Review: The Grand Design

September 16, 2010
James Skemp

The following is a review of The Grand Design, written by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow. Who’s the audience? While interesting, the lack of a defined audience makes this book an extremely difficult read. Having read A Brief History of Time I was looking for something with a similar feel to it. Instead the book starts out geared towards anyone with the desire to really read and understand it, then seems to leave most of that audience towards the wayside - seemingly right around when the science gets a little iffy - and then finishes geared back towards the larger audience.

June 17, 2010
James Skemp

I submit the following as a postulate: Given knowledge of the present state of affairs, we can know the future, but not the past. Of the latter we can only make guesses and assumptions, albeit educated ones, but cannot know with certainity that they were the case. Given that two vehicles are heading towards each other at speed, and neither will be able to stop in time, we can know that they will hit each other and cause a certain amount of damage, knowing the speeds they're going, the integrity of the vehicles, and etcetera.

May 31, 2010
James Skemp

The Dover Edition of The World as Will and Representation: Volume I, translated by E.F.J. Payne, suffers from a sparse table of contents, covering only the starting pages of the four books and the appendix (the index being contained in the second volume). To remedy this, I’ve presented below an expanded table of contents for this work. Expanded Table of Contents for Volume I Translator’s Introduction (v - xi) Preface to the First Edition (xii - xvii) Preface to the Second Edition (xviii - xxvii) Preface to the Third Edition (xxviii) Selected Bibliography (xxix - xxx) Contents, Volume I (xxxi) First Book: The World as Representation.

October 17, 2009
James Skemp

To those who cannot travel outside the normal flow of time, it matters not whether time travel is possible, for they would be unable to determine if the past had changed (assuming it even possible). This thought came to me a moment ago, as I was about to watch the eighth episode of Cosmos.

August 14, 2009
James Skemp

Image for a moment two sheets of paper. On the first we have a design of a Web page. On the second we have the code (all of it) needed to generate that page. If we were to overlap the sheets of paper, so that the design covered the code, let us imagine that the overlapping sheet's background would turn transparent. With this in mind, we could overlap the two sheets of paper equally, with the right side of the design's sheet overlapping the left side of the code's sheet.

June 29, 2009
James Skemp

There's a difference between self control and killing something off. Self control is when you hunger for something, but say no. Killing something off is when you no longer hunger for something. The former is a near-constant struggle, depending upon how often the hunger makes itself known, while the latter is, once the desire is killed, relatively easy, except perhaps during moments of rememberence. Trying to remember what it was like to have a hunger/desire of a particular sort, can be, at times, more painful than the desire itself.

May 27, 2009
James Skemp

The following article will contain spoilers of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. If you wish to read the book without my bias, do so before reading this article. As with the previous parts, it seems that Ayn Rand has written the final part of The Fountainhead with two people as the focus of the part. Howard Roark is associated with this part, but Gail Wynand is obviously the secondary character. Yet, Ellsworth’s speech to Keating, which gives us a glimpse into what Ayn Rand fears, clarifies his character for us.

May 25, 2009
James Skemp

The following article will contain spoilers of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. If you wish to read the book without my bias, do so before reading this article. Having finished Part 3 of The Fountainhead in less than a day, the whole should be fairly fresh in my memory. Yet, I have a hard time putting a second name to this part, to go along with Gail Wynand’s, and as I did for my thoughts on part 2.

May 24, 2009
James Skemp

In part 1 of this series I wrote about the first part of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. Having now finished part 2, I can write on it. The following will contain spoilers. I highly recommend you do not continue if you wish to read The Fountainhead with fresh eyes. The second part of The Fountainhead is devoted to Ellsworth M. Toohey, as the subtitle suggests. This further introduces a character we had met in part one, but gives us the chance to get to know him further.

May 19, 2009
James Skemp

I've known of Ayn Rand for quite a number of years. The first time I can remember her being talked about was by a fellow philosophy student, approximately one year ahead of me, who was a rather big fan of her work. At least one professor got into arguments with this student, as she'd bring up Rand's approach. In 2002 and 2003 I read We the Living and Anthem, and enjoyed them well enough.

April 10, 2009
James Skemp

When I think of Europe I think of the U.K., France, then Germany. What about Spain though? Moving east, Japan and China, followed by North Korea. I realize that India should be on the list, but it's not one that immediately comes to mind. Africa, as a whole, is not on the list; only bad things come to mind (AIDs and spammers/scammers). Same with Israel; isn't it bad that I think not of religiousness, but rather of constant war?

February 17, 2009
James Skemp

the terrible thing about hell is that when you're there you can't even tell as you move through this life you love so you could be there and not even know but you say so what I'm doing just fine the irony is that it's all in your mind and that's why hell is so vicious and cruel but you'll just go on an oblivious fool (Phish/Marshall.

January 26, 2009
James Skemp

You know what grinds my gears? When people say that they wasted time playing a video game. For example, 'I was playing Fallout 3 and it began freezing at this certain point, twenty hours in; since I can't proceed, I've wasted twenty hours of my life.' Hello? What do you get for finishing the game? Not the hours that you spent playing it. Or did you?

January 21, 2009
James Skemp

The following is a reply to a co-worker on Facebook regarding a particular topic. Since it's on Facebook, I probably can't link to it, but since I don't want to lose my response … I'm afraid I can't be as eloquent as everyone else; I'm a little mentally drained on nights. That said, Obama called for all American's to be ready to make sacrifices. There is little doubt that greed (part of the great motivator) is what brought this country to the knee it now rests on.

