Tag: Philosophy

Which Came First?

It is Sunday and a day for me to enlighten my reading audience into some mysteries of life and thought….I try to avoid the mundane boredom that comes with US politics on the weekends.

Now it is time to expand the mind….throughout the ages man has asked the difficult questions….what is life?  What is love?  Where are we in the universe?

But in all that time there has been one gnawing question that no answer has been formulated…..which came first the chicken or the egg?

Now an answer has been presented…..

Was it the egg and then the chicken? Or the chicken and then the egg? Well, a group of scientists have suggested a new theory as to eggs-actly which came first.

Before we reached an age where we had so many other deliberations to worry about – taxes, electricity bills and what we’re actually going to do with the rest of our lives – there was nothing better than the biggest questions on our minds being what we would have for dinner, when our next playdate was or what came first – the chicken or the egg.

So, a team at the UK‘s University of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences decided to find out once and for all.

Some argue the eggs came first – laid by dinosaur ancestors of the fluffy, squawky bird that funds establishments such as KFC. Others have argued a chicken popped out of nowhere and then proceeded to lay an egg.

And in a study, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, a team of scientists decided to take 51 fossil species and 29 living species and split them into two categories for examination: oviparous (laying hard or soft shelled eggs) and viviparous (giving birth to live young – like us humans do).

The study found the early reptilian ancestors of chickens were viviparous – they gave birth to live animals and didn’t lay eggs.

And while both the teams at Bristol and Nanjing University in China noted that animals laying hard-shelled eggs have been one of the greatest innovations, this research is particularly noteworthy.

The team explained the research implies extended embryo retention (when the mother retains their young before birthing) was the ultimate protection for this group of animals in particular – so basically, way back then, birthing a live chicken was safer than laying an egg.

https://www.unilad.com/news/what-came-first-chicken-egg-science-debate-304414-20240913

So did that paper truly give a definitive answer to which came first?

Your input would be welcomed.

That is my Sunday offering I hope you were entertained and/or educated….go out and have a wonderful Autumn day and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Unknown Philosopher

Today is Christmas Eve and I will try to lighten the mood up….I personally have had enough of Trump. Biden and the idiocy around the pandemic….so let’s change it up….at least for today.

This kinda reminds me of the old Gong Show from the 70s….and the Unknown Comic who wore a bag on his head to disguise his identity……

When in university many students take Philosophy 101 as an elective…..mostly because many already know some of the ideas that would be taught….many think that a good grade will help their average…..the study of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and the rest…..

But there is a fly in that ointment……

Ever heard of Mozi? No? How about Anne Conway? Probably not.

These are two seldom taught philosophers…..

There are at least three reasons to read philosophers from other times and places. The first is that they are sometimes right (and sometimes in surprising ways), and we can learn from them when they are. The second is that their perspectives and habits of thought are sometimes very different from our own, and it’s a useful skill, and often a mind-bending experience, to try on those perspectives and habits for ourselves. The third is that philosophy has shaped and continues to shape the larger world. We can only understand that larger world when we understand the philosophical currents it drift on.

There are a lot of great resources out there if you want to get a fuller, more detailed story about the history of philosophy. But here are two philosophers most readers have likely never heard of, a little bit about some of their ideas, and why we might find them interesting today.

Philosophers Throughout History You’ve Probably Never Heard Of: Part I

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is The End Near?

The weekend after T’giving and I will post my usual FYI posts.

There is always some dude walking the streets of a city with a sign that reads “Repent! The End Is Near”….and when asked he will wax poetic and spew doom and gloom.

There are philosophers that believe that we humans have reached the pinnacle of our intelligence.

Despite huge advances in science over the past century, our understanding of nature is still far from complete. Not only have scientists failed to find the Holy Grail of physics – unifying the very large (general relativity) with the very small (quantum mechanics) – they still don’t know what the vast majority of the universe is made up of. The sought after Theory of Everything continues to elude us. And there are other outstanding puzzles, too, such as how consciousness arises from mere matter.

