Category: Videos | Thinking in Motion

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How to Destroy Metaphysics?

Both philosophers Martin Heidegger and Rudolph Carnap wanted to see metaphysics destroyed, but they had very different ways of going about this. In 1929, Heidegger gave a speech entitled “What is Metaphysics?” Three years later, Carnap wrote an essay called “The Elimination of Metaphysics Through the Logical Analysis of Language” attacking Heidegger’s speech as meaningless mumbo-jumbo. Heidegger never responded, but we can imagine what might of happened if they swung philosophical swords against each other.

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Peoria County Board Guts Auditor’s Office

Peoria County voters overwhelmingly re-elected Peoria County Auditor Jessica Thomas last November. But the Peoria County Board last week took the unprecedented step to pull funding for Auditor Thomas’ entire staff.

“Since their referendum to eliminate the office failed and they cannot remove an elected official from office, they’ve chosen instead to defund my office so it cannot reasonably function. On behalf of my office, I would like to assure Peoria County residents that I will continue to work to do the job they elected me to do, even if it requires that I file a lawsuit against the County to force it to follow the law.” – Peoria County Auditor Jessica Thomas

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Deductive vs. Inductive Logic

Logic is a field which studies truth and the basic rules which govern thought. This is done by positing an argument made up of a number of reasons or premises that supports a conclusion. What is the difference between deductive & inductive reasoning? What are some of their flaws?

Deductive Examples:

P1: All humans are puny mortals.
P2: Philip Jose Farmer is a human.
C: Therefore, Philip Jose Farmer is a puny mortal.

Inductive Examples:

P1. The last time I bought from this dealer, I believe they gave me below quality product.
P2. This dealer has a high level of shadyness, over level 9000!
P3. My friend claims this dealer robbed him.
C: Therefore, I will not purchase illegal substance from my neighborhood drug dealer.

P1-P100: This swan is white. (1, 2, 3, 4… 100)
C: Therefore, All swans are white.

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Is Sense Superfluous?

Last time, we looked at the sense & reference of unreal objects like the Present Emperor of China. Of course, there is no Present Emperor of China, so any statement using the denoting phrase the Present Emperor of China is necessarily false. But, this leads to the possibility that sense & reference might be the same thing, since definite descriptions of unreal objects seem to have no sense and can’t be used truthfully in a sentence. This led Philosopher Bertrand Russell to declare that sense is superfluous and only referents are meaningful.

So, is sense superfluous as Russell says? Or, can sense be rescued beyond the shackles of the nominatum? In this video, we look at a critique of Russell’s reductionism provided by P.F. Strawson.

Bertrand Russell voiced by Alexander Moneypenny.

Music sampled from Zoë Blade.

Works Cited:
Russell, Bertrand. “On Denoting (1905).” The Philosophy of Language, edited by Aloysius Martinich, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 203–211.
Strawson, P.F. “On Referring (1950).” The Philosophy of Language, edited by Aloysius Martinich, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 219–234.

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The Present Emperor of CHINA is hairy!

How is it possible to refer to something that doesn’t exist? What kind of sense could a definite description like “the present emperor of CHINA” have since is is clear there is no denotation for “the present emperor of CHINA?” Are statements about non-existent entities true or false? How does our sense of the way language relates to reality change when we speak of the unreal?

Bertrand Russell voiced by Alexander Moneypenny.

Works Cited:


Frege, Gottlob. “On Sense and Nominatum (1892).” The Philosophy of Language, edited by Aloysius Martinich, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 190–202.

Russell, Bertrand. “On Denoting (1905).” The Philosophy of Language, edited by Aloysius Martinich, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 203–211.

Russell, Bertrand. “Descriptions (1919).” The Philosophy of Language, edited by Aloysius Martinich, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 212–218.

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All the World Needs a Jolt!

Everything you’ve ever been taught about witches is wrong.

Period!

Philosopher Sylvia Federici writes a new history of witches in Caliban and the Witch: Woman, the Body, & Primitive Accumulation.

This video looks at Chapter 1, All the World Needs a Jolt: Social Movements & Political Crisis in Medieval Europe.

This chapter covers the following: Serfdom as a class relation, the struggles on the Commons, Liberty and Social divisions, the Millenarian and the Heretics Movement, the Politicization of Sexuality, Women and Heresy, Urban Struggles, the Black Death, and the Labor Crisis.

Citations:

Federici, Silvia. Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation. Buy here: https://amzn.to/3Fh4bR0

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

TRANSCRIPT
CALIBAN & THE WITCH
HISTORY

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victims of civilized math – short

While civilized math has led to the high standard of living us in the most ‘advanced’ of countries, the countries which consider themselves first & foremost in world affairs, we should be mindful of the many ways civilized mathematics was used for horrible ways, especially along racial and ethnic lines, and against the working class as a whole.

Images include:

Trail of Tears in the U.S.
The Mid-Atlantic Slave Trade
Slave auctions in the U.S.
Ledgers of transactions of enslaved people.
The Holocaust.
Jim Crow in the U.S.
Redlining in the U.S.
Mass incarceration in the U.S.

Cree Sunrise Song

Check out my video on
Philosophy of Math “Is Math Racist?”

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