January 1, 2009
James Skemp

Since college I have disliked ethics. However, I couldn't explain why. On December 10, 2008, at approximately 10:04 PM, I turned on the lamp next to my bed and wrote the following: 9 people on a boat that can only hold 8. What do you do? Even then I knew the answer. Morally, I think the answer is you (me) jump off the boat.

January 1, 2009
James Skemp

While in college I heard of the Greeks who, when death was near, would throw a party. All the friends of the dying would come together to drink and merry. The dying would slit their wrists and party along with the others, his life spilling out from him all the while. While I'm sure that in today's world this would never happen, my hope is that when I die those who know me will celebrate, instead of mourn.

December 16, 2008
James Skemp

Here's what my answer is: No, I did the standard Philosophy major with a minor in Humanistic Studies. In high school I liked doing Web stuff, even though my stuff was *horrible*, but I didn't want to do that for a career (hard to make a career out of something you love, and still keep that love alive - or so they say). Originally I was going for Psychology, but I was told that wouldn't be a good field for me, and my Biology grades were horrid.

November 19, 2008
James Skemp

I ran into a co-worker who suggested that I probably held a certain environmental view, because I was wearing a Grateful Dead shirt. While I knew it to be true, I'd never really thought that my political views too may be out there based upon the band t-shirt that I was wearing. Wearing Grateful Dead? Liberal. Wearing Bruce Springsteen? Liberal. Wearing Fleetwood Mac? Liberal. Billy Joel? That's probably liberal as well.

September 1, 2008
James Skemp

A lot of people like to pull full passages from Waking Life, as it's a very quotable movie. However, the problem with that is that if things change there's a whole lot of sites that are out-of-date. And, sometimes people forget to add attribution ... I've been thinking about ways to make this easier, and believe I've come up with an idea. Looking at the numbers, I'm working from the most popular to the least popular chapters, with the goal of having all available.

August 14, 2008
James Skemp

The below page references refer to the Signet Classic version of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Possessed. suicide/life: 109-112, 421 marriage/children: 119 charity: 323 free will: 637 Great Idea/life: 679-680 Passages may be elaborated upon in future articles.

July 10, 2008
James Skemp

It's been a while since I've written a philosophical piece, so please be kind. Two necessary definitions First, we must begin with definitions1 of the key words in our topic. life: 1 a. The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter, manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or adaptation to the environment originating from within the organism.

June 1, 2008
James Skemp

[15 Closing Credits] (Kusanagi stares out across the city.) (Fade to black. Credits roll.) Read the previous chapter. Ghost in the Shell - Script For the sake of version control and in the interest of not having multiple versions floating about the Internet, please link to the pages on this site instead of copying the script elsewhere. Using short blurbs of a sentence or two is perfectly fine.

June 1, 2008
James Skemp

[14 Reincarnation] (A room comes into view. We slowly zoom in to a mirror showing a girl sitting in a chair.) (Batou:) You're awake. Status report, please. And maybe an explanation about this body. I was in a hurry. It was all I could get on the black market. Not my taste, really. Section 9 arrived with help right after it happened. They took two cyborg bodies and a slightly beat-up Batou back home.

June 1, 2008
James Skemp

[13 Unification] (We switch to a helicopter making it's journey.) Signal from escort lost. Switch to operation phase two and destroy the target. Sniper group, confirm targets. Target one: Project 2501. Target two: Motoko Kusanagi. Both are class-A cyborg bodies. Use flechette bullets in the hit. Snipers, jack into your device drivers. Begin cardiovascular suppression. Unit 01: jacked in. Unit 02: jacked in. (We switch back to the warehouse.

June 1, 2008
James Skemp

[12 Kusanagi Battles Tank] (We switch to Kusanagi following the car via helicopter.) The flooding's really bad here, even for Old Town in general. Why come here? They wouldn't have run here without a reason. Could have a boat or a chopper waiting, or it's an ambush. Shouldn't we wait for backup? I can't wait. Come in from seaside and put me above that building.

June 1, 2008
James Skemp

[11 Chasing the Target] (We switch back to Kusanagi in the helicopter. We see also the preparations taking place.) Chief. Ishikawa? Well? I dove the MFA net and found some interesting things for you. Hold on, let me get a secure channel. Okay? First, that guy who was with Nakamura. He's an American. Dr. Willis, head of strategic research at Neutron Corp. Top man in the field of A.

June 1, 2008
James Skemp

[10 Project 2501] (In the lab, the body from before is lowered.) I don't need to remind you that it's treason for you to be hiding something from me, no matter how sensitive. For both of us. Whatever the MFA may prefer, this case is in Section 9's jurisdiction. But we wouldn't mind cooperating if there was good reason to. Dr. Willis? Confirmed. It's definitely him.

June 1, 2008
James Skemp

[9 Doubting Your Own Ghost] (A woman is standing on the street, in the rain. She's hit by a truck. The view goes out, like a television turning off.) Sensors: restarted. Auxiliary computer link: check. Visual sensors: online. Cyborg body signal? Output: nominal. (Kusanagi walks in from the right. The view zooms in on her.) Can't you call in if you're going to be late?

