QUOTES
"Meaning is use."
Wittgenstein. Philosophical Investigations.
"Nullius in verba - Accept nothing on authority".
"Philology is the art of reading slowly"
Roman Jakobson
"Scholarship is an ongoing dialectical process."
Michael Witzel
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts."
Richard Feynman. "What is Science?"
The Physics Teacher. Vol. 7, issue 6 (1969)
Sapere aude! – Dare to know!
(motto for the Enlightenment)
Immanuel Kant."Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?" (Answering the Question: What Is Enlightenment?) 1784.
"Science—knowledge—only adds to the excitement, the mystery, and the awe of a flower. It only adds. I don't understand how it subtracts."
Richard Feynman, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out.
"If happiness consisted in the pleasures of the body, we should call oxen happy whenever they come across bitter vetch to eat."
Heraclitus. Fragment.
"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose."
Merchant of Venice. Act 1, Scene 3
"There is now no safer occupation than talking bad science to philosophers, except talking bad philosophy to scientists."
Midgley, Mary. 1979. 'Gene-juggling'. Philosophy. 54(210): 439-458.
“The system protects itself with indignation against a challenge to deceit in the service of power, and the very idea of subjecting the ideological system to rational inquiry elicits incomprehension or outrage, though it is often masked in other terms.”
"Meaning is use."
Wittgenstein. Philosophical Investigations.
"Nullius in verba - Accept nothing on authority".
The Royal Society Motto
"Philology is the art of reading slowly"
Roman Jakobson
"Scholarship is an ongoing dialectical process."
Michael Witzel
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts."
Richard Feynman. "What is Science?"
The Physics Teacher. Vol. 7, issue 6 (1969)
Sapere aude! – Dare to know!
(motto for the Enlightenment)
Immanuel Kant."Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?" (Answering the Question: What Is Enlightenment?) 1784.
"Science—knowledge—only adds to the excitement, the mystery, and the awe of a flower. It only adds. I don't understand how it subtracts."
Richard Feynman, The Pleasure of Finding Things Out.
"If happiness consisted in the pleasures of the body, we should call oxen happy whenever they come across bitter vetch to eat."
Heraclitus. Fragment.
"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose."
Merchant of Venice. Act 1, Scene 3
"There is now no safer occupation than talking bad science to philosophers, except talking bad philosophy to scientists."
Midgley, Mary. 1979. 'Gene-juggling'. Philosophy. 54(210): 439-458.
“The system protects itself with indignation against a challenge to deceit in the service of power, and the very idea of subjecting the ideological system to rational inquiry elicits incomprehension or outrage, though it is often masked in other terms.”
Noam Chomsky
"If you don't like these ideas, I have others."
Marshall McLuhan
This blog started life as a series of long emails to my friend Pema in Cleveland, Ohio. She was a new Buddhist and I was explaining my thoughts on some Buddhist themes. Having got started I realised that I had a lot of things to say and enjoyed saying them.
The emphasis of the blog changes depending on my interests at the time. The main themes are etymology and the history of language; textual interpretation and criticism, especially the Pāli suttas; the history of ancient India, and particularly the history of ideas with respect to Buddhism; and the integration of Buddhism with contemporary Western Culture, with an emphasis on science.
The first posts were casual, off the cuff comments, but as time has gone on I have aimed for more rigour. and introduced the use of foot notes and references.
I occasionally get my writing published. Recent publications include:
I was interviewed by Ted of The Secular Buddhist. We talked about lots of stuff but especially karma, rebirth, and my brand of pragmatic Buddhism.
The first posts were casual, off the cuff comments, but as time has gone on I have aimed for more rigour. and introduced the use of foot notes and references.
I occasionally get my writing published. Recent publications include:
- The Hundred Syllable Vajrasattva Mantra. Western Buddhist Review, Issue 5. 2010.
- Did King Ajātasattu Confess to the Buddha, and did the Buddha Forgive Him? Journal of Buddhist Ethics. Volume 15 2008
I was interviewed by Ted of The Secular Buddhist. We talked about lots of stuff but especially karma, rebirth, and my brand of pragmatic Buddhism.
