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Just as no good deed's unpunished, Here's a Newtonian witticism, Our gene pool has problems enow, The world keeps on turning -- that's true. Maybe that today it seems right Perhaps it ain't always real good, 'Cause always opinions do hurt I just kicked myself off a group, Whenever someone comes along The great swarming Internet masses And yesterday, 'twas one of those Your nerves are a little bit frayed, Your announcement has made me quite sad Take a break, if you must, but be sure Well, Jeanie, it's days now I think, I wonder why 'twas such a shock This old velssel needs a repair; All the things of each natural kind, then, There's one claim, then, that calls for no gripe: Thus bodies, when hurled into space, Well, some will insist that's just trite, In any case, skipping all ballyhoo, Unlike Plato, ones Good's overreaching's Thus while "good" has mere relative force, I was brought up on old Aristotle, As we ponder his thinking's anatomy, Of contention, now, here's the first bone: And our minds?--Well, they're merely those factors So while Plato would be disappointed, Trust, Pure Mind, insofar as I've got some, Thus our souls (in their Reasoning fraction) Though no Platonist greets this with chortles, Aristotle, a scholar so rare, That crafty old man Aristotle, They say Aristotle was bright As Aristotle, peripetetic, King Phillip a tutor he sought till Aristotle: philospher Greek, Descartes, seeking what we could know, Of the modes by which mankind cognizes, While dreaming, indeed, in my bed, And while this doubt is strange, yet I fear it; There is, though, release from this jam. Now perhaps this seems trivial--or nearly-- But among its most promising lessons, Thus with body and mind in convention, Of course, if I want to speak strictly, You might think a hymn is worth humming, If I know that a God's in existence, To free us indeed from this vise, Now to many, these tries to unchain us Without proof that it isn't Satanic, But aside from the crowing indignance In any case, mind/body fusion How to say, while they're two, and not single, The mind, standing guard at this station, As for things in the animal section, (Even humans could walk down the street Now from bodies, if God lets it be, Until then, I'll have no idea But even while tenured on earth, What's the essence of matter: Extension! Thus it's clear that, through sources empirical, So there's no need to worry your head "I am, thus I think," opined Les; "I don't give a hoot,' said a particle, In school I went right to the source
One of life's truths is unvarnished:
After you need it most,
Experience plays host;
You see how halo get tarnished.
--- Daniel Ford
From "correctness" empiricism:
For every action,
There is some faction --
Equal and opposite criticism.
--- Daniel Ford
But the greatest is, I here trow,
That in such a late day,
We've no lifeguard to say,
"You there, out of the gene pool, NOW!"
--- Daniel Ford
It takes us along, me and you.
Though sometimes we're glad
And sometimes we're sad,
It won't change whatever we do.
--- Eva Bekker
To voice our opinion -- we might
Find out we were wrong
And chose a bad song,
Thus find ourselves in a big plight.
--- Eva Bekker
To speak of the things that we should
Keep locked in our head
Or take them to bed
Or hide them out in some dark wood.
--- Eva Bekker
Or make us sound slightly absurd,
To people who think
Our ideas do stink,
Accusing us to stir up dirt.
--- Eva Bekker
A really fine and funny troop,
'Cause my chattering mouth
Spit it out, North and South,
My peace-loving politics poop.
--- Eva Bekker
And warbles a discordant song,
Seems only all right
If a veteran might
Point out to them where they were wrong.
--- Jeanie
Are made up of several classes.
There's Left and Right Wing
And I'm sure of one thing:
There's some that can clearly be asses.
--- Jeanie
With a clear cut intent to oppose,
Who tangled with you.
Eva, I tell you true --
Your post received many bravos.
--- Jeanie
But what you classify as a "tirade",
From here where I sit
It seem to befit --
All you did was call a spade a spade.
--- Jeanie
And several others feel bad.
It won't be the same place
Without your smiling face.
Don't leave because of a nomad.