June 1, 2008
James Skemp

[8 Wandering the City] (We get a 'tour' of the city.) (Kusanagi believes she sees herself in a restaurant, while riding on a boat.) === Read the previous chapter. Read the next chapter. Ghost in the Shell - Script For the sake of version control and in the interest of not having multiple versions floating about the Internet, please link to the pages on this site instead of copying the script elsewhere.

June 1, 2008
James Skemp

[7 Hope in Deep Waters] (Kusanagi is diving, until the pack on her back starts lifting her up towards the surface. It is very similar to the opening credits.) A cyborg who goes diving in her spare time. That can't be a good sign. When did you start doing this? Doesn't the ocean scare you? If the floaters stopped working. Then I'd probably die. Or would you dive in after me?

June 1, 2008
James Skemp

[6 Simultaneous Reality & Fantasy] (We see the garbage man from before, who was making the calls. He looks dazed.) What do you mean, a "virtual experience?" I mean your wife, your daughter, the divorce, the affair, they're all fake memories. Like a dream. Someone was using you to ghost-hack a government official. No… That's impossible! I've been to your apartment. No one's there.

June 1, 2008
James Skemp

[5 Only a Puppet] (A helicopter lands in a yeard. Police, and Aramaki, are standing outside that yard, in the trees.) We'll rush the place once the guys in the helicopter are inside. Squad B goes around back, the rest of you take the front. Saito, have your men pull the plugs on all their cars. Begin recording. Message from HQ, sir. We've ID'ed the guy the Major collared.

June 1, 2008
James Skemp

[4 Ghost Hack Humans] (A man is picking up trash, while another is at a phone.) Come on! All right! We're already 40 seconds behind schedule! Gimme five more seconds. Of all the lousy luck… Hey, sorry. My last partner, the one they busted for working without a permit, was a better worker than you! You're actually trying to ghost-hack your own wife just to see what's on her mind?

June 1, 2008
James Skemp

[3 The Infamous Mystery Hacker] This is a rare pleasure, Mr. Aramaki. What can the Foreign Ministry do for Section 9? What are these secret talks you've scheduled with the Gavel Republic for tomorrow? The usual. Foreign aid. The new government reopened the request after the revolution. They claim to be more democratic but they'll probably be as bad as the last bunch. Giving them money they don't earn will help nobody.

June 1, 2008
James Skemp

[2 Opening Credits] (We see what appears to be Kusanagi getting 'created' as the opening credits roll.) (Once finished, we see Kusanagi laying down, and opening her eyes, as if waking from a dream. She moves her fingers slightly.) (She gets up, gets dressed, and leaves.) Read the previous chapter. Read the next chapter. Ghost in the Shell - Script For the sake of version control and in the interest of not having multiple versions floating about the Internet, please link to the pages on this site instead of copying the script elsewhere.

June 1, 2008
James Skemp

[1 Thermo Optic Camouflage] (Text displays onscreen.) "IN THE NEAR FUTURE - CORPORATE NETWORKS REACH OUT TO THE STARS, ELECTRONS AND LIGHT FLOW THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE. THE ADVANCE OF COMPUTERISATION, HOWEVER, HAS NOT YET WIPED OUT NATIONS AND ETHNIC GROUPS." (Opens to a computerized view of airspace, with two objects moving towards a location.) To all patroling air units. A 208 is in progress in the C-13 district of Newport City.

June 1, 2008
James Skemp

Description: Transcript of the movie Ghost in the Shell (1995) based upon a viewing of the English DVD release, using the English subtitles. I do not speak, nor understand, Japanese, so this is an American-version transcript. The first version will be based almost exclusively on a subtitle rip. As I'm able, I'll review the subtitles and supplement the transcript as possible. See also the Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence script.

May 14, 2008
James Skemp

I forgot to comment on this the other day, when I first read the post. Jeff Atwood, of Coding Horror, wrote a piece titled "Understanding Model-View-Controller" which brought forth this response from Shmork (I wish he would have posted a site): I have to admit, as someone with more philosophical inclinations, I wonder whether the stated goal of totally separating content from representation is even a good idea. Certainly no graphic designer would sign on to that theory of the world, much less a philosophically inclined graphic designer.

May 4, 2008
James Skemp

The following book review is for the Richard E. Aquila translation of Arthur Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Presentation, Volume One. A brief history of my previous experiences with Schopenhauer: I first read Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation (the Payne, definitive, translation) many years ago. I've also read a number of Schopenhauer's other works (mostly done by Payne) and have tried to pick up as many other works of his as I can.

April 29, 2008
James Skemp

Hello, I noticed a very minor mistake in Volume One of The World As Will and Presentation, translated by Richard E. Aquila. I'm of the tech-industry now, where errata is a necessary evil, so ... I thought I'd point it out, just in case any other fixes need be made in later printings/editions. On page 396, in the last sentence of the first full paragraph, we have this text: "Someone who is carried off as a captive by brigands, e.

April 25, 2008
James Skemp

After all the hype, I finally had the chance to actually play a demo of echochrome, the M.C. Escher-ish game that's coming out for the Playstation 3 and PSP. The first Google result, for a YouTube video, gives an excellent presentation of what the game is like. However, at least in the demo, the camera controls seem sluggish. Perhaps the Sixaxis motion control would make this easier - I haven't tried it yet.

