Writer or Philosopher?

[Robert Campbell]

Dragonfly,

You are right about all of the examples that Dr. Peikoff raves on about in his DIM lectures, which couldn't have been more aptly named.

http://www.objectivistliving.com/forums/in...ost&p=21345

My point was simply that all of his (and Mr. Harriman's) allegations of a purported death spiral in physics are far more pertinent than the fictional example of John Galt's motor.

As for "thermodynamics refutes hope," could Dr. Peikoff have in mind the (eventual) "heat death of the universe"?

Although I'm not sure it matters, given the profound ignorance on display, and the constant substitution of nonobjective moral denunciation for genuine counterargument.

In the piece I'm writing on the doctrine of the arbitrary assertion, I give the example of Dr. Peikoff making claims about Gödel's incompleteness theorem. By his own declared standards, much would he have to know about the theorem and its proof, before his assertions about it escaped from the confines of the arbitrary and started having a chance of being true or false?

Robert Campbell

PS. On the question whether Leonard Peikoff has lost his marbles... I do think that 30 years ago he was a good deal more sensitive to the structure and purpose of other philosophical systems than he has become. (A small example would be the fair-to-middlin' treatment of Herbert Spencer in his modern philosophy lectures, versus the invincible ignorance that he flaunts in OPAR.) But already in his lectures during the first half of the 1970s, Dr. Pekoff's occasional comments on 20th century physics were no more than colorful inaccuracies.

[BaalChatzaf]

Yeah, it did so great in 968 A.D. What we don't know is how much science is suffering right now in the U.S. because of government interference and subsidies. We don't know how much it has suffered because Hitler murdered millions of European Jews. I'm glad there's positive news, but we can't tabulate the negative.

--Brant

What event or events in 968 c.e. are you alluding to?

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Brant Gaede]

Yeah, it did so great in 968 A.D. What we don't know is how much science is suffering right now in the U.S. because of government interference and subsidies. We don't know how much it has suffered because Hitler murdered millions of European Jews. I'm glad there's positive news, but we can't tabulate the negative.

--Brant

What event or events in 968 c.e. are you alluding to?

The science in that era that wasn't happening.

If Aristotle was so powerful in stopping science because of wrong philosophy it seems the right philosophy would be very powerful the other way.

--Brant

[BaalChatzaf]

The science in that era that wasn't happening.

If Aristotle was so powerful in stopping science because of wrong philosophy it seems the right philosophy would be very powerful the other way.

--Brant

Not so. In the Islamic Domains they were doing some Good Stuff just about then. By the way, Aristotle was a Hit with the Muslims. Things were not well in Europe during the time you mentioned, but there are other places.

Here is a mini blurb on algebra (invented by Muslim scholars)

Before the religious extremists put the outs out, scholars in the Islamic domains made some very important contributions to science and mathematics. In some ways, they exceeded the accomplishments of the Greeks.

Arabic Algebra

In the 7th and 8th centuries the Arabs, united by Mohammed, conquered the land from India, across northern Africa, to Spain. In the following centuries (through the 14th) they pursued the arts and sciences and were responsible for most of the scientific advances made in the west. Although the language was Arabic many of the scholars were Greeks, Christians, Persians, or Jews. Their most valuable contribution was the preservation of Greek learning through the middle ages, and it is through their translations that much of what we know today about the Greeks became available. In addition they made original contributions of their own.

They took over and improved the Hindu number symbols and the idea of positional notation. These numerals (the Hindu-Arabic system of numeration) and the algorithms for operating with them were transmitted to Europe around 1200 and are in use throughout the world today.

Like the Hindus, the Arabs worked freely with irrationals. However they took a backward step in rejecting negative numbers in spite of having learned of them from the Hindus.

In algebra the Arabs contributed first of all the name. The word "algebra" come from the title of a text book in the subject, Hisab al-jabr w'al muqabala, written about 830 by the astronomer/mathematician Mohammed ibn-Musa al-Khowarizmi. This title is sometimes translated as "Restoring and Simplification" or as "Transposition and Cancellation." Our word "algorithm" in a corruption of al-Khowarizmi's name.

The algebra of the Arabs was entirely rhetorical.

They could solve quadratic equations, recognizing two solutions, possibly irrational, but usually rejected negative solutions. The poet/mathematician Omar Khayyam (1050 - 1130) made significant contributions to the solution of cubic equations by geometric methods involving the intersection of conics.

Like Diophantus and the Hindus, the Arabs also worked with indeterminate equations.

You might want to check this out too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_science

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Brant Gaede]

I should have said 468 A.D., I guess.

--Brant

[BaalChatzaf]

I should have said 468 A.D., I guess.

--Brant

What is special about 468 c.e. that is not special about 467 c.e or 469 c.e?

What particular event or events are you referring to?

Yes, the Light was being turned off in Europe. Fortunately it was still on in China.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Brant Gaede]

I should have said 468 A.D., I guess.

--Brant

What is special about 468 c.e. that is not special about 467 c.e or 469 c.e?

What particular event or events are you referring to?

Yes, the Light was being turned off in Europe. Fortunately it was still on in China.

Ba'al Chatzaf

"Uncle!"

--Brant

[zantonavitch]

Both. (Just a test.)

[Chris Grieb]

What year did the Vandals sack Rome? Symbolic that sounds like a good event.

[BaalChatzaf]

What year did the Vandals sack Rome? Symbolic that sounds like a good event.

Rome was sacked several times.

Somewhere in the 400's the last Roman Emperor in the West was sent packing. Rome East survived much longer.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Brant Gaede]

What year did the Vandals sack Rome? Symbolic that sounds like a good event.

Rome was sacked several times.

Somewhere in the 400's the last Roman Emperor in the West was sent packing. Rome East survived much longer.

I wonder what things would have been like--turned out--if Hannibal had defeated Rome over 600 years before.

--Brant

[BaalChatzaf]

I wonder what things would have been like--turned out--if Hannibal had defeated Rome over 600 years before.

--Brant

The world would be a very different place. The Europe we know simply would not have come about.

The modern west in many ways is a continuation of Rome. None of this would have happened.

Spain as we know it would not have happened and the colonization of North America would be much different.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[ebelisha]

I have a version of metaphysics/epistemology I use for myself: I call it Reality Lite:

1. There is an Out There out there.

2. We have sufficient wits to grasp and deal with some of what is Out There.

That puts me in the camp of those who deny the primacy of mind (to use the common parlance). What is Out There would be out there whether or not we exist and no matter what we think of what is Out There.

One of our problems is confusing a reification of what is Out There with what is Out There. The Word is not the Thing. The Map is not the Territory. The Description is not the Thing Described. The Concept/Category is not the Particular. We have to keep our internals in synchronization with what is Out There, but our internals is not what is Out There.

I find that any systematic philosophy much beyond Reality Lite is burdensome and wretched excess.

Ba'al Chatzaf

Absolutely beautifully written, AND elegant. Applause!

[ebelisha]

As for "thermodynamics refutes hope," could Dr. Peikoff have in mind the (eventual) "heat death of the universe"?

Thermodynamics refutes hope?? Are you pulling my leg? Did he seriously write such a thing?

I almost fell out of my chair laughing. I spit coffee on my keyboard. Should I send the invoice for the new keyboard to you or to Peikoff?

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

CR,

Peikoff was stating that "punch-drunk" science theorists were claiming that. He didn't say who or how. It's still a weird thing to say.

Michael