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Index for this page...
All The Following Items Were Posted On January 1, 2008 Certainty and Probability: The words "certainty" and "probability" do not apply to propositions that are either true or false. These propositions entertained by us with suspended judgment should never be qualified as either certain or probable. In the Anglo-American common law there are degrees of certainty and doubt/ Certainty attaches to judgments beyond the shadow of doubt; not certain are judgments made with a reasonable doubt' and less certain still are judgments made by a preponderance of the evidence. The last two are judgments to which some degree of probability must be attached, the former more probably, the latter less probable. The propositions in each of these two cases, when entertained with suspended judgment, are either true or false. Certainty and probability qualify our judgments about the matters under consideration, not the propositions entertained with suspended judgment. This statement brings us to consider what happens by chance and what is causally determined. Here we must distinguish between the mathematical theory of probability and the philosophical theory of what happens by chance. In the mathematical theory of probability, which begins with an essay by Blaise Pascal, one can calculate the chances of anything happening by the number of possibilities present; for example, in the toss of a coin, the chance of its being heads or tails on any toss is fifty-fifty, because in the long run, with many tosses, that is how one should wager on the next toss, if we know that the coin being tossed is not affected by any extraneous factors. In the philosophical theory of probability, what happens by chance is what happens without a cause. Consider the coincidence of two individuals who happen to meet on a particular street at a particular time. Why do we call this a coincidental meetings, and regard it as an uncaused event? The answer is that each of the two individuals is caused to be at that spot where the chance meeting occurs by all the causal factors operating in his own past, but nothing in their separate pasts causes them to meet each other there. The coincidence is, therefore, an uncaused or a chance event. While we are dealing with caused and chance events, let us spend a moment on the Aristotelian theory of the four causes -- the material and the formal cause, the efficient and the final cause. In all works of human art, the four causes operate -- the material cause is the nature of the materials on which the artist operates, the formal cause is the productive idea in the artist's mind, the final cause is the end or purpose that motivates the artist to produce the work of art, and the efficient cause is the action of the artist's hands and tools. But when we depart from the sphere of artistic production, final causes do not operate. What happens naturally happens without any purpose or end to be served. The critics of Aristotle in modern times who denied teleology or purpose in the physical world were correct in dismissing final causes, but they were incorrect in dismissing the operation of material, formal, and efficient causes in the works of nature, corresponding to those in works of art. In human activity, free choice as well as physical causes operate. Freedom of choice is present when, in deciding on any activity, the individual could have chosen otherwise. His action is, therefore, causally determined by the exercise of his willpower rather than by the kind of causes that operate in nature. Human freedom of choice does not make the chosen decision an uncaused decision, but the operative efficient cause is not like the efficient causes that operate in natural phenomena, which are determinative but unwilled. It is, therefore, incorrect to think that there is an irresoluble conflict between free will and causal determinism. The freely chosen decision is causally determined, but not in the same way that events in the physical world are causally determined. Source: Adler's Philosophical Dictionary: 125 Key Terms for the Philosopher's Lexicon. Have you a copy of this book in your personal library? If not, consider getting one. Read Max Weismann's review of this book by Clicking Here.
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 - 1914) American Philosopher "Peirce is remembered (1) for launching Pragmatism as a philosophic movement; (2) for his theory of meaning; (3) for his unwavering empiricism -- that is, for insisting that all statements, if not solidly grounded in experience, are worthless, a mere dream, or, as he put it, pure moonshine; (4) for his work in semantics; (5) for his contributions to logic and linear algebra; (6) for designing the first ever electric switching-circuit computer." -- Professor James L. Christian. Read about Charles Sanders Peirce in The Radical Academy.
Source: Volume 1I of The Wisdom Seekers: Great Philosophers of the Western World, by James L. Christian. If you want an excellent and comprehensive history of philosophy, the two volumes in this set are among the best available. And I'm not just saying that because Professor Christian is a personal friend. I used his introductory textbook in philosophy -- Philosophy: An Introduction to the Art of Wondering -- when I was teaching an introduction to philosophy course many years ago. J.D.
