In The Waiting Line

Lyrics [here].

In Distrust of Movements by Wendell Berry

If you'd like to read more of Wendell Berry's essay, here's the link. Remember to wear outdoor-appropriate clothing for next week's meeting, and bring something to sit on if you weren't a fan of today's logs...

The Stranger (Chapters 1-4) by Albert Camus

Here are four different covers

to Camus' The Stranger...

Some space to post your thoughts

and questions as you read Chapters 1-4...

.

Philosophical Backpacks

Well, Sam Toohey asked me to post this, apparently I wasn't the only one having trouble posting new topics. I found it, in case that hasn't been made clear.

"How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you're carrying a backpack. I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life... you start with the little things. The shelves, the drawers, the knickknacks, then you start adding larger stuff. Clothes, tabletop appliances, lamps, your TV... the backpack should be getting pretty heavy now. You go bigger. Your couch, your car, your home... I want you to stuff it all into that backpack. Now I want you to fill it with people. Start with casual acquaintances, friends of friends, folks around the office... and then you move into the people you trust with your most intimate secrets. Your brothers, your sisters, your children, your parents and finally your husband, your wife, your boyfriend, your girlfriend. You get them into that backpack, feel the weight of that bag. Make no mistake your relationships are the heaviest components in your life. All those negotiations and arguments and secrets, the compromises. The slower we move the faster we die. Make no mistake, moving is living. Some animals were meant to carry each other to live symbiotically over a lifetime. Star crossed lovers, monogamous swans. We are not swans. We are sharks."

Bob Dylan Interview

Not sure if anyone got anything out of today's video... members seemed more excited about the 'date from the future' and the 'jesus' avatar at the end... I've listened 4 or 5 times, and I seem to grasp something different each time.

Semantic Theory of Truth

Although the Semantic Theory of Truth seems unpopular within our club, I was wondering today: if we didn't have written or spoken language, would there still be a 'thing' that is 'truth'?

Quote

Dylan S. asked me to post this quote shared at the end of P-Club today:

The institutions of civil society, such as the family, religion, and especially education, are consequently incorporated within a functionalist and reductionist view of the state in which they perform the ideological task of ensuring the support of the subordinate classes for the capitalist system and for the needs of capital. –John J. Rodger commenting on Althusser

Truth, Reality, and Lies

The show we listened to [here].

Improv Everywhere [here].

Calculating Relative Worth

A British think-tank has devised a way to calculate the relative worth of people/professions... and found that hospital custodians are worth more than city bankers. Waddya think?

Is this a legitimate claim?

My Country is at war, but I am not.

The National Day of Listening

November 27, 2009

Who needs an ear?

Flabbergasted

Our Deepest (unit of?) value...

Our new topic/question: Is anything valueless/valuable?

I got the idea for today's thought experiment from the second paragraph of [this] very interesting article. Here are our results thus far...

 Pleasure/Good Feeling
 Safety/Avoidance of Fear
 Happiness/Comfort
 Companionship/Understanding
 Living in Positive Memories of the Past
 Purpose/A Reason for Being
 Liberty of Thoughts and Actions
 Being Accepted into Something Bigger

What a fantastic list! Feel free to post a comment and add to or revise this list...

IN TWO WEEKS we will broach the challenging question of whether any/all values are intrinsic or extrinsic. Read more [here].

MOAR TOPICS

What is the most human color? (Aesthetics)
Is Truth Relative or Absolute? (Morality/Metaphysics) --12 Votes--
Life other places?
Why do we do what we do? --6 Votes--
Is freedom Free?
"Why would you do that?"
What constitutes pain?
Are emotions physical or mental?
Is anything valueless or valueable? --13 Votes--- (WINNER)
Why do people accept/reject religion?
What do we have to lose or gain? (Morality/Motivation)
Do our minds have hard-wired personalities? --11 Votes--
What do we owe?
Is it ever right to.......?


~ Bookmark

Topics List, 11-5-09

Topics List we came up with today: (Mr. B would be proud.)
Morality:
Death/Mortality:
Ethics:
Time/Forever
What else is out there?
What do we owe?
Love-Trust
Seven Deadly Sins
Are People Machines?
Nature Vs. Nurture
Is anything absolute?
Hate
Relatively
Supernatural
Evolution vs Creationism
Why do we do what we do? (Motivation)
Individualism

~Bookmark