February 23, 2008
James Skemp

Pre-emptive clarifications First, by a ‘good man’ we specifically mean here one who is truly good. By ‘good’ we mean one who, by their actions, attempts to decrease the amount of evil. By ‘evil’ we mean those actions which are disruptive towards a social, unified, ordered, society. For example, murder, theft and pillaging. This by no means exhausts all potential issues with the below, but if one assumes the common definitions, it should make sense.

December 17, 2007
James Skemp

The following are notes to the Introduction of the Second Part (the Transcendental Logic) of the Transcendental Doctrine of Elements of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. For the months of December 2007 and January 2008, I'll be reading the Critique and writing notes as I go. For all citations, I am using the edition published by Palgrave Macmillan (ISBN 1-4039-1195-9), and translated by Norman Kemp Smith. The following article covers pages 92 to 101 of this edition.

December 16, 2007
James Skemp

The following are notes to the General Observations on, and the Conclusion of the, Transcendental Aesthetic, of the First Part (the Transcendental Aesthetic) of the Transcendental Doctrine of Elements of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. For the months of December 2007 and January 2008, I'll be reading the Critique and writing notes as I go. For all citations, I am using the edition published by Palgrave Macmillan (ISBN 1-4039-1195-9), and translated by Norman Kemp Smith.

December 9, 2007
James Skemp

The following are notes on Section I and II, on Space and Time, to the First Part (the Transcendental Aesthetic) of the Transcendental Doctrine of Elements of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. For the month of December 2007, I'll be reading the Critique and writing notes as I go. For all citations, I am using the edition published by Palgrave Macmillan (ISBN 1-4039-1195-9), and translated by Norman Kemp Smith.

December 6, 2007
James Skemp

The following are notes on the Introduction to the First Part (the Transcendental Aesthetic) of the Transcendental Doctrine of Elements of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. For the month of December 2007, I'll be reading the Critique and writing notes as I go. For all citations, I am using the edition published by Palgrave Macmillan (ISBN 1-4039-1195-9), and translated by Norman Kemp Smith. The following article covers pages 65 to 67 of this edition.

December 3, 2007
James Skemp

The following are notes on the Introduction of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. For the month of December 2007, I'll be reading the Critique and writing notes as I go. For all citations, I am using the edition published by Palgrave Macmillan (ISBN 1-4039-1195-9), and translated by Norman Kemp Smith. The following article covers pages 41 to 62 of this edition. Having now covered the two Prefaces, we find ourself at Kant's Introduction to the Critique of Pure Reason.

December 2, 2007
James Skemp

The following are notes on the Preface of the second edition of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. For the month of December 2007, I'll be reading the Critique and writing notes as I go. For all citations, I am using the edition published by Palgrave Macmillan (ISBN 1-4039-1195-9), and translated by Norman Kemp Smith. The following article covers pages 17 to 37 of this edition. There's quite a difference from the first edition's Preface to the second's.

November 30, 2007
James Skemp

The following are notes on the Preface of the first edition of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. For the month of December 2007, I'll be reading the Critique and writing notes as I go. For all citations, I am using the edition published by Palgrave Macmillan (ISBN 1-4039-1195-9), and translated by Norman Kemp Smith. The following article covers pages 7 to 15 of this edition. According to Kant, human beings find themselves asking questions which can be neither ignored, nor answered.

November 9, 2007
James Skemp

Recently, Gavin Schmitt asked me what my thoughts were on philosophy books about philosophers. Does that ever bother you, by the way? Philosophy books about other philosophers? Either you read it ahead of time and you don't know what the hell the author is talking about, or you read it afterwards and you end up not recalling the exact passages the author is referring to. It's like you need a FIRM grasp on the material to appreciate a book on the philosopher, but if you have that firm grasp you probably don't need to read the book (besides as a refresher).

October 31, 2007
James Skemp

In January and March of 2005, I asked Gavin Schmitt, of The Framing Business and Gavin War Journal, a number of questions. Those questions, and the respective answers, have been posted below. Since his answers may have changed since early 2005, I'll be adding any additional comments he may have to the answers below. 1) I'm about to read your writings - why should I? In all honesty, you probably shouldn't.

October 30, 2007
James Skemp

In 2003, I received a bachelor's in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin: Green Bay. During my four and a half years at Green Bay, I studied a deal of philosophy, without ever really deciding that I'd go for a degree in philosophy; philosophy was actually meant to just satisfy the necessary requirement of picking a degree in my sophmore year. Nonetheless, gradate with philosophy I did. During those years, I studied a number of philosophers, some more than others.

September 23, 2007
James Skemp

The following is a comparison of the English-spoken and English-subtitled Prophetic Vision segments of Paranoia Agent. An analysis of said segments may will be included in this article, or in a future article. Where differences are present, the text is parenthesized, along with either -s or -e; -s means that the text is present in the subtitles, but not the spoken version, while -e means that the language is present in the spoken version, but not in the subtitles.

September 22, 2007
James Skemp

The following are merely notes that will eventually be expanded upon in a longer article. For most of us, from our earliest days we are taught that one day we will become an adult, get married, and have children. Depending upon where you grow up, what your parents think of higher education, and what their thoughts are regarding said education, going to college may also be a part of the prescribed future.

August 24, 2007
James Skemp

Question: Is my detached hand me? Id est, if someone were to cut my hand off and place it on a table, could one say that that hand is me (James Skemp)? I reply: A part of me, yes. But, so too is the rest of my, otherwise whole, body. So, saying "this is x," where 'this' refers to a part of 'x,' no matter what the part, is the same, in some sense, of saying that of any other part.

