[471] in Depressing_Thoughts
Re: Beyond Depression
eichin@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (eichin@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Sun Oct 23 02:08:36 1988
>*Every* large body of beliefs has internal inconsistencies.
Only those attempting to encompass everything (Godel's thesis, I think ---
the only way a system can prove it's own validity is to include a self-
contradiction in it's axioms, thus no consistent system can be universal.)
Also note - you said ``beliefs'' --- any system requiring large amounts of
belief, or for that matter, *ANY* `belief' in basic axioms, is unlikely
to do celine any good. The axioms need to be self-evident, likewise the
derivation rules must be solid, in order for the system to be convincing;
this is always a danger to those delving deep into philosophy.
Robert Jones teaches a course here at MIT, called `The Moderns' --- I took
it this summer. It covers a broad spectrum of literature, from Kafka and
Sartre to Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance)... and some
of the philosophies involved. One of the major themes is the total downfall
of religion in modern society.
An interesting point about the Pirsig --- he made some significant progress
in the course of the book, involving self-justification and other things;
the character in the book ends up reverting to a personality that had been
obliterated by electroshock therapy, and Pirsig was institutionalized for
a nervous breakdown immediately after publishing the book. If you haven't
read it, try to get a new edition (the COOP has it) which includes an appendix
about his life since then. Very convincingly, it basically says that he
aimed for a philosophical self-justification, missed, and fell back to just
the struggle of dealing with life at all, which was difficult enough WITHOUT
philosophy getting in the way. An interesting exercise -- try to take his
`Quality' concept and carry it through, as he fails to do...
_Mark_
I think, therefore I flame... :-)
