Dagens ord


Ansvar väger tyngre än frihet - Responsibility trumps liberty

8 juni 2010

Chomsky om språk och medvetande... och vetenskapsfilosofi




The Galilean intuition vs. the Jacobean intuition

Nature is perfect and it is the task of the scientist to discover in just what sense this is true. Newton’s confidence that Nature must be very simple reflects the same intuition.

However obscure it may be, that intuition about what Ernst Heckel called Natures drive for the beautiful has been a guiding theme of modern science since the Galilean revolution - perhaps even its defining characteristic.

Biologists, however, have tended to think rather differently about the objects of their inquiry. Very commonly they adopt Francois Jacobe’s image of Nature as a tinkerer [the bricoleur!] which does the best it can with the materials at hand - often a pretty rotten job, as human intelligence seems to be keen on demonstrating about itself.

We just don’t know which of these two conflicting intuitions is more accurate.


Sommar, sommar

Harvey läser Marx

7 juni 2010

Baseball Ethics

En kommentar till Mike Labossieres inlägg om hur människor resonerar om sport på bloggen Talking Philosophy.

Very interesting post and discussion. I see the situation exactly as you do, and I am loathe to think that anyone could see it any other way.

Yet I am accustomed to finding myself surrounded by people who do in fact see similar situations in a very different light - and who act accordingly! Your question as to why people treat situations like these as moral issues is central to me.

It seems, to me, to be related to questions like: “Why is Gazetta dello Sport so important to so many people?” Or “How can people (seemingly in all sincerity) bicker endlessly over which team is ‘the best’, at all?”

Perhaps the most glaring question is this: How can close to a hundred per cent of the attacking team's players and fans say (and clearly sincerely believe) that the ball has crossed the goal line - and that this is obvious! - while close to a hundred per cent of the defending team's players and fans say (and clearly sincerely believe) that the ball has not crossed the goal line - and that this is obvious?

It has always depressed me to find that many people - consciously or unconsciously - misinterpret differences based on psychologically based affections and values as amenable to moral or logical/rational discussion.

I think that there are two main reasons: (i) ignorance and (ii) group processes.

Ignorance in this case means the inability to differentiate between desires and facts, and it has a clear correspondence in developmental psychology. It reflects an infantile or childish mind, rather than a developed, mature intellect. And it is, alas, the mindset of many sports fanatics (among others).

Sociological or socio-psychological processes, on the other hand, may operate at a more conscious level (but often do not). It is so important and integral to many individuals' identity to be an “Inter” fan - as opposed to an “A.C. Milan” fan - that it engenders an active resistance to the separation between emotional and logical discourses - regardless of whether the individual is capable of performing such a separation. So, the “bickering” can constitute a “language game” played to maintain group cohesion; or it can be a psychological mechanism for constructing and protecting personal and group identity.

Original error

”As psychologists have repeatedly discovered, those who are misinformed and later corrected often lapse into versions of their original error.”


Vetenskapsfilosofen Philip Kitcher skriver i Science om klimatdebatten.

New York, New York

New York, New York, big city of dreams
And everything in New York ain't always what it seems
You might get fooled if you come from out of town
But I'm down by law and I know my way around

Too much, too many people, too much
Too much, too many people, too much

A castle in the sky, one mile high
Built to shelter the rich and greedy
Rows of eyes, disguised as windows
Looking down on the poor and the needy
Miles of people, marching up the avenue
Doin' what they gotta do, just to get by
I'm living in the land of plenty and many
But I'm damn sure poor and I don't know why

Too much, too many people, too much
Too much, too many people, too much!

A man's on a ledge, says he's gonna jump
People gather round, said, "He won't he's just a chump"
'Cause he lost his job, then he got robbed
His mortgage is due and his marriage is through
He says he ain't gonna pay no child support
Because the bitch left him without a second thought
He got nothing to eat, no shoes on his feet
She even left his clothes out in the street
He keeps hearing noises when he's at home
He always hears voices when he's all alone
His wife took the kids, the car and the crib
In this man's world, so much for Women's Lib

New York, New York big city of dreams
But everything in New York ain't always what it seems
You might get fooled if you come from out of town
But I'm down by law, and I know my way around

Down in the Village, you might think I'm silly
But you can't tell the women from the men sometimes
They're sugar and spice and everything nice
But when you get 'em home ain't no telling what you find
Right next door is a little old man
I seen him eating dog food out of a can
He says, "I got to eat, when I can't afford meat
I barely can stand, on my own two feet
I got a bad habit and I just can't break it
Something's on my mind and I just can't shake it
I need some time, and I want some space
I gotta get away from the human race"

Too much, too many people, too much
Too much, too many people, too much!

Staring at a skyscraper reaching into heaven
When over in the ghetto I'm livin in hell
Just play ball or be an entertainer
'Cause niggaz like me can't read too well
Nobody loves me, nobody cares
I dreamed about a life but I'm livin in a nightmare
Paranoid schizo, set back, snowbound
Bad news psycho, heart attack, breakdown!