August 23, 2007
James Skemp

In January of 2002, I bought a copy of the two volume set of Logical Investigations for a college course regarding major figures in philosophy, or some such. Later that year I picked up a copy of the Ideas, for another course, the next semester. Unfortunately, Husserl remained something of a mystery to me, despite having attempted to make my way through his primary works. With Husserl, part of Routledge's new series of introductory works on Western philosophers, David Woodruff Smith attempts to give an overview and analysis of what makes Husserl such an 'influential philosopher.

August 6, 2007
James Skemp

The following quotes are from movies. At the moment, it's just the two, but, more shall surely come. Look. The supermodel's a beautiful girl, Will. She can make you dizzy, like you've been drinking Jack all morning. She can make you feel high for the greatest commodity known to man - promise, the promise of a better day, the promise of a greater hope, the promise of a new tomorrow.

August 6, 2007
James Skemp

I've been a fan of Bruce Springsteen since I first listened to the album Born in the USA (on cassette), way back, many, many years ago. Most of the music/songs that I enjoy are because of women, but Bruce Springsteen is one of the few artists that I enjoy because of a man. In this case, my father had the tape, but it was women who gave the music true meaning.

August 6, 2007
James Skemp

Harlan Ellison is one of those authors who not only writes interesting things, but is also quite an interesting character himself (like Chuck Palahniuk, and Philip K. Dick). One of Ellison's major themes is love. He's written a good deal about it, and while I'm doing my research on love, I couldn't exclude Ellison. What follows are quotes from Ellison's pieces that reference that thing called love .

July 21, 2007
James Skemp

My GitS: 2nd Gig knowledge is a bit rusty, so Solid State Society is definitely going to be one of those 'need to watch it at least twice' movies. It seems the movie takes place after 2nd Gig, and therefore, outside of the realm of the other two movies. For two years the Major has been working outside of Section 9, which seems a bit off, since I was under the understanding (perhaps just from the movies) that if they quit, they forfeit pretty much everything .

July 14, 2007
James Skemp

A space ship launches, and while in space, it explodes. Let us assume we can see all possible reasons it could have exploded, and we find that there is an equal chance for one of two components to fail, which therefore would have caused the explosion. In either case, the end result would have been the same, down to the smallest particle. In other words, not even a god could discern any difference between the conclusion of the explosion; everything is exactly in the same place in either case.

July 11, 2007
James Skemp

The following thoughts are from approximately 10:20 last night. While I'd like to believe that technology is good, part of me believes the opposite. So close are they, in fact, that I can make no decision one way or another, try as I might. While it's true science can heal us, all too often life itself is placed above the reason for life - the reason to live.

July 10, 2007
James Skemp

This weekend we went down to the Capitol for Madison's farmer's market on the square. While walking towards the square (the streets surrounding the Capitol building) I overheard a glimpse of a man's speech. While I only heard part of, and I have no idea what was going on before or after the conversation, it sounded quite like a monologue. The gist of his speech was that there's a fight to give illegal immigrants legal status in America.

June 10, 2007
James Skemp

Logically speaking, the rule of Double Negation tells us that p :: ~~p. In order words, if something is blue, it is not not blue. Unfortunately, this is one of the rules for sentential logic that is philosophically troubling.

May 26, 2007
James Skemp

This is the review that I wrote for Amazon.com for the book Practical Pacifism by Andrew Fiala.

April 22, 2007
James Skemp

Humble reader, what is the saddest story? On November 27 2002 I read Guy de Maupassant's Coco (as collected in The Dark Side). Since then I have yet to read another story as sad. This morning I read of a farm in Wisconsin where various animals, including two miniature horses of some sort, had died. One had been stabbed (a few other animals had met there end in a similar fashion) and one had been beaten.

April 20, 2007
James Skemp

“These wars, famines, floods and quakes meet well-defined needs. Man wants chaos. In fact, he’s gotta have it. Depression, strife, riots, murder, all this dread. We’re irresistibly drawn to that almost orgiastic state created out of death and destruction. It’s in all of us. We revel in it. Sure, the media tries to put a sad face on these things, painting them up as great human tragedies. But we all know the function of the media has never been to eliminate the evils of the world, no. Their job is to persuade us to accept those evils and get used to living with them. The powers that be want us to be passive observers.” - Waking Life

Unfortunately, I haven’t kept up all that much with the recent (April 17, 2007) shootings in Virginia. However, I’ve seen and heard a disturbing trend, namely the dehumanizing and ostracizing of the shooter, Cho Seung-Hui. Quite frankly, this is disturbing.

What’s truly disturbing about this situation is that no one seems to realize exactly what they’re doing. While it’s true that the killing of 32 people is regrettable, that does not give anyone the right to ‘erase’ the killer.

March 3, 2007
James Skemp

Two comments after watching the Today show this morning.

February 11, 2007
James Skemp

Arthur Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation (Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung) went through three editions in Schopenhauer's lifetime, and accordingly there are three prefaces, one for each edition. The first was written in 1818, the second in 1844, and the third in 1859.