FOR THE RECORD 1. CRIME & PUNISHMENT: Toad Away - New Highs In The War On Drugs Just mark it down as yet another glorious victory in the War on Drugs. A Kansas City, Missouri man has been arrested and charged with... possessing a toad. More specifically, possession with the intent to get high off the toad's venom. After raiding a home on suspicions that drugs were being manufactured there, police arrested David S. Theiss and his toad. To be precise, his Sonoran Desert toad. When this breed of toad gets angry or scared, it secrets a venom containing bufotenin. Bufotenin, when ingested, is a hallucinogen. Thus the federal government, ever vigilant of what we do with our bodies and minds, has outlawed it. County prosecutor Daniel White was careful to point out that mere possession of a toad -- even a Sonoran Desert toad -- is not, per se, illegal. (After all, this IS a free country!) But possession with the intent to use its venom to get high is illegal. And, since Theiss was charged with several drug offenses -- among them possessing mescaline, a controlled substance extracted from a cactus -- he surely must have owned the toad for sinister reasons. In such cases, prosecutor White says, the toad is considered "drug paraphernalia" and owners must face the consequences. Naturally, the Internet is part of the menace. Prosecutor White warns that some Web sites feature instructional videos on how to extract the venom and smoke it. Theiss was released on bond. However, the toad was kept in custody at a police crime lab. (Somehow, that doesn't seem fair.) United Press International reports that Theiss "is believed to be the first (person) in the Kansas City area to be charged with toad-licking." But if vigilant Kansas City Drug Warriors have their way, he will certainly not be the last. Source: Associated Press /Kansas City Star - http://www.kcstar.com. 2. SCIENCE & MEDIA: Al Gore's Fatuous Awards Yes, Al Gore's got an Oscar, a Grammy and a Nobel Peace Prize. But will the former veep be allowed to continue to wallow in his triple award-winning status? Maybe not. The New Zealand Centre for Political Research, a regional think tank, wants Gore to give back the Oscar he was given for his movie, "An Inconvenient Truth." The call for the return of the award is based on an adjudication by a British judge, who ruled that the film inconveniently contained nine untruths. Because the British government was going to use Gore's movie to provide instruction to children about global warming, Stewart Dimmock, a school official, filed a lawsuit characterizing the Oscar winner's work as "brainwashing." The U.K. High Court determined that "Truth" was "alarmist and exaggerated" and must have a disclaimer to point out flaws, which included the following:
The New Zealand think tank summed it up this way: "Given that the Oscar award was presented in the documentary category and not the drama category, the only appropriate action now is for the Academy to rescind the award as it was clearly inappropriately classed as a documentary." Wonder if the members of the Nobel Committee are listening. Source: The Left Coast Report, written by James Hirsen (media analyst, Trinity Law School professor and teacher of mass media law at Biola University). New FOIA Reform Bill Passes House & Senate: The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a rare example of a government program that actually serves the public. Journalists, citizens, and all sorts of public interest organizations use FOIA to bring to light government documents and information that would otherwise remain hidden from public view. Now, public interest groups are applauding the passage of a bill that aims to fix some of FOIA's problems. Similar legislation stalled earlier this year after passing the House and Senate, but the more recent bill is now poised to make the first changes to FOIA in more than a decade. While the legislation isn't perfect, it will take some steps towards streamlining the process and creating more accountability, including the creation of a public tracking system, additional incentives to ensure timely release of information, and access to government records held by private contractors. Source: The Electronic Frontier Foundation. "I practice charity regularly. I believe in sharing. But when government takes our money by force and gives it to others, that's not sharing." -- John Stossel, libertarian journalist & ABC-TV's 20-20 co-anchor. Source: http://www.nysun.com/article/67601. Please Note: Items in the "For The Record" section do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of The Radical Academy. Nor is the Academy responsible for any misrepresentation of the facts included. It is your job to be a critical reader. We simply provide this information as a service to our visitors because we think it is interesting and/or relevant. Some of the information in "For The Record" may have been provided to us by one or more of the following resources: Advocates for Self-Government; NewsMax.com; The Patriot Post; Media Research Center; National Center for Public Policy Research; Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
COUNSELING CORNER: A Very Special Two-Letter Word In English... There is a two-letter word that perhaps has more meanings than any other two-letter word, and that is "UP." It's easy to understand UP, meaning toward the sky or at the top of the list, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the officers UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends. And we use it to brighten UP a room, polish UP the silver, we warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and some guys fix UP the old car. At other times the little word has real special meaning. People stir UP trouble, line UP for tickets, work UP an appetite, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing, but to be dressed UP is special. And this UP is confusing: A drain must be opened UP because it is stopped UP. We open UP a store in the morning but we close it UP at night. We seem to be pretty mixed UP about UP! To be knowledgeable about the proper uses of UP, look the word UP in the dictionary. In a desk-sized dictionary, it takes UP almost 1/4th of the page and can add UP to about thirty definitions. If you are UP to it, you might try building UP a list of the many ways UP is used. It will take UP a lot of your time, but if you don't give UP, you may wind UP with a hundred or more. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP. When it rains, it wets the earth and often messes things UP. When it doesn't rain for awhile, things dry UP. One could go on and on, but I'll wrap it UP, for now, my time is UP, so........... it is time to shut UP.....!
