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Descartes (1596-1650) is most famous for saying, “I think, therefore I am.” But he also had four “rules” for the right conduct of human understanding and progress, and these rules constituted his method. Guess what his fourth rule was? Take notes! Find out why. And then recommend this podcast to one friend who suffers from insomnia, or who lays claim to boredom.
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We are spiritual beings, but what is a spirit? Nothing ethereal, but rather, embodied - at least for now, and in the form of a human being. Beliefs, opinions, perceptions: these are all modes of conscious experience, but what about moods? They are, too. Allen Ginsberg recommends that you, “notice what you’re thinking.” MoFo did this while looking at a drainage spout at age 10, and again while out for a run back in 1998. What’s it like to regard yourself as “a spiritual being having a human experience”? For a dose of existential angst, check out Shirley Jackson’s, “The Lottery.”
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‘Logos’ can mean: story, explanation, narrative, account, argument, reason, word (or, Word) . . . and the list goes on. Heraclitus said we breathe the Logos in and out, but fail to recognize its significance. The concept of Logos is deeply entrenched in at least Western thought, and from it we get logic, logo, biology, psychology, geology, sociology . . . and that list continues as well. MoFo thinks we have an uneasy relationship with the distinct roles played by the mind and the language we use to express it: we are logocentric. What’s happened in recent decades around the word ‘marriage’ illustrates that this blind spot in our thinking is not neatly divided along political lines - which is good - but due instead to the vestiges of magical thinking - which ain’t so good.
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“Is that just your opinion, or is it a fact?” Such confusion! Let’s try to clear this mess up once and for all, even if it takes twenty nuanced episodes. Join MoFo for the second in a series of reflections that have as their end the social goods of cooperation, coordination, human understanding and eventual flourishing!
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Facts, facts, facts . . . Is there any end to them? What is a fact? Are there alternative facts? What does that even mean? Why do people like facts, and what role do they play in civil society? Does it matter? Is all this as complicated as we make it sound sometimes, or is there a shortcut that can enable us to see facts as wonderful, and representative of a concept that is easily understood?
Hear “Seeing Double” sung and produced by Larry May, as sampled in this episode. See Justin McBrayer’s article, as alluded to in this episode. Read MoFo’s article, “Seattle is North of Portland” in Fike’s blog! Finally, check out the current world population (human-wise).
Sorry for the popping noises, Boo - I’m still learning.
Fike introduces his new podcast: Is this even a good idea? What’s its purpose? What is “MoFo”? Should we live in our vehicles and stop paying rent? Everybody loves to talk about the importance of critical thinking, but what is it?
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