March 1, 2003
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I Feel Faint
Okay, I did it. I spent an ungodly amount of money. (I HATE when things cost ungodly amounts of money.) I paid cash, so at least I don't have interest charges but, OUCH! Okay, I'd be saying the same thing if I'd gotten it for 1/5 it's price because I'm not really a tightwad, but I HATE to spend large amounts of money.
I've learned over the past several years that it does no good whatsoever for me to pay for a membership at the gym. I can't take the kids with me during the day, and in the evening I'm beat. But, lets face it. I'm not getting any younger and if I want the next years of my life to be enjoyable, I HAVE to take seriously my need for regular exercise. Soooooo, I bought a treadmill. I have used a treadmill in the past when I was in physical therapy for a back injury. (How was I supposed to know that being on bedrest would so weaken my back muscles that just getting up and walking around could cause injury?!)
Now I have it all set up - next to my reading corner. It took all day long for me and Tim to put it together. (Hey I was NOT going to pay some teenager $120 to come to my house and do it for me, that's just -- pass the smelling salts, please.)
Absolutely, Positively
Dang it, if I'm going to leave a blog length comment in my OWN comments section it might as well be a blog, don't cha think?
For those of you who stay up late nights reading symbolic logic, there has been a discussion going on in my comments section that you're gonna love. I'm not going to replay it all here, but the pertinent parts to catch you up to what's happening this evening are:
dread: “No amount of reasoning ever produces a new truth, it merely tests a new truth claim against established criteria.” I would say that the use of the two words “No amount” is the stumbling block for me...I would argue that the words “No amount” equate to an absolute...So the only falsity I would argue is the use of the absolute"
Q: (in dread's comment section) No absolutes? Are you absolutely certain of that?
dread: Enlighten me on the absolutes that exist Q.
I have so many "favorite" philosophers that I'm almost embarrassed to name another one. I really like Bertrand Russell. What's not to like about a genius who would devote over a year of his life to the exhaustive proof that 1+1=2?
Russell collected paradoxes. One of my favorite of Russell's paradoxes concerns a village barber. See in this particular village, the barber shaves every man who does not shave himself. Do you see the paradox? Who shaves the barber? If the barber shaves himself then he doesn't, and if he doesn't shave himself, he must. On the surface the statement seems to make sense, but the application of logic reveals it to be a paradox, it's nonsense.
Philosophers like to say things that sound profound, and on an intuitive level, they kind of make sense to us. But, then you apply a bit of logic to the statement and you realize that in fact, it's nonsense.
David Hume has an oft quoted passage that illustrates this point vividly. In discussing statements of metaphysics and religion he gives the following test for determining whether a statement is meaningful. Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No Commit it then to the flames, for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.
That's a rousing statement. It seems to be the ultimate expression of logic. But, take a second look. Hume's grand statement is neither mathematical nor scientific. If in order to be meaningful, a statement must be either mathematically sustained or experimentally verifiable, then Hume's statement itself is meaningless. I like Ravi Zacharias' wry observation, "It is a philosophical solvent that dissolves itself."
I'm sure you have guessed where I'm headed with this line of reasoning. The statement "There are no absolutes" is the one absolute that is taught absolutely in the halls of American academia. It is imparted in solemn tones to students as though it is the holy grail of intellectual acheivement. It is learned absolutely, and it is utter nonsense. The statement is an absolute. If there are no absolutes then the statement is false, it is its own denial.
dread asks me to give examples of absolutes and says that he can't find a single absolute in his life. How about this one? When the temperature falls below 32 degrees Farenheit, or 0 Celsius water freezes. The scientific process demands absolutes by focusing on the publicly repeatable experiment as the preferred source of data. Science relies upon controlled conditions to absolutely reproduce the same experiment over and over and over and over and over and over and ... you get the picture.
Once you step outside the dogma, and think about it. You'll realize that this isn't the only statement we've been taught that's nonsense. But, don't feel bad, it took me almost 35 years before I figured out I'd been had.
Comments (20)
Most astute scientists will tell you that everything, every little experiment, every numerical calculation, rests solidly on an assumption. A postulate, an idea, a "given" -- all of these are just assumptions. Social reality wouldn't exist without key assumptions, and neither would science! Can you prove the universe as you see it exists, other than your perception of it?
No. An assumption. "Mere sophistry" indeed!
Haven't been following the discussion much...but this is great!
Congrats on the treadmill...must be something in the water, you're the 3rd person so far that I know of that has bought one this winter.
we've got some exercise equipment that was left here by the last homeowners. i can't make myself get on it though...I like a real run better, feels better to be outside I guess, but I never find the time to do it either.
