To honor William James on his birthday, here is another one of my favorites. For "true philosophers"😉 is no final valley (equilibrium) in the forest, only perpetual new joys and new sorrows (ridges): "And yet if he be a true philosopher he must see that there is nothing final
https://twitter.com/Jeffrey_Howard_/status/1480874459976409095
in any actually given equilibrium of human ideals, but that, as our present laws and customs have fought and conquered other past ones, so they will in their turn be overthrown by any newly discovered order which will hush up the complaints that they still give rise to, without
producing others louder still."
Unfortunately, this inspiring vision is slightly marred by James' backsliding into the trope of asymptotic meliorism: "The pure philosopher can only follow the windings of the spectacle, confident that the line of least resistance will always be
Unfortunately, this inspiring vision is slightly marred by James' backsliding into the trope of asymptotic meliorism: "The pure philosopher can only follow the windings of the spectacle, confident that the line of least resistance will always be
towards the richer and the more inclusive arrangement, and that by one tack after another some approach to the kingdom of heaven is incessantly made."
If James had been a more "true" or "pure" Darwinian, he would have fully embraced that evolution is not directed-it does not
If James had been a more "true" or "pure" Darwinian, he would have fully embraced that evolution is not directed-it does not
"tack" in an overall direction. It is a wonderful random walk, which over aeons will travel everywhere, not just somewhere.
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