Boydstun

OCON 2021 - Austin ~Celebrating 30 Years of OPAR~

In his book to issue this spring, James G. Lennox "argues that Aristotle has a richly normative view of scientific inquiry, and that those norms are of two kinds: a general, question-guided framework applicable to all scientific inquiries, and domain-specific norms reflecting differences in the target of inquiry and in the means of observation available to researchers. To see these norms of inquiry in action, the second half of this book examines Aristotle's investigations of animals, the soul, material compounds, the motions of heavenly bodies, and respiration." That book is Aristotle on

NASA finds cause of early shutdown of megarocket 4-engine stationary test.

Browne on reference, meaning, convention, and the arbitrary.

The four main engines of NASA’s new megarocket will be test-fired together today in a full-duration first-stage burn. This stage of the rocket has these liquid hydrogen engines plus solid-fuel booster rockets. This is the rocket by which the US aims to return men to the moon.

We were married de jure five years ago in this room, our living room. That was exactly 20 years after the date we began our relationship. It had begun as "where have you been" and very soon turned to "in sickness and in health, for all of my days."

14 January 2021 We will crush their violence enacted under their feast of self-delusion and contempt for our Constitutional rule of law. The republic will prevail. The citizens on both sides are armed if it should come to that, but I expect the organized force of the American government will succeed in defense and in bringing the violators to commensurate penalty. Tony: Indeed the American citizens overwhelmingly are not so stupid as to buy into Left-tarring of the bulk of Republicans as fascists and white-supremacist. And they are overwhelmingly not so stupid as to buy into the Righ

SOUL, STRUCTURE, STRUGGLE “The concept Plato is forging with his city-soul analogy is ‘justice’ (proper ruling). The concept Rand is forging with her building-soul analogy is ‘integrity’. One broad thesis of THE FOUNTAINHEAD is that there is a type of egoistic individualism that is good and just; altruistic collectivism is evil and unjust. The argument focuses not so much on what is just as on what is good. Such are independence, reliance on reason (one’s own), honesty, creative achievement, love of one’s work, and courage (HR II 559–60, XVIII 739–40). A concept of justice will make human

I'm looking forward to getting up to New York, once we get vaccinated for the Covid 19, and to being greeted by the new part of Penn Station (images attached). One really nice thing about settling down for the sunset years here in Lynchburg is that Amtrak comes through here. We've used it to visit DC and NYC a number of times in the dozen years we've been here. I've used it to attend conferences of the American Philosophical Association in those cities and in Boston and Atlanta. When we arrive at Penn in NYC, we are able to just wheel our luggage over to the Hampton Inn nearby. Traveling north

This is marvelous, Tony!

I don’t know if ever there will be a time in which I’ll complete the further planned installments on this work. But meanwhile I thought to add notice of this related recent book. The Murder of Professor Schlick: The Rise and Fall of the Vienna Circle David Edmonds (Princeton University Press, 2020)

Yes, sounds sensible, James. I would like to add one point about sexual orientations. When it comes to sexual orientation in the context of romantic love, and all the more in long-term romantic relationships, it is the whole person of the other, not only their sexual allures, that is paramount; and the relationship is above all a relationship of persons. Embodied, sexual, to be sure. But persons. That is shown in relationships, whatever the sexual orientation abiding in them, in the way couples continue to be in love and take care of each other years and decades after the sexual aspect ha

I remember thinking it was an excellent film. Will need to see it again and let you know more. Thanks for the note.

30 December 2020 -->Valliant / Binswanger I'm only four years younger than Harry Binswanger. So add the following response from me as quite a contrasting view from the old-timer set:

Thanks, Hermes! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of the most noted essays of the twentieth century is Quine’s 1951 “Two Dogmas of Empiricism,” which argues the distinction between analytic and synthetic truths, so dear in logical empiricism, is untenable. Necessary truths we have in logic and mathematics cannot receive their necessity of being true merely in virtue of meaning, which is to say, by being analytic truths. Furthermore, for analytic there is no noncircular and enduring rule establishing its extension. A logical truth such as A is identically A, in Quine’s view, need not get its truth