axiological ethics

Stubborn truth

When Jean Piaget conducted his famous experiments on object permanence-in which once an object was covered up, the baby seemed to forget about it-Piaget concluded that the baby had been unable to store the memory of the object: out of sight, out of mind. The paradigm of the perpetual present has now itself been forgotten. Even infants are aware of the past, as many remarkable experiments have shown. Babies can’t speak but they can imitate, and if shown a series of actions with props, even 6-month-old infants will repeat a three-step sequence a day later. Nine-month-old infants will repeat it a month later.

Overwhelmingly

They talked always of pothouses, of feeding-time – by which they meant any hour between one and four of the afternoon; they talked of most things, even of some of the greatest, in a manner that gave, or that they desired to show as giving, in respect to the conditions of their life, the measure of their detachment, their contempt, their general irony. Their general irony, which they tried at the same time to keep gay and to make amusing at least to each other, was their refuge from the want of savour, the want of napkins, the want, too often, of shillings, and of many things besides that they would have liked to have. Almost all they had with any security was their youth, complete, admirable, very nearly invulnerable, or as yet inattackable; for they didn’t count their talent, which they had originally taken for granted and had since then lacked freedom of mind, as well indeed as any offensive reason, to reappraise.

Elegíe

ZEITGEIST (La Chanson du Dimanche S05E10) de lachansondudimanche

Vrére

Vouloir signifie se maintenir à tout prix dans un état d’exaspération et de fièvre. L’effort est épuisant et il n’est pas dit que l’homme puisse le soutenir toujours. (La chute dans le temps)

Innate

Speech speed is measured by syllables per second, and density of information is measured by how much information is encoded per syllable. What does that mean? Let’s take an example from English. The one-syllable word “calm” is information dense because it expresses a complex state with only one-syllable. However, “easy-going” uses four syllables to express an idea easily conveyed with fewer syllables. By averaging the information density across a language, the linguists determined the density of information per language.

Read more at http://hotword.dictionary.com/fastlanguage/#WmgrOKFhVjmBXDeV.99

Craft

For listeners (and readers), stories instruct. From Aesop's fables to essays in women's magazines, they encourage us to think about what happens to people (or anthropomorphized animals) who, say, behave more like hares than tortoises or have a threesome with their best friend and her husband. Stories socialize. By demonstrating the intricacies of human relationships, novels and memoirs encourage us to rehearse what we would do and say in a variety of situations: platonic, familial, and maybe especially romantic. Stories, particularly fictional ones—moralize. They help us figure out our values and whet our need for justice.

Human Action

'...determinism seems to pose to human free agency. It is hard to see how, if the state of the world 1000 years ago fixes everything I do during my life, I can meaningfully say that I am a free agent, the author of my own actions, which I could have freely chosen to perform differently. After all, I have neither the power to change the laws of nature, nor to change the past! So in what sense can I attribute freedom of choice to myself? Philosophers have not lacked ingenuity in devising answers to this question. There is a long tradition of compatibilists arguing that freedom is fully compatible with physical determinism. Hume went so far as to argue that determinism is a necessary condition for freedom—or at least, he argued that some causality principle along the lines of “same cause, same effect” is required. There have been equally numerous and vigorous responses by those who are not convinced. Can a clear understanding of what determinism is, and how it tends to succeed or fail in real physical theories, shed any light on the controversy?'

Out of step

Fiction has to make sense.

Prevestíre

How can she possibly keep her eye

on all the five continents?

Could it be

that in her pupils

that Pythia now resides

who has the power

to predict

the whole of history

without a full-stop or comma?

Laberynthe

'But the universe to the eye of the human understanding is framed like a labyrinth, presenting as it does on every side so many ambiguities of way, such deceitful resemblances of objects and signs, natures so irregular in their lines and so knotted and entangled…'

"For hit is shapen as the mase is wroghte –
Thereto have I a remedie in my thought,
That, by a clewe of twine, as he hath goon,
The same way he may returne anoon,
Folwing always the thread, as he hath come."

Par ainsi

La mélancolie n’est pas un état de gravité rigoureuse, issue d’une affection organique, car elle n’a rien de la terrible sensation d’irréparable qui couvre l’existence toute entière et qu’on retrouve dans certains cas de tristesse profonde. La mélancolie, même la plus noire, est plutôt une humeur temporaire qu’un état constitutif ; celle-ci n’exclut jamais totalement la rêverie, et ne permet donc pas d’assimiler la mélancolie à une maladie. Au bout de toute mélancolie, se lève la possibilité d’une consolation ou d’une résignation. (Sur les cimes du désespoir)

Mozart Effect

'It is essential we do a more rigorous examination of the cause and effect of our observations, and understand that science is a long-term endeavour with many variables. Just because something is thought to be true one day does not permit it eternal validity. While Neuroscience has a bright and important future, we need to embrace our potential to make mistakes. Just as people used to believe the sun revolved around the earth, our own beliefs could be laughable to future generations. In the long run, skepticism is paramount for progress to flourish.'