--- Jeanie
To return when you've taken the cure.
'Tis with love and concern
That I bid you return --
And that isn't just bovine manure!
--- Jeanie
That I haven't slept a wee wink.
I'm cold and I'm sick;
My head's like a brick.
My sanity seems on the brink.
--- Eva Bekker
When the trolling one tried hard to rock
The boat we were rowing,
While a strong wind was blowing.
I've been taken now to the dry dock.
--- Eva Bekker
A bit of fresh paint here and there.
New flag and new name,
But no second flame
With ladies like Mrs Contrair.
--- Eva Bekker
Have an essence their form has assigned them.
What this function proclaims
Is their natural aims:
What they'd do should no circumstance bind them.
--- Lim Hist of Philos
Things all do what's the rule for their Type.
Or, if not, then they would,
If they possibly could,
Just as soon as the time for it's ripe.
--- Lim Hist of Philos
Seek return to their "natural place";
And the fox, faced with rabbit,
Will give in to the habit
Of eating it after the chase.
--- Lim Hist of Philos
And not worth its own paper to write.
But despite all our biases,
It's too bad -- that's all science is,
If the Aristotelians are right.
--- Lim Hist of Philos
Let's just turn to their theory of Value.
Perhaps here's at least theory
That's somewhat less dreary.
(Even though it might still fail to wow you!)
--- Lim Hist of Philos
Not a factor in this systems teachings.
Here's the truth, be it known,
Is "To each one its own"
(Though each "one", it turns out, is a species).
--- Lim Hist of Philos
It's the species that's always its source.
It's not relative, then,
To mere women and men--
But to Man (as opposed, say, to Horse).
--- Lim Hist of Philos
And won't change a jit or a tottle,
And that's saying a lot,
Not a jit, not a jot,
I won't alter--no, no, I'll nottle.
--- C S Cook
Let's recall what a genius he had to be:
Though he founded Lyceum,
He got started by bein'
Prize Pupil in Plato's Academy!
--- Lim Hist of Philos P5111
Do pure Forms have a realm all their own?
Here's the answer: they merely,
Save when wedded materially,
Exist only in minds where they're known.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9511
That define us as rational actors.
So your mind--that's not you.
But some things that you do.
(Though you wouldn't be you if you lacked yours!)
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9511
I'm no psyche (as ancient Greeks coined it):
I'm a mind-body whole,
Not some hinde-bound old soul
Whose main wish is its hide never joined it.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9511
Might survive though my body's mere flotsam.
But for me--no survival
Past the Reaper's arrival,
No matter how bad I many want some!
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9511
May indeed be divine their action.
But a life after death?--
Well, just don't hold your breath:
It's a drem that can't get satisfaction.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9511
Don't expect that you'll cross Pearly Portals!
Go ahead and say "Darn it!"
But by nature incarnate,
We're essentially bound to be mortals.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9511
Thought so hard that he lost all his hair.
On his head and his chin
Where the hair had once been --
Why, all you see now, is the glare.
--- Neal Wilgus P8311
This is file utl
Took his friends to look at a bottle,
Saying, "Its causes are four,
No less and no more.
Glass, shape, vintner, and drinking full throttle.
--- L S Sprigge
And wisdom was always his plight.
If he so willed,
Then could he build
A ship in a bottle at night?
--- Jim Weaver Collection
Exhibited motion kinetic,
He induced mild nausea
By coming right toward 'ya,
Revolving with theories poetic.
--- Bruce Schneider
He finally chose Aristotle.
"To my son disclose
What ye know, he knows".
And so Aristotle taught till.
--- Irving Superior P8308
Was in that sense, at least not unique.
But his impact was vast,
And without him, our past,
And who know, future too, would be bleak.
--- Anon
Sought the point past which doubt wouldn't go.
For he thought most men lacked
Proper means to tell fact
From what ain't necessarily so.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9306
He insisted on more than surmises.