January 28, 2007
James Skemp

In this article, I'll be covering the five books that compose the German Sämtliche Werke, published by Suhrkamp. Sämtliche Werke consists of the following five books; Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung I Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung II Kleinere Schriften Über die vierfache Wurzel des Satzes vom zureichenden Grunde Über das Sehn und die Farben Über den Willen in der Natur Die beiden Grundprobleme der Ethik Preisschrift über die Freiheit des Willens Preisschrift über die Grundlage der Moral Parerga und Paralipomena I Parerga und Paralipomena II Benefits over the English versions The major benefit of the German editions of Schopenhauer's works is the fact that these German editions can be bought as part of a collection from a single publisher.

October 18, 2006
James Skemp

In Gavin Schmitt's 2006 essay Should We Examine Life?, Gavin attempts to arrive at some solid decision on the two following questions, "Is there value in examining our lives and the world around us? Is there value in ignoring our selves and our world?", having come to this questions based upon Socrates' claim that "the unexamined life is not worth living". However, while Gavin attempts to answer these questions, and perhaps succeeds, he opens himself up to an even larger question, which will be the topic of this essay.

October 6, 2006
James Skemp

It's unfortunate that I didn't watch Being John Malkovich, my third movie through Netflix, sooner. Unfortunate because it's one of the most interesting films I've seen in a very long time ..

September 1, 2006
James Skemp

Arthur Schopenhauer's Sämtliche Werke (5 paperbook collection)

$117.67

August 20, 2006
James Skemp

"'Tis always better to be who you are, then to strive after who you may have been." Which is to say, if you ever have the chance to go back and change certain events in your past (as in, time travel), do not take it. The you that you could now be is not the you that you have become. In fact, the you that you may have become may be worse off than the you that you are, no matter what you may now believe.

August 19, 2006
James Skemp

[17 Control System]

"'Who can gaze into the mirror without becoming evil? A mirror does not reflect evil, but creates it.'"

"Poetics, now? We're running low on ammo."

"'Thus, a mirror bears a glimpse, but not scrutiny.'"

August 19, 2006
James Skemp

[16 The Ship]

(Batou busts into the ship from above.)

"I'm in. Forward the vessel data. Download complete. You got my vision in your sites?"

"Recording now. Wouldn't miss my mentor's assault."

August 19, 2006
James Skemp

[15 Undersea]

(Batou goes under the water. He grabs onto a dolphin.)

"I've made contact with the escort."

August 19, 2006
James Skemp

[14 Kim's Mansion. The 4th Encounter]

(Togusa:) "Are we actually back in physical reality?"

(Batou:) "There is no way to distinguish reminiscence from true memory. Whatever they are, they can only be analyzed after the fact. The passage of time itself can't be stored, so it's tough. And inevitable, now that our e-brains share external memories. Do your wife and daughter, waiting for you at home, really exist? Or are you, in reality, still single, living in some cheap rented room, only dreaming of that family. Don't you want to verify what actually happened back there?"

A reference to the first movie.

August 19, 2006
James Skemp

[13 Kim's Mansion. Again and Again]

(We're back outside, and Batou and Togusa turn towards the building, hearing a shot.)

"Here goes!"

(The girl is gone, but there's the number '2501'.)

August 19, 2006
James Skemp

[12 Kim's Mansion. Again]

(Continued from the previous chapter.)

"Kim chose to become a complete cyborg. That was his reason. He bounced around between Special Forces and Electronics, and got into black market weapons. His reputation turned to shit. Wound up your garden-variety hacker."

"Sounds like quite a story."

"No matter how far a jackass travels, it won't come back a horse."

(Batou pauses.)

"What's wrong? Lets go."

===

August 19, 2006
James Skemp

[11 Kim's Mansion]

"He used to be a long-range military scout. 'Unfit as a commander, unfit to be commanded, fit only to languish by the wayside.' He bounced around between Special Forces and Electronics, and got into black market weapons. His reputation turned to shit. Wound up your garden-variety hacker."

"Sounds like quite a story."

"Yeah, but no matter how far a jackass travels, it won't come back a horse. His downfall came when his reach exceeded his grasp. Let's go."

===

August 19, 2006
James Skemp

[19 Togusa's House]

August 19, 2006
James Skemp

[10 Festival]

"Batou!"

===

"You sure have gotten informal, Lin. Since when do you skip the 'Sir'?"

August 19, 2006
James Skemp

[9 Orange Sky]

"This area was once intended as the Fear East's most important information center, a Special Economic Zone in its heyday. These towers survive as a shadow of the city's former glory. Its dubious sovereignty has made it the ideal haven for multi-nationals and the criminal elements that feed off their spoils. It's a lawless zone, beyond the reach of UN or E-police. Reminds me of the line, 'What the body creates, is as much an expression of DNA as the body itself.'"

"But the same applies to beaver dams and spiderwebs."

August 19, 2006
James Skemp

[18 Laboratory Development]

August 9, 2006
James Skemp

[8 The Store]

(Note: One of the coolest scenes in the movie.)

(Batou walks into the store, and heads towards the back.)

(A voice in his head.) "You're in the kill zone."

August 9, 2006
James Skemp

[7 Yakuza Office]

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Here to chat with Wakabayashi. Go get him."

"What about, 'Avoid shooting?'"

August 8, 2006
James Skemp

[6 Batou’s Safe House]

(Living room. A car drives by and a dog gets out of a chair, heading to the door. Batou walks in and steps in something. The dog hides.)

(Batou cleans off his shoe in a tub while the dog tries to watch.)