A LITTLE OF THIS & A LITTLE OF THAT A Little Wisdom: "A high heart ought to bear calamities and not flee them, since in bearing them appears the grandeur of the mind and in fleeing them the cowardice of the heart." -- Pietro Aretino (1492-1556), Italian poet. A Little Advice: "Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self." -- Cyril Connolly (1903-1974), English writer and journalist. A Little Question: When it rains, how come cows don't knock on the farmer's door and say, "Hey, let us in, we're all wearing leather out here!"? A Little Lament: "I was married by a judge...I should have asked for a jury." -- George Burns, American actor and humorist. A Little Put-Down: MAN - "I would go to the end of the world for you." ; WOMAN - "Yes, but would you stay there?" A Little Proverb: All good things in moderation ..... including moderation. A Little Reflection: I never married because there was no need. I have three pets at home which answer the same purpose as a husband. I have a dog which growls every morning, a parrot which swears all afternoon and a cat that comes home late at night. A Little Definition: YAWN - An honest opinion openly expressed. A Little Quote: "Last week, I stated this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister, and now wish to withdraw that statement." -- Mark Twain (1835-1910), American novelist, short-story writer, and humorist. A Little Observation: I think God invented rain to give dead people something to complain about.
Some interesting & provocative articles on other websites: The Renaissance of Latin - Why a dead language is becoming popular, by Emily Wilson: Last year, a surprise best seller hit the British book market: a romp through Latin grammar, by a London journalist called Harry Mount. In Britain, the book was called Amo, Amas, Amat ... and All That, after the first verb (to love) encountered in elementary Latin class. But in the American edition, the title has become Carpe Diem. Hiding Black Interracial Crimes, by Walter Williams: If you're like I am, you've heard scores of media reports about the 2006 Duke University rape case, in which three white lacrosse players were falsely accused of raping a black stripper at a wild party at the home of one of the team members. These guys, convicted by the news media and Duke faculty, were later found innocent. It turned out that Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong was running for re-election. In seeking the black vote, he concealed DNA evidence that would have exonerated the lacrosse players. We Are All Prisoners Now, by Paul Craig Roberts: At Christmas time it has been my habit to write a column in remembrance of the many innocent people in prisons whose lives have been stolen by the US criminal justice (sic) system that is as inhumane as it is indifferent to justice. Usually I retell the cases of William Strong and Christophe Gaynor, two men framed in the state of Virginia by prosecutors and judges as wicked and corrupt as any who served Hitler or Stalin. A Plague On Both Their Houses, by Mary Midgley: Intelligent Design Theory, which claims to provide a scientific rationale for Creationism, is now highly popular in the United States and is gaining ground in Britain. Considered as science it is apparently vacuous, yet its influence is growing rapidly. We surely need to try and understand this phenomenon. Big Brother - DARPA's Control Freak Technology, by Kurt Nimmo: According to Wired, the Pentagon is "about to embark on a stunningly ambitious research project designed to gather every conceivable bit of information about a person's life, index all the information and make it searchable?. What national security experts and civil libertarians want to know is, why would the Defense Department want to do such a thing?" Plato for primaries, by Jonathan Wolff: Everywhere you look, people are talking about teaching philosophy to children. You missed it? Why, in the past six months it has made the inside pages of at least two educational supplements, and appeared on a BBC webpage. By the standards of philosophy, this is huge. The New New Philosophy: . . . But perhaps the most striking thing is this: The study was conducted by a philosopher, as a philosopher, in order to produce a piece of . . . philosophy. It's part of a recent movement known as "experimental philosophy," which has rudely challenged the way professional philosophers like to think of themselves. Not only are philosophers unaccustomed to gathering data; many have also come to define themselves by their disinclination to do so. The professional bailiwick we've staked out is the empyrean of pure thought. In Defense of Ron Paul, Part One - A Reply to Noam Chomsky, by Keith Preston: Google the words "Ron Paul" in any combination with buzzwords like racist, sexist, fascist, nazi, homophobe, xenophobe, nationalist, isolationist, anti-Semite and other such bromides and one will be directed to a wide assortment of left-leaning websites, blogs and discussion forums where these canards are loosely and thoughtlessly tossed at Dr. Paul. Scientism and Existentialism, by David Roemer: The scientistic fallacy, as scientism is sometimes called, occurs in different ways in different fields of study. The most maleficent form of scientism is the denial of existential truths. In The New York Times on February 19, 2006, Leon Weiseltier called scientism "one of the dominant superstitions of our day" in a review of a book about religion. One devotee of scientism is Lewis Wolpert, author of a book published in 2007 also about religion. I think, therefore I earn, by Jessica Shepherd: Philosophy graduates are suddenly all the rage with employers. What can they possibly have to offer? "A degree in philosophy? What are you going to do with that then?" Philosophy students will tell you they've been asked this question more times than they care to remember.
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