Will science ever be able to provide all the answers? Human brains are the product of blind and unguided evolution. They were designed to solve practical problems impinging on our survival and reproduction, not to unravel the fabric of the universe. This realization has led some philosophers to embrace a curious form of pessimism, arguing there are bound to be things we will never understand. Human science will therefore one day hit a hard limit – and may already have done so.

https://thenextweb.com/syndication/2019/11/17/why-philosophers-believe-weve-reached-peak-human-intelligence/

With that said is it possible that our decline may have already began?

As the world reels under each new outbreak of crisis—record heatwaves across the Western hemisphere, devastating fires across the Amazon rainforest, the slow-moving Hurricane Dorian, severe ice melting at the poles—the question of how bad things might get, and how soon, has become increasingly urgent.

The fear of collapse is evident in the framing of movements such as ‘Extinction Rebellion’ and in resounding warnings that business-as-usual means heading toward an uninhabitable planet.

But a growing number of experts not only point at the looming possibility that human civilization itself is at risk; some believe that the science shows it is already too late to prevent collapse. The outcome of the debate on this is obviously critical: it throws light on whether and how societies should adjust to this uncertain landscape.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/8xwygg/the-collapse-of-civilization-may-have-already-begun

If the end is near the next question will be….what cokes with the end of history?

Is the end near?

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

War–It Is Our Nature

I spend a lot of time researching war….I spend a lot of time writing about war….and a lot of time replying to comments by my visitors.  There seems to be a common thread to comments about war…..many think and/or believe that as humans war is in our DNA.

It would seem that it is truly in our DNA because we as a group cannot end a disagreement without violence……for at least a hundred years war is all to frequent.

Whenever I write that I am antiwar or that I am watching some conflict here or there and try to help readers understand war someone will try to comment by saying that war is ingrained into our DNA….that we have little control over the fight.

Is it in our nature to go to war? Should we just accept the fact that humans have this innate tendency and are hardwired to kill members of other groups?

No, says R. Brian Ferguson, professor of anthropology at Rutgers University-Newark. There is no scientific proof that we have an inherent propensity to take up arms and collectively kill.

In a study published in Scientific American, Ferguson argues that war may not be in our nature at all. People might fight and sometimes kill for personal reasons, but homicide, he argues, is not war.

“There is definitely controversy in the field when it comes to this question,” says Ferguson, who studies human nature, war and peace. “But it is the overall circumstances that we live in that creates the impulse to go or not go to war.”

https://phys.org/news/2018-12-scientific-proof-war-ingrained-human.html

War is all too constant these days.

But why?

Personally, I believe it is the M-IC that makes it constant…..for to them it is more about profit that it is the source…..the answer is always intervention and the use of deadly ordinances and weapons….for this needs to be replenished and in doing so the cash register rings.

There is seldom an attempt to find a peaceful resolution….there are faux “summits” to talk peace but they seldom end in success.

The “Complex” is that never ending snake that eats its tail……

What President Dwight D. Eisenhower dubbed the “military-industrial complex” has been constantly evolving over the decades, adjusting to shifts in the economic and political system as well as international events. The result today is a “permanent-war complex,” which is now engaged in conflicts in at least eight countries across the globe, none of which are intended to be temporary.

This new complex has justified its enhanced power and control over the country’s resources primarily by citing threats to U.S. security posed by Islamic terrorists. But like the old military-industrial complex, it is really rooted in the evolving relationship between the national security institutions themselves and the private arms contractors allied with them.

America’s Permanent-War Complex

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Those Nagging Questions In Life #2

Sunday and I would like to wax philosophical…..there are big questions in life….like why are we here? Is Humanity doomed? Is there life out there?

But those questions are academic….the big question that I lose sleep over at night……why does coffee make me poop?

And now I have my answer……

A good chunk of regular coffee drinkers know that coffee isn’t just great at getting them awake in the morning—it also makes them get up and go poop. But while coffee’s laxative powers are well-known, it’s not clear why exactly this happens. To get to the bottom of this mystery, some scientists decided to do exactly what you’d expect scientists to: They gave lab rats some coffee.

