Friday, March 14, 2008

The Seven Habits of Highly Testy Philosophers

1. Forget everything except philosophical arguments.
2. Memorize logical fallacies and deploy them obnoxiously.
3. Use obscure Latin phrases for arguments whenever possible.
4. Quote philosophers at the most inappropriate times: "Take out the garbage? As Schopenhauer said..."
5. Give actual arguments in letters to the editor.
6. Assign philosophy texts to your students--and your friends and your family members.
7. Think Win/Win: You win all your arguments; and others get to feel the power of your winning.

2 comments:

Tom Gilson said...

Quoting philosophers out of context makes #4 easy for all:

"Did you take out the garbage yet?"

"Well, to provide my answer I'll reference Immanuel Kant, speaking in another context: 'No.'"

Greg Schnee said...

Dr. G,

I'm in denver right now staying at the hosue of one of your former students, Eric Weaver. My wife and I are up here for a wedding. I'm a hopeful apologete and possibly a future philosopher. My formal training is from Van Til, Frame and Bahnsen...among many others, but that gives you a taste for the school. Anyway, thanks for your blog, your erudition, and your heart. Greg