If only I could sleep just ten more minutes
I might find the strength to make another day
If I didn't have to get up and do my thing
I would probably sleep my whole life away
I messed up a nice dream, somethin' bout ice cream
Whipped cream, fruits and a cherry on top
Now I gotta get up and face the world, huh
The pressure is on, It ain't never gonna stop
I sho' gotta learn to use my mind
I don't wanna be kissing nobody's behind
Just standin' on line lookin' like a jerk
Gotta get off my butt and do a full day's work
I ran into a pothole, got into a car crash
Should’a been thinking and tried to fake whiplash
A crowd gathered round, they're callin' me fat
Who you lookin at with a face like that?

New York New York big city of dreams
Everything in New York ain't always what it seems
You might get fooled if you come from out of town
But I'm down by law and I know my way around

On 42nd Street, lookin for some action
Women standing on the corner selling satisfaction
One young punk just leaning on the fence
Tryin' to make a dollar out of fifteen cents
Really is a prankster, tried to be a gangster
Real big wheel when a gun is in his hands
Just did a stick-up, just got picked up
One dead punk, killed by the man

New York, New York big city of dreams
And everything in New York ain't always what it seem
You might get fooled if you come from out of town
But I'm down by law and I know my way around

Too much, too many people, too much
Too much, too many people, too much!

A baby cries and a mother dies
And the tears fall from the doctor's eyes
Because in this room, on this day
The Good Lord has giveth, and taketh away
The gift of life really means a lot
And in the ghetto your life is all you got
So you take to the streets, trying to exist
In the trash and slime of a world like this
What you watch on TV tells you what life is supposed to be
But when you look outside the only thing you see
Is the poverty stricken reality
Abandoned places, angry faces
Much hate and hunger throughout the races
You say, "I'm grown and I'm on my own
So why don't everybody just leave me alone!"
Now you stay at home, talking on the phone
Doin' ninety miles an hour in the fifty mile zone
They never took the time to tell you 'bout sex
So you had to learn about it in the discotheques
Nine months later, the baby is there
And the nigga that did it said, "I don't care!"
You don't have enough money to help feed two
So you have to choose between the baby and you
The sky was crying, rain and hail
When you put your baby in the garbage pail
Then you kissed the kid and put down the lid
And you tried to forget what you just did
The muffled screams of a dying baby
Was enough to drive the young mother crazy
So she ran in the rain trying to ease the pain
And she drove herself insane

New York New York big city of dreams
But everything in New York ain't always what it seem
You might get fooled if you come from out of town
But I'm down by law and I know my way around

Too much, too many people, too much
Too much, too many people, too much!

New York New York big city of dreams
But everything in New York ain't always what it seem
You might get fooled if you come from out of town
But I'm down by law and I know my way around

Too much, too many people, too much
Too much, too many people, too much

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five

4 juni 2010

Studentmössan 07TE 2010

Studentmössan
07TE 2010

Alexandra Andersson
”Kom hem till mig om du vill mysa!”
”Let’s go to the cafeteria!”

Isabella Andersson
”Håkan, jag jobbar hemma istället”

Jesper Bjelke
”Det här är ingen riktig stad!”

Johanna Caspersson
”Slutar vi inte nu?”

Christian Danheimer-Furedal
”Vad Jesper säger…”

Tim Elvingsson-Engfors
”Lev dagen för vad den är – Carpe Diem”

Fredrika Eriksson
”Jag tänkte inte på det…”

Hanna Erzmoneit-Friberg
”Asså jag vaknade precis…”
”Var är mina nycklar?”

Adrian Ingman
”Kan man inte göra detta på ett enklare sätt?”
”Det är så jävligt, alltså!”

Daniel Johansson
”Hallå, du Mackan!”

Jesper Kanewoff
“Vad Christian säger…”
“Mjau”

Daniel Nevbäck
“Nae…”

Eric Nilsson
“Jag tränade fem timmar igår!”

Joakim Nilsson
“Du super dåligt!”

Jonas Nilsson
“Säg till Åsa att jag har ont i huvudet”

Marcus Nilsson
“Skön jävel”

Joakim Persson
“Ska du med till cafeterian?”
”Har du sex kronor?”

Marcus Petersson
“Du screen-peak:ade, din jävla tarm!”

Astrit Rama
”Jag kommer på naturkunskapen!”

Eric Rosenborg
”Det är sant!”

Teddy Sahlin
“Grabbar, vi ses i morrn istället”

Fredrik Sige
”Kom på nåt bra!”

Jessica Sjunnesson
”Tips: Skottland är ett land…”

Erik Svensson
”En fråga, bara…”

Lukas Söderberg


Håkan Bang
”Är ni redan här?”

Björn Bengtsson
”Jag vill ha tyst när jag pratar!”