Their preliminary results, presented this weekend at a research conference aptly named Digestive Disease Week, seem to reaffirm a suspicion that coffee’s poop-making prowess has nothing to do with caffeine. Coffee might also kill off bacteria found in our guts.

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston fed their rats a tiny cup of joe for three days straight, with different groups getting both caffeinated and decaf coffee. Then, the researchers checked the downstairs plumbing of the rats with a physical examination and probe, focusing on the muscles that contract and help guide food (and eventually waste) through the gut. Lastly, they also studied how muscle tissues from the gut directly reacted to coffee in the lab. Their results were clear: muscles in the small and large intestine were more able to contract post-coffee, meaning things could move faster along the gut.

https://gizmodo.com/why-does-coffee-make-us-poop-scientists-gave-coffee-to-1834852779

There is yet one other thought that has plagued me s well…..what does dog pee do to the sidewalk?  (Not really but I needed a lead in to the article)

And now there is an answer to this probing question……

Nobody knows just how many dogs there are in the United States, but there are plenty—and many of them live (and pee) in human cities. Turns out, canine bathroom breaks may have more of an impact on the environment than you might think.

In a new study, a team of Columbia University undergraduate and graduate researchers led by ecologist Krista McGuire looked at the impact of pee on the urban soil microbiome. They found evidence that the nitrogen content and low pH of the urine can make city soil both harder and less absorbent of rainwater, while making the soil microbiome less diverse.

https://www.popsci.com/dog-pee-soil-microbiome

Wheew!  Now I can rest nicely knowing the answers to those probing questions of life……

How about you?

MoMo has decided it is time for her to go pee something….

Peace Out my friends…..enjoy your day.

But It Is Human Nature

On several occasions the topic of human nature has come up mostly in the comment section and by several of IST’s regular readers.

Human nature is one of those subjective topics that leads to many different interpretations….depending on one’s personal outlook or philosophy…..I recently read a pretty good look at this topic and would like to share it here and get others thoughts on the article…..

Across the globe, a collective freak-out spanning the whole political system is picking up steam with every new “surprise” election, rush of tormented souls across borders, and tweet from the star of America’s great unreality show, Donald Trump.

But what exactly is the force that seems to be pushing us towards Armageddon? Is it capitalism gone wild? Globalization? Political corruption? Techno-nightmares?

Rajani Kanth, a political economist, social thinker, and poet, goes beyond any of these for the answer. In his view, what’s throwing most of us off kilter— whether we think of ourselves as left or right, capitalist or socialist—was birthed 400 years ago during the period of the Enlightenment. It’s a set of assumptions, a particular way of looking at the world that pushed out previous modes of existence, many quite ancient and time-tested, and eventually rose to dominate the world in its Anglo-American form.

Source: Have we been denying our human nature for four hundred years?

So my friends….any thoughts on this piece?

Eroding America’s Moral Authority

I saw the headline of this piece and I thought it was a piece of satire.  Why?  I do not think the US has had a moral authority in decades.  But as I read the article I found it was not written in humor but a serious break in attitudes around the world.  It was not the “Ignorati” attempting humor.

I do try not to be one those micro-cephalic that are a one dimensional thinker, a one trick pony if you will….so when I was presented with this bit of philosophical fodder I felt I must expand….

SO…..Moral Authority?  WTF?

  1. moral authority(Noun)

    The quality or characteristic of being respected for having good character or knowledge, especially as a source of guidance or an exemplar of proper conduct.

Moral authority means the underpinning philosophy that creates or interprets laws, or it can have other definitions. Many individuals, especially elected officials, are deemed to have the greatest authority. Alternately, the law itself may be viewed as having authority to create morals, and respected as the source upon which people base their behavior. The matter gets much more complex, especially in societies where individuals have diverse views on what constitutes morality.

Okay the refresher course is ended…..now to the article that brought me to think in philosophical terms…..

But Is It Ethical?

From time to time I enjoy trying to get a conversation started on some subject or another…….not always successful but at least I try……I do this because I would like to hear what others think about some of the deeper issues of our time……….

