Philosophy & Ethics

The Scientific Method : Discover a SyzygyThis is one of my musings on etymology.The term 'musing' is derived from the notion that our ideas are inspired by the Muses.That in turn gives the notion of a museum as a place in which a person might be inspired.Welcome to the museum called the Chatter Box. Syzygy comes from Late Latin syzygia, a conjunction, which in turn came from Greek syzygos, from syn, meaning 'together' and zygon meaning 'yoke'. Syzygy  means 'aligned',  'conjoined' or unified.It expresses a perception of unity arising from a coordination or alignment. It is also a…

The True History of a Windbag Ideas in etymology are like ideas in general.  Just as there is the carefully researched and formulated scientific theory as against 'just an idea', so with etymology. It is to be expected that as language becomes more widely researched, so the false etymologies still current will be displaced. This blog is part 2 of an occasional series in false etymology, Part 1 may be found  here. Of impacient Folys that wyll nat abyde correcciounUnto our Folys Shyp let hym come hastely Sebastian Brant, Das Narrenschiff The  Windbag WordsWindbag, buffoon, fool,…

Spinning a Yarn Ideas in etymology are like ideas in general.  Just as there is the carefully researched and formulated scientific theory as against 'just an idea', so with etymology. It is to be expected that as language becomes more widely researched, so the false etymologies still current will be displaced. This blog is part 1 of an occasional series in false etymology, Part 2  may be found  here. Windbag The Sailor Spins a Yarn Windbag The Sailor (1936) Will Hay as Captain Ben Cutlet, a spinner of yarns. It has often been suggested that the phrase 'spinning a yarn'…

Please note: despite the date, this is NOT a joke, gag or spoof. Supporters of intelligent design and creation theories keep attempting to subvert our education systems.  They will not be content until every child in every school in every country is taught that our planet is only about 6000 years old and that the Bible conveys literal truth. Now, if you don't want your kids to be brainwashed all the way back to the stone age by some religious extremist, here's what you can do:  1 - write to your MP, Congressperson or other political figure.  Complain that you do not want your…

The Chicken, the Egg and The Hermeneutic Circle. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?It is often difficult when analysing a problem to know where to start. Cause and effect sometimes seem to chase each other around in a circle. In the study of language, should we look first at the meaning of the words, or the sentence? This is a chicken and egg problem, the hermeneutic  circle. The term hermeneutic circle describes a core problem in the understanding of language. In order to understand any spoken language or text, we have to understand the individual words. But it is inherent in the…

Intelligence Made Simple: Part 2Please see also Part 1Are there other intelligences in the cosmos?  How would we know?By what universal standard can we know intelligence when we see it? A Universal Definition of Intelligence. This is what I call 'square one'  analysis.  Putting aside all unanswerable questions about metaphysical entities, let us look at the basic building blocks of, not life as we know it, but the chemistry of the cosmos. We know how elements combine to form molecules.  We know that the electrostatic fields around molecules cause them to take on particular…

Intelligence Made SimplePart #1 of 2 What is Intelligence? I intend to show how intelligence is best understood by getting well away from ideas based on human intelligence. I shall work from humans down to primitive life-forms and then the atom itself.  I hope to demonstrate a useful definition of intelligence, but there are some essential underlying ideas that need to be discussed first. I shall start by turning the question around. The question to be answered now is: What is Stupidity? Take the situation where most people agree that doing a particular thing is exceedingly dangerous.…

The Alliance For Human Research Protection, a non-profit advocacy group for responsible and ethical medical research practices, has called for the suspension of JAMA editor-in-chief Catherine DeAngelis and exec deputy editor Phil Fontanarosa, and for an an investigation into allegations that they threatened a researcher who criticized a study published in the journal, according to the Wall Street Journal. Jonathan Leo, a neuroanatomist in Harrogate, TN., and Jeffrey Lacasse, a professor at ASU (pictured at left), discovered that Robert Robinson, lead author of a May 2008 article on…

The safety of early applications of synthetic biology may be adequately addressed by the existing regulatory framework for biotechnology, especially in contained laboratories and manufacturing facilities. But further advances in this emerging field are likely to create significant challenges for U.S. government oversight, according to a new report authored by Michael Rodemeyer of the University of Virginia. Synthetic biology promises major advances in areas such as biofuels, specialty chemicals, and agriculture and drug products.  In New Life, Old Bottles: Regulating First-Generation…

What is Pragmatics? This is a very brief introduction to pragmatics, intended to whet your appetite and encourage you to want to know more. Pragmatic investigations cover the fields of both linguistics and philosophy.I shall cover the area of linguistics, the study of how language works, first. Pragmatics and How Language is Used.In language studies, pragmatics is a very wide field. It examines our use and our understanding of the language we speak and hear, read and write. Pragmatics examines the importance in language studies of our general knowledge, and the importance of common-sense…