Came across this yesterday…

[poovanna]

The late Sidney Morgenbesser was a Philosophy professor at Columbia, and something of a prankster.

I was looking him up yesterday, when I chanced upon this little gem:

During a lecture the Oxford linguistic philosopher J. L. Austin made the claim that although a double negative in English implies a positive meaning, there is no language in which

Comments

[hardblue]

It does seem like life wouldn't be boring with him.

To B.F. Skinner, "Let me see if I understand your thesis. You think we shouldn’t anthropomorphize people?"

I particularly liked this one. I was a big fan of Skinner, particularly because of his Utopia as laid out in "Walden 2", which is largely my own idea of a perfect society, though I no longer think seriously about it.

Though, the God one is pretty timely with me, too:

A few weeks before his death, he asked another Columbia philosopher, David Albert, about God. "Why is God making me suffer so much?" he asked. "Just because I don't believe in him?"

Quotes

[poovanna]

Yes, I particularly enjoyed those quotes as well.

I was a big fan of Skinner, particularly because of his Utopia as laid out in "Walden 2"
Hmm...I have not read Walden 2, and I do not know much about Skinner the man, but I hate his behaviorism philosophy.

Re: Quotes

[hardblue]

As far as Walden Two is concerned, Skinner's behaviorism is effectively just philosophical materialism - the use of science over religion. It's worth a read.