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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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 Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| Yes, something like this. But the kind of knowledge involved here. Knowledge of suffering, obviously, does not confer pleasure. Knowledge of what color the next turtle on down appears to be? That could definitely bring a kind of pleasure. |
Which ought to, I think, reinforce my point: once we admit that certain types of knowledge are not pleasurable to possess, we either have to pretend that some knowledge "isn't knowledge," or we have to admit that knowledge in itself has merely contingent value. And once we start judging the worth of knowing something based on whether or not it can directly improve our lives in some pleasurable capacity, we're in a territory that's entirely reasonable to label hedonistic.
Now perhaps I'm being unfair. Perhaps the fellows in question think that there is knowledge that is worth having despite the fact that it could not even hypothetically increase the net pleasurable features of one's life. If so, they're more than welcome to provide examples. 
| Kuros wrote: |
| Meanwhile, when Plato talked of loving knowledge for its own sake, I don't think he meant particle physics. |
Oh Plato, will your zany misadventures never end? Seriously though, I don't think most people who might stand up to defend knowledge as intrinsically valuable will be taking Plato's approach. |
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Konglishman
Joined: 14 Sep 2007
Location: Nanjing
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| Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 10:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Actually, it has not really been confirmed to be the Higgs Boson. All we know is that we have a new particle which seems to have some of the expected characteristics of the theorized Higgs Boson. It may well turn out to much more complicated than what the original theory posited. Or it is possible that this new particle is only playing the role of an impostor. |
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GF
Joined: 26 Sep 2012
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| Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 6:56 pm Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| Meanwhile, when Plato talked of loving knowledge for its own sake, I don't think he meant particle physics. |
Come to think of it, the theory in question bears a fascinating resemblance to Plato�s physics, fleshed out in the Timaeus, with the four fundamental interactions taking the place of the four elements, the so-called god particle replacing the simplex triangles from which the elements are constructed, and the all-pervading Higgs field taking the place of the fifth element, ether, that invisible and formless being which receives all things and in some mysterious way partakes of the intelligible, and is most incomprehensible.
But I would not press the comparison too far. I have only a layman�s grasp of quantum physics, and revere Plato too much to believe he was writing of such vulgar things.  |
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GF
Joined: 26 Sep 2012
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| Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2012 7:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Fox wrote: |
| Now perhaps I'm being unfair. Perhaps the fellows in question think that there is knowledge that is worth having despite the fact that it could not even hypothetically increase the net pleasurable features of one's life. |
Also - in the interest of being fair - it has to be admitted that most of the people excited by such news are no more interested in knowledge than are the fellows in question, just more interested in being up on the latest fashionable curiousities and speculations, presumeably because they derive some pleasure from displaying their 'knowledge' at the next SWPL gathering. |
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