Extravagance

[tinyjo]

Hmmm. Maybe I shouldn't meet up with mentalsuz in Borders! I went past the philosophy section on the way to the loo and was seduced by a book called the Theory of Vagueness - well, with such a great title, I had to buy it! Unfortunately, cos it's an academic text, it costs a fortune. Ah well. It' really interesting though. It's about what we mean when we use vague words in language. For example, suppose I have a heap of sand. If I take one grain away, I've still got a heap right. But if I continue to do this ad-infinitum I will end up saying that one grain is a heap. So when does it stop becoming a heap? What, in fact, does heap actually mean. Soon, I'll be able to tell you :)

So there you are. And I saw a book written by my philosophy tutor at uni! I nearly went for that as well, but it was on a topic I've got a couple of books on already and so I didn't think I could justify another textbook price :( I wish I could afford to take a year or 3 out and do a philosophy degree.

Comments

[zoo-music-girl.livejournal.com]

Random dropping into philosophy books is way more interesting than an actual philosophy degree. Trust me.

Descartes and Anselm pissed me off no end, but I quite like Sartre.

[tinyjo.livejournal.com]

I find the guidance useful though. I did a philosophy paper as part of my maths degree (Descartes, Locke, Berkley and Hume) which I loved because it pushed me towards some really interesting stuff.

I liked Berkley best of the above. I liked Descartes writing style but didn't find his philosophy very persuasive :)