The Threepenny Review's "Two perspectives on Thomas Nagel's, 'Mind and Cosmos'". They have two reviewers of Mr. Nagel's new book of philosophy. It, the philosophy, relates to teleology. There can be two answers to the question: why is it raining? One answer is 'because water vapor condensed in the atmosphere', which is called Aristotle's efficient cause. Second answer is ' because grass needs water to survive, which is Aristotle's final cause and also the teleological answer. In teleological thinking the goal is the cause. If I knew what it was all about I would go into greater depth. What struck me were these: "Nagel believes that certain deeds would be wrong whether humans thought so or not, and this structure of morality must have existed independently before conscious minds started musing over it" Nagel is an atheist. Also, from Louis Jones, one of the reviewers, "sweet reason comes naturally and so does justice."
In the review they mention the Klien Bottle. When I was in the Army, during advanced infantry training for radio teletype I met a lot of interesting guys. One of them was an aspiring mathematetian. He told me about the Klien bottle. "Imagine a coke bottle; take the neck and turn it around and pass it through the body of the bottle; have that come out through a hole in the bottom." That is the Klien Bottle. What is remarkable about it is that there is no inside or outside. It is a boundary free object. He descibed it as the fourth dimension. From Louis B. Jones: " Like a Klien bottle, the floating, self decreeing universe's head is thrust up it's posterior, an image to mimic the satiric caricature of all of us deep thinkers, us philosophes, who make so much of mind."
The Salmagundi Club is having it's annual auction and my neighbor Carole Teller has two paintings. One of which has won an award.
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| After the Snow |
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| The prize winner: 'The View' |
I also liked.
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| 'Sweet Treats |
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| 'Beauty of Morning' |
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| 'Magnolias' |
