A single serving friend.
My spring break started at 5:05 this evening, so I've been basically wasting time watching movies since then, with a few exceptions:
I wandered downstairs between movies at about 9:00 to stand outside in the rain, not to sound like a freak, but occasionally it feels good to just stand or walk in the rain, to let oneself become totally soaked while thinking. Anyway, I had just walked outside, and I was asked for a cigarette by the next person out the door, who assumed that only a smoker would be standing outside in the rain. So, I dug in my coat pockets, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and threw it to him…highlights of the conversation are as follows:
Him: “You have a full pack of smokes and no lighter?”
Me: “Well, I bought them about two weeks ago, I’m just not motivated about smoking”
Him: “…….my thesis (Philosophy ) was about how, like, if everyone told the truth all the time society would collapse…..”
Me: Well, it is a fascinating idea, but as far as every part of society collapsing, have you every considered that in the hard sciences and engineering that nothing would really change if everyone told everything they know??
*two cigarette gap*
Him: “…the civil war is probably an exception; it was about human dignity not religion or money…”
Me: “well that’s one way to look at it, but the whole states rights, federalism, business relates closely to religion, or religious interpretations of Hume, Locke, etc. Hell, you can’t exclude economic concerns either, I mean look at the cotton gin making slavery profitable….
*one cigarette gap*
Me: “ Well, I think I’m going to go buy some beer”
Him: “I’m going to the Landshark"
And, he disappears...a true single serving friend, I didn't even get his name.
So, the Hillsdale education was really quite a bit better than we all thought. Sam was right about most big schools letting their philosophy undergrads slip through with a poor education. In general, I tend to shift topics as much as possible when arguing outside of my area of expertise. I used to do it with the Libertarians at Hillsdale, the Swiss Army knife method: many functions, but only barely capable at each one. Frankly, it is kind of sad that my Swiss Army knife level of philosophy can argue coherently against a philosophy major with a 4.0 GPA. God save Hillsdale.
My spring break started at 5:05 this evening, so I've been basically wasting time watching movies since then, with a few exceptions:
I wandered downstairs between movies at about 9:00 to stand outside in the rain, not to sound like a freak, but occasionally it feels good to just stand or walk in the rain, to let oneself become totally soaked while thinking. Anyway, I had just walked outside, and I was asked for a cigarette by the next person out the door, who assumed that only a smoker would be standing outside in the rain. So, I dug in my coat pockets, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and threw it to him…highlights of the conversation are as follows:
Him: “You have a full pack of smokes and no lighter?”
Me: “Well, I bought them about two weeks ago, I’m just not motivated about smoking”
Him: “…….my thesis (Philosophy ) was about how, like, if everyone told the truth all the time society would collapse…..”
Me:
*two cigarette gap*
Him: “…the civil war is probably an exception; it was about human dignity not religion or money…”
Me: “well that’s one way to look at it, but the whole states rights, federalism, business relates closely to religion, or religious interpretations of Hume, Locke, etc. Hell, you can’t exclude economic concerns either, I mean look at the cotton gin making slavery profitable….
*one cigarette gap*
Me: “ Well, I think I’m going to go buy some beer”
Him:
And, he disappears...a true single serving friend, I didn't even get his name.
So, the Hillsdale education was really quite a bit better than we all thought. Sam was right about most big schools letting their philosophy undergrads slip through with a poor education. In general, I tend to shift topics as much as possible when arguing outside of my area of expertise. I used to do it with the Libertarians at Hillsdale, the Swiss Army knife method: many functions, but only barely capable at each one. Frankly, it is kind of sad that my Swiss Army knife level of philosophy can argue coherently against a philosophy major with a 4.0 GPA. God save Hillsdale.
posted by Bob at
1:33:00 AM
