First Aristotle appeared, and the philosopher said to him, "Could you give me a fifteen-minute capsule sketch of your entire philosophy?" To the philosopher's

surprise, Aristotle gave him an excellent exposition in which he compressed an enormous amount of material into a mere fifteen minutes. But then the philosopher

raised a certain objection which Aristotle couldn't answer. Confounded, Aristotle disappeared.

 

Then Plato appeared. The same thing happened again, and the philosophers' objection to Plato was the same as his objection to Aristotle. Plato also couldn't

answer it and disappeared.

 

Then all the famous philosophers of history appeared one-by-one and our philosopher refuted every one with the same objection.

 

After the last philosopher vanished, our philosopher said to himself, "I know I'm asleep and dreaming all this. Yet I've found a universal refutation for all

philosophical systems! Tomorrow when I wake up, I will probably have forgotten it, and the world will really miss something!" With an iron effort, the philosopher

forced himself to wake up, rush over to his desk, and write down his universal refutation. Then he jumped back into bed with a sigh of relief.

 

The next morning when he awoke, he went over to the desk to see what he had written. It was, "That's what you say."

 

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hahahahahahaha... That's a good one OGE! It might be more accurate if the young man asks about merging Rationalism and Empiricism, however.

 

 

My first philosophy professor was a Thomist, but wasn't Catholic; he was some sort of Protestant. Well, he said that his professors always referred to him as a "Peeping Thomist." I thought it was rather amusing..

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The French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre was sitting in a cafe when a waitress approached him: "Can I get you something to drink, Monsieur Sartre?"

Sartre replied, "Yes, I'd like a cup of coffee with sugar, but no cream".

Nodding agreement, the waitress walked off to fill the order and Sartre returned to working. A few minutes later, however, the waitress returned and said, "I'm sorry, Monsieur Sartre, we are all out of cream -- how about with no milk?"

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Firstpusk, I think the Sartre-coffee thing is hilarious. I would give it 2 thumbs up if the system would let me. Not only because it's funny, but because us guys with only one and a half stars have to stick together.

 

When I read it a second time, though, I realize it sounds almost exactly like some real-life conversations I have had with various non-English speaking Dunkin Donuts employees while placing my order...

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Quid pro quo, Buddy, quid pro quo.

 

I have little regard for getting stars. Blame my early Catholic education. I get a kick out of who it is that rates the post. Doesn't take to much imagination to figure out who is giving the thumbs down. Of course, they don't have the imagination, guts or capability to effectively challenge the post you wrote. I think it frustrates them and I feel that is my gift to them.

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