There ARE no absolutes. None!
I absolutely love my daughter. Does that count?
Hey...did you get a book rack for your treadmill? I think if we had one I'd use it. I sure can't get out in the winter here and walk. And I sure am paying the price this winter...
Congratulations on the treadmill!
On logic: my mind does not wrap itself happily around logic as an academic pursuit. An embarassing admission, but unfortunately true, I fear. 
Anyway: at least I have actually heard of these great writers and thinkers you're citing.........
Well, I think the money you've invested in the treadmill was probably worth it. Cause it really IS an investment...not just in a piece of machinery, but in your health! I'd love to get one of those, although I probably wouldn't use it as much as I'd like to think I would. Hopefully that money you spent will be a good motivator to get on it!
I gotsta tell ya... YOU are the reason I am in such turmoil at this point and time... lol
I am trying to decide on a new site... name and content, because I don't want to be just fluff... I guess I wanna be like you when I grow up! heh is that scary or what!? 
I love these discussions and I reallllllllly enjoy reading, then going and looking up the books or linking to something along the same line as your topic and enriching my mind. I love many sites on Xanga, yours happens to be 'a fave' though. I know we need them all... thats why I don't want to let go of the one I use for my personal sentiments and all. I simply (and absolutely??) want to also have one where I can WRITE as well. I have put this on a back burner for a long time... UGH!
I am BLOGGIN right here in your comments box! OK, going now! 
Hugs,
Deb
P.S. Congrats on the treadmill... You'll not regret the investment.
...some of what I consider my best thinking is when I'm exercising. If this holds true for you - were in for it.
MuSe
Might I point out that this lovely entry proved my point quite nicely?
I wrote: “…So the only falsity I would argue is the use of the absolute.”
You wrote: “If there are no absolutes then the statement is false, it is its own denial.”
Falsity = Falsity!
I do so enjoy your research, writing, and line of thought!
And the twist of semantics are just wonderful my lady.
Your example of water freezing at 32 / 0 is erroneous. There are many fresh water bodies of water I can assure you do not freeze when the temperature is well below 0. You speak of creating a controlled circumstance with a controlled environment. Have you never walked about in winter and it been raining with the temps under 0? I have. An additional example is when Sister Delordes tried to get me to buy into the whole ‘two objects of the same weight and mass when dropped at the same time will fall at the same speed theory’. I argued against this illogic for all four years of my high school career. It was not until many years later that science came out with the “In a vacuum” part. I did back flips! (In your face sister D!) Quite frankly I also have cause to believe that it will modified yet again before I die.
Well writ and well stated!
Sail on… sail on!!!!!
Well written. Two thumbs up. Now come to bed!
Good luck with the treadmill! Sometimes you have to spend a lot to get a good one, there are a lot of crappy ones out there. I could never buy one of those - it'd end up collecting dust before the end of the week!
Theories and philosophies are great, but there are always the poser out there who try to make it their business to prove they're not correct--and then we get the addendums and circumstantial references. I've read a lot of philosophy and even blogged about it (hey, did my own 1+1 blog sometime last year), but I don't give it much power. Logic is too embedded in philosophy for it to hold much water with me, and I know that I myself do not always accept logic as truth. Absolute or not. Where's the logic of wearing high heels to school all day? They make my feet ache and sometimes even my back, and that's a fact. But my legs look much prettier in them than in "comfy" shoes. That's also a fact. Which fact do I go with, logically? Depends on the person being asked the question, I'd say. Life's too damn circumstantial to spend any excess amount of time trying to find absolute truths, and to sit around trying to negate folks who claim to've found absolute truth? Even more ridiculous. But it's damn fun to talk about it all sometimes, isn't it?
o/
God Bless - Dale
Wonderfully put, as ever
This reminds me of a concept I've been reading about - the concept of consciousness after death, vs. nothingness.
"Nothing", in and of itself, is a concept, and not a physical entity. It is not a place, nor a space. It simply refuses to be allocated into animal, vegetable or mineral, and cannot be measured. Following this line of logic (thanks in huge part to Robert Thurman), it is therefore misguided to posit that after our bodies die, there is "nothing"ness. After all...why would that be different from everything else in the world?
Confused? Yes, so was I at first. But Thurman puts it so much better than I ever could!
very nice xanga...hhaha..props...bye...
koo xanga...haha...props...bye...
Happy walking! I was wondering, could you arrange it so you can walk and Xanga at the same time?
Lord Help Us ALL!!!! If she walks ad Xanga's at the same time I will NEVER catch up!!!
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