('Gabriel', a gear-driven dog. Batou prepares the dog's food, tenderly moves it's ears out of the dish when it begins to eat. Grabs a drink, sits on a chair, pulls out the photo of the girl. After moving a ball, containing a fish, slightly. The dog jumps onto his lap and falls asleep.)

August 8, 2006
James Skemp

[5 Boat House]

(A nice house, on the water.)

"You're all alone here?"

"Koga got reacquainted with his dinner and went back with the corpse."

August 8, 2006
James Skemp

[4 Coroner Haraway]

(A lab.)

The technician: "You can come here all you want, I'm not sharing this investigation. And if you're too persistent, I'll have you detained."

"I'm Togusa, Public Safety Section 9. This scary-looking fellow …"

August 8, 2006
James Skemp

[3 Jurisdiction]

(A room with a window looking into a forest.)

"Already this week, we've had eight cases of gynoids murdering their masters. After each killing, they self-destruct, electronic brains reformatted. In each case, the model in question is Locus Solus #2052, "Hadaly" type. A prototype developed for testing, they were provided free of charge to contractors. Now, they've recalled all the prototypes. According to their most recent report, they've identified no defects in either software or hardware."

"You get all that?"

August 8, 2006
James Skemp

[2 Main Title and Credits]

(Opening. We see the creation of one of the female machines seen in the first scene.

Along with the fantastic images, we hear the beautiful music you'll hear later.)

August 8, 2006
James Skemp

[1 New City]

(Text displays onscreen.)

In a future time, when most human thought has been accelerated by artificial intelligence and external memory can be shared on a universal matrix, Batou, an agent of the elite Section 9 Security Force and a begin so artificially modified as to be essentially cyborg, is assigned, along with his mostly human partner, Togusa, to investigage a series of gruesome murders.

Time has passed since Batou's original partner, Major Motoko Kusanagi, cybernetically enhanced to such a degree that only her "ghost" remained human, disappeared into the Net. Since then, Batou has wondered where her ghost might be and if the Major will ever return …

(Japanese text)

August 7, 2006
James Skemp

[20 End Credits]

(Credits begin rolling, and "Follow Me" begins playing, through to the end of the movie. The song is extremely well sung. This is all there is to the credits, so if you don't care to sit through them, you'll lose nothing by stopping here.)

Read the previous chapter.

August 7, 2006
James Skemp

Description: Transcript of the movie Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004) based upon a viewing of the English DVD release, using the English subtitles.

I do not speak, nor understand, Japanese, so this is an American-version transcript. Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is an extremely philosophical movie, so I have decided to watch and type up a transcript of the movie so that I could expand my own knowledge of the film. In the spirit of the Internet/Web, I provide it here as well to aid others.

May 25, 2006
James Skemp

Description: Script of the movie Waking Life, based on Tara Carreon's transcription, but with revisions based upon a viewing of the DVD version of the movie, which was watched with subtitles. Notes: Special thanks to Andrew, Larry Redden, and Ed Sandberg for pointing out errors in Tara's transcription (numerous errors were fixed here, along with some scene information clarifications). Absolutely let me know if anything slipped by my look-over, especially in the quicker and the 'like, like, you know,' sections ;) Read the entire Waking Life movie transcript, with revisions.

May 25, 2006
James Skemp

May 25, 2006
James Skemp

Description: Script of the movie Waking Life, based on Tara Carreon's transcription, but with revisions based upon a viewing of the DVD version of the movie, which was watched with subtitles. Revisions by James Richard Skemp III This chapter last modified: January 27, 2007 Notes: Special thanks to Andrew, Larry Redden, and Ed Sandberg for pointing out errors in Tara's transcription (numerous errors were fixed here, along with some scene information clarifications).

May 25, 2006
James Skemp

May 25, 2006
James Skemp

May 25, 2006
James Skemp

May 25, 2006
James Skemp

Description: Script of the movie Waking Life, based on Tara Carreon's transcription, but with revisions based upon a viewing of the DVD version of the movie, which was watched with subtitles. Revisions by James Richard Skemp III This chapter last modified: May 25, 2006 Notes: Special thanks to Andrew, Larry Redden, and Ed Sandberg for pointing out errors in Tara's transcription (numerous errors were fixed here, along with some scene information clarifications).

May 25, 2006
James Skemp

May 14, 2006
James Skemp

My birthday happens to be today, and when I started checking my email this morning, I was presented with 4 different birthday greetings, from 4 different forums. I'm aware that forums have been doing this for a long time, so what struck me is the forums I signed up for, but don't remember doing so :D (That's also a little security-scary¹, but I know I'm signed up with many more that don't appear to be sending birthday greetings.)

May 3, 2006
James Skemp

My hypothesis is that you can in fact judge a philosophy book by it's cover. Which is to say;

April 18, 2006
James Skemp

In some way, I found AttentionTrust.org. Basically, AttentionTrust operates under the principle that your attention is both yours, and of worth.

April 9, 2006
James Skemp

Description: Script of the movie Waking Life, based on Tara Carreon's transcription, but with revisions based upon a viewing of the DVD version of the movie, which was watched with subtitles.

