Comments by ape-woman

Comment #189999 by ape-woman on June 8, 2008 at 5:48 am

the desire to extend the overall life of the human species, and quality of that life, for example, by cutting down on our release of CO2 into the atmosphere, is arguably pretty explainable through Darwinian theory. We want to extend the life of our genes. That is in-built into our lower brains. We also have a higher cognitive brain which is plainly telling us that in order to do that, we need to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. So here we have an example, just one of many, where our lower and higher evolved brain functions are acting in concert. Of course, there is the problem that our lower-brain function also has evolved to tell us to make life as comfortable for us, NOW, as is possible... so crank up that heater, guys cos its getting cold in Sydney! :D

... Don't hit me. I was being ironic.

2. Postmodernism Disrobed

Comment #189997 by ape-woman on June 8, 2008 at 5:26 am

I have been studying postmodernism for some weeks now and find that it is entirely maddening my brain. And I think I have a pretty good understanding of the overall concept! True, I can't stand reading Guattari and Deleuze and picking my way through the mass of invented words they come up with when existing terms would have been quite adequate... but even thinking about the actual philosophy, I have realised that we actually need some kind of absolutes in order to make sense of the world. In fact, I think that if we really believed that nothing could be certain and that logic based on proofs was only as valid as Lyotardian 'narrative' statements (based on... what? nothing? Hidden personal agendas?) then for most of us, our world view would entirely collapse. I mean, if we can't trust the evidence of our senses, we must be insane. And I truly believe that if any of us, perhaps especially the more intellectual of us, were forced to contemplate this kind of philosophy for many hours without a break, eventually we actually would qualify as legally insane. Tolerance is one thing, a complete lack of faith in EVERYTHING is another. Our educational institutions have to be careful they are not faced with lawsuits. Imagine the headlines: Postmodernism made him kill himself...