So that's why he said,
"If to Truth you'd be led,
Don't assume what you see with your eyes, is!"
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9306
All those visions might still fill my head.
(And in fact--Why not add it?--
What's to prove I've not "had it,"
And have long since been dreaming while dead?!")
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9306
Just suppose I'm beguiled by some spirit--
One so potent and ruthless,
I'm condemned to live truthless,
Doomed to seek truth, but never get near it!
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9306
For not all that I think can be sham.
(One who says this is dubious
Would just show what a boob he is!)
After all, if I'm doubting, I am!
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9306
But in fact we should cherish it dearly.
For it helps us find out
What's immune from all doubt:
It's whatever's "distinct" and seen "clearly."
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9306
All this doubting sheds light on my presence:
While all else might be reverie,
Free of thinking I'll never be;
So it's Thought that comprises my essence.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9306
We have mental and brutish dimension.
But the latter's no prius
When we know it to be us
Through a clear and distinct apprehension.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9307
I can't posit the body too quickly.
To make sure it's for real,
I've got first to reveal
How I know that no spirit has tricked me.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9307
Once you see how this rescue's forth coming.
For it's God who's our savior,
And his own good behavior
Is what saves us from doubt that is numbing.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9307
Hyperbolical doubt's met resistance:
If it's He who's my genesis,
Then my fear's found its nemesis,
And I'm freed from its nagging insistence.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9307
Descartes moved not once but thrice.
For he proved in three ways
We're protected all days
By Someone, both potent--and nice!
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9307
Don't deserve all the time they detain us.
Some would say: Idle wishes--
It's a circle that's vicious,
And a logic that's patently heinous!
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9307
How could logic erase sceptical panic?
Thus (to some) what comes first,
If your chains would be burst,
Must be something much more epiphanic.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9307
Of the fear that our bodies are figments,
Yet it's still strictly true:
None of that's part of you.
(After all, how could minds possess ligaments?)
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9307
Can't be merely a hoax or illusion.
For if so, then our brains
Wouldn't send all those pains,
When our limbs suffer cuts and contusion.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9307
Why the Self feels one's Skin itch and tingle?--
Well the answer's at hand
In the Pineal Gland,
Where the mind and the brain intermingle.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9308
Feels mere brain-states convert to sensation.
And, in turn, this position
Is where nerves, through volition,
Move the limbs, as effects of mentation.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9308
They've no need for such cause and effection:
Mere machines--they're as psychical
As a clock or bicycle,
Lacking minds to help give them direction.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9308
Without spirits controlling their feet.
With pre-programmed controls,
They'd be blind to their goals--
Though they smile and say "Hi" when they meet)
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9308
We're of course each potentially free.
When He finds it congenial,
I'll depart from my pineal,
Since that's part of my body--not me.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9308
What to hope for and what next to fear.
And who knows if, post mortem,
I'll just die of sheer boredom,
Lacking organs to see and to hear!
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9308
One's innately provided from birth:
Were all food for thought
Just what sense-data brought,
Human knowledge would be of no worth.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9308
Hence mathematics must guide by prehension.
But ideas of this kind
Only enter one's mind,
With the help of some divine intervention.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9308
I see nothing that's perfectly spherical.
Such conceptions must then
First have entered my ken
By a method not short of a miracle.
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9308
That your life might be empty while dead.
If it's lacking the filling
That would make it all thrilling,
You can contemplate Euclid instead!
--- Lim Hist of Philos P9308
The poor boy was under some stress.
"That's not right." A pause.
"I see now, of course.
I'm putting the Cartes 'fore the Des."
--- Anon
"If I can't have the definite article.
If cogito sum
Pronounces my doom,
To hell with all systems Descartesical.
--- Conrad Aiken
Of philosophies and of discourse.
My counselor said "Son,
You need only one
More class -- take DesCartes for the course.
--- Jon Gearhart
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