Revisions by James Richard Skemp III
Revision begun: December 24 2004

Modified: June 4 2005; June 15 2005; June 16 2005; June 21 2005; July 22 2005; August 25 2005; September 27 2005; October 17 2005; October 21 2005; May 25, 2006; August 20, 2006; January 27, 2007

Notes: Special thanks to Andrew, Larry Redden, Ed Sandberg, and Mark W for pointing out errors in Tara's transcription (numerous errors were fixed here, along with some scene information clarifications). Absolutely let me know if anything slipped by my look-over, especially in the quicker and the 'like, like, you know,' sections ;)

Please note that these chapters do contain small images from the film. For the sake of all users, images have been limited to no more than two per chapter.

Learn how to display this transcript on your blog or site. It's easy!

For the sake of version control and in the interest of not having multiple versions floating about the Internet, please link to the pages on this site or use the code detailed above instead of copying the script elsewhere. Using short blurbs of a sentence or two is perfectly fine. Thank you :)

Click on the below chapters to access the complete transcript for the chapter, as well as read any comments that may have been left.

February 9, 2006
James Skemp

Having moved from items written in January of 2006, to items written in late-2005, then to 2001, and then back to mid-2005, I have realized for myself what many have already realized. There's a problem with the Internet.

October 29, 2005
James Skemp

Description: Notes and comments on Chapter 15 of Bertrand Russell’s Problems of Philosophy, sufficiently forming an overview.

Created: December 31 2004
Modified: October 29 2005

October 21, 2005
James Skemp

Description: Script of the movie Waking Life, based on Tara Carreon's transcription, but with revisions based upon a viewing of the DVD version of the movie, which was watched with subtitles. Read the entire Waking Life movie transcript, with revisions. Learn how to display this transcript on your blog or site. It's easy! [20 End Titles] (Credits appear and music continues. It's worth sitting through to the end not only for the music, but also for a glimpse back at the animation styles from the film.

October 21, 2005
James Skemp

October 21, 2005
James Skemp

October 21, 2005
James Skemp

October 21, 2005
James Skemp

October 21, 2005
James Skemp

October 21, 2005
James Skemp

October 21, 2005
James Skemp

Description: Script of the movie Waking Life, based on Tara Carreon's transcription, but with revisions based upon a viewing of the DVD version of the movie, which was watched with subtitles. Notes: Special thanks to Andrew, Larry Redden, and Ed Sandberg for pointing out errors in Tara's transcription (numerous errors were fixed here, along with some scene information clarifications). Absolutely let me know if anything slipped by my look-over, especially in the quicker and the 'like, like, you know,' sections ;) Thanks to Roy Christopher for his correction on this chapter (below).

October 21, 2005
James Skemp

October 21, 2005
James Skemp

Description: Script of the movie Waking Life, based on Tara Carreon's transcription, but with revisions based upon a viewing of the DVD version of the movie, which was watched with subtitles. Revisions by James Richard Skemp III This chapter last modified: October 21 2005 Notes: Special thanks to Andrew, Larry Redden, and Ed Sandberg for pointing out errors in Tara's transcription (numerous errors were fixed here, along with some scene information clarifications).

October 21, 2005
James Skemp

Description: Script of the movie Waking Life, based on Tara Carreon's transcription, but with revisions based upon a viewing of the DVD version of the movie, which was watched with subtitles. Revisions by James Richard Skemp III This chapter last modified: October 21 2005 Notes: Special thanks to Andrew, Larry Redden, and Ed Sandberg for pointing out errors in Tara's transcription (numerous errors were fixed here, along with some scene information clarifications).

October 21, 2005
James Skemp

October 19, 2005
James Skemp

"When a single feather and a thousand worlds
Are equally this Space,
Who can say which contains which?
Who can find limits
To life's richness?"

September 4, 2005
James Skemp

Description: Are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles really ninjas, or are they something else?

According to Robert Hamburger, and Real Ultimate Power,

July 24, 2005
James Skemp

Description: On Ms. Natalie Portman.

Created: July 24th 2005

Modified: n/a

July 6, 2005
James Skemp

Back when I was in college, I can recall talking to one Ms. Tessa Gruszynski regarding how, basically, I was going to stop caring about, or being kind to, strangers. I believe the particular item was holding open doors for people who would make no gesture of thanks.

Of course, I continued to open doors for people.

June 10, 2005
James Skemp

Description: A brief article on why I personally don't have friends, with some discussion of what friends may be.

Created: June 10th 2005

Modified: n/a

June 1, 2005
James Skemp

Description: A brief article regarding Arthur Schopenhauer's principle of sufficient reason, discussed in his work On the Fourfold Root of the Principle of Sufficient Reason.

Created: January 21st - 22nd 2004
Modified: February 6th 2004; June 14th 2004; April 27th 2005; June 1st 2005

Arthur Schopenhauer is an extremely self-referential philosopher, perhaps the most self-referential of all the great philosophers. Yet, this is due primarily to the fact that Schopenhauer is one of the few philosophers that sticks with one system throughout his life - throughout his writings.

May 19, 2005
James Skemp

Description: A short biography of a man with little available biographical information, Marciello Punto, Domingo.

Created: May 18th 2005

Modified: May 19th 2005

May 6, 2005
James Skemp

While reading a past news item regarding the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Wisconsin, I asked myself if donating was equal to volunteering. The Young Lawyers Division (YLD) collects business clothing from lawyers to give to lawyers who cannot afford business clothing. If lawyer X donates clothing to the YLD, is lawyer X volunteering? To get to the answer to this question, I have to proof that volunteering implies, or suggests, donating, and that donating implies