Back to Philosophy

Well, as much as I LOVE to read Francis Schaeffer, for the rest of this weekend, it's back to W.V.O. Quine's Word and Object. Quine's a physicalist - this is different from a materialist - because Quine claims that all that exists is what science claims exists. A materialist believes that all that exists is material objects. Hence, some Christians are materialists, they believe that God is a material object, but I haven't read them in depth so I really don't know how God could be a material object.

BTW, Maria and Brian are the only people that I know who have seen The Big Lebowski and haven't liked it. If you do see it though, be warned, it contains very colorful language. Here are some more pertinent quotes to my situation right now (all from different scenes):

Walter Sobchak: "Nihilists! me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos."

The Dude: Walter, what is the point? Look, we all know who is at fault here, what the are you talking about?
Walter Sobchak: Huh? No, what the are you... I'm not... We're talking about unchecked aggression here, Dude.
Donny: What the is he talking about?
The Dude: My rug.
Walter Sobchak: Forget it, Donny, you're out of your element!
The Dude: Walter, the chinaman who peed on my rug, I can't go give him a bill, so what the are you talking about?
Walter Sobchak: What the are you talking about? The chinaman is not the issue here, dude. I'm talking about drawing a line in the sand, dude. Across this line, you DO NOT... Also, dude, chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American, please.

Walter Sobchak: You have got to buck up, man. You cannot drag this negative energy in to the tournament!


OK, now back to Quine
See, I hold to a realist intentionality, which says (loosely, non-technically), when I think about something that object has mental inexistence in my mind. Quine denies that there is any intentionality, for that matter he denies that there is a mind. So I'm reading through Quine's articles and his book, to lay out his argument so that I can then critique it. Right now, I'm reading about referential opacity. FUN!! FUN!! I know all my readers wish that they could be in grad school doing philosophy, walking around and thinking about problems with reference and intentionality, but alas, God only selects a few lucky people to do this type of glamorous service for Him. (Though I do consider what I'm doing to be worth doing for the glory of God.) So, anyway, that's all I have to say about that.

Just remember, if you're feeling blue, old skool punk cheers me up. I listened to some Rancid today. The other day I listened to some Dead Kennedys - Blow up the MTV