Would you like a subject that will make you talk to yourself and possibly making you argue with yourself?  If so then you are looking for the subject of…..ETHICS!

First let us look at the definition of the term……..what is ethics?  The Internet encyclopedia of Philosophy has a good one……..

The field of ethics (or moral philosophy) involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior. Philosophers today usually divide ethical theories into three general subject areas: metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Metaethics investigates where our ethical principles come from, and what they mean. Are they merely social inventions? Do they involve more than expressions of our individual emotions? Metaethical answers to these questions focus on the issues of universal truths, the will of God, the role of reason in ethical judgments, and the meaning of ethical terms themselves. Normative ethics takes on a more practical task, which is to arrive at moral standards that regulate right and wrong conduct. This may involve articulating the good habits that we should acquire, the duties that we should follow, or the consequences of our behavior on others. Finally, applied ethics involves examining specific controversial issues, such as abortion, infanticide, animal rights, environmental concerns, homosexuality, capital punishment, or nuclear war.

Morality?  Now there is a subject that is just as irritating as ethics….but that will be for another day and another post……….where do our ethics come from these days?

From the Bible…..or maybe our education…..or from our personal philosophy…….and then there could be from the family unit…….where oh where?

Many of us want to believe that we are a Judeo-Christian country with a like minded philosophy….but yet some of the commandments that we are suppose to live by are broken daily….daily killings….wanton lying……to mention a couple….so if we cannot live by a couple of fairly simple ‘rules’….then can we say we are an ethical people?

Can society teach ethics?  Not to my mind.  We can pass laws that force us to act in a specific way but does that make us ethical?

Can education make us more ethical?  Now this is a good subject.  My answer is not in today’s world……we are NOT taught anymore…..we are given to memorization and that does not lead to retention.  Also philosophy is not taught much anymore unless one wants to be a philosopher or than that it is a elective and only taken to fill a gap not to learn about ourselves……

Ethics is open to opinion……and I bet there will be someone that will jump all over this subject……..

Argumentum Ad Hominem

College of Political Knowledge

Subject:  Government/Politics/

Weekend is over…back to the grind…….

I try to help people understand what is going on in American politics and the world…….I recently wrote a post entitled “argumentum ad populum….basically it is if you say something long enough it becomes true….type of thinking…..read it for yourself….

lobotero.wordpress.com/2010/09/13/arg…

It explains the rhetoric on the cable news channels……I got to thinking about a logic class I took about a billion years ago and another phenom came to mind…..argumentum ad hominem…..

In logic, the argumentum ad hominem is typically described as having the following form:

  1. A makes claim B.
  1. There is something objectionable about A.
  1. Therefore, claim B is false.

There are three basic forms of argumentum ad hominem:

    1. Ad hominem abusive; also called argumentum ad personam. Instead of attacking an assertion, the argument attacks the person who made the assertion.
    1. Ad hominem circumstantial: Instead of attacking an assertion, the attacker points to the relationship between the person making the assertion and the person’s circumstances.

                           Ad hominem tu quoque: Literally translated as, “at the person, you too,” this could be    called the “hypocrisy” argument. In this form of attack, one argues that the person does not practice what he or she preaches.

Now think about any news that you may listen to on a daily basis…..does any of it sound anything like what I described?  Then think about the political talking points….if you look closely they follow this line of thinking almost every time….

As much as I would like to think of myself as “fair and balanced”…I do succumb to this from time to time….I think all writers and analysts do….it is part of the beast of analysis…..ALL TV analysts are guilty of this…regardless of which side of the political spectrum one stands…..

We as consumers of the news, must know these things and learn to look for the truth in ALL political statements….it may be there or it may be a total fabrication of the facts…if we do not search of the truth then we are destined to make totally irrational decisions about the governance of our nation….and we are seeing just how disastrous this could be……we are making decisions based on total untrue and falsified data….it is in its infancy right now….but the beast is growing rapidly and if not exposed to the cleansing light of truth….then all will be lost and this democracy will exist NO MORE!