Sunday, February 1, 2009

[1650 - Rene Descartes, philosopher, scientist, died]

[1790 - First session of the U.S. Supreme Court]

  
[1859 - Victor Herbert, composer, conductor, born in Dublin, Ireland]

[1894 - John Ford (John Martin Feeney), Academy Award-winning
film director, born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine]

[1901 - (William) Clark Gable, actor, born in Cadiz, Ohio]

[1902 - Langston Hughes, poet, author, born in Joplin, Missouri]

[1904 - S.J. Perelman (Sidney Joseph Perelman), humorist, writer, born in Brooklyn]

[1908 - George Pal, film director, producer, born in Cegled, Hungary]

[1922 - Renata Tebaldi, opera singer, born in Pesaro, Italy]

[1931 - Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia, born in Butka, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia]

Why Am I?

If you would be a real seeker after truth, you must at least once in your life doubt, as far as possible, all things.

The philosopher Descartes embraced the primacy of self-awareness (Cogito, ergo sum). We have now learned that certain monkeys (and not even the smartest of the non-human primates at that) can solve and remember multiple complex, seven-part sequences of images (just as can college students). Both the monkeys and the college students can also compare and analyze a pair of images taken from different sequences to determine which of the two images should come first.
Given these findings that were not available to Descartes in the 17th Century, I wonder if he were alive today whether he might formulate his approach differently.

All are lunatics, but he who can analyze his delusions is called a philosopher.

William's Whimsical Words:

Puteo, ergo sum (I stink therefore I am) seems now to be just as defensible a position in light of the new evidence. [Pardon the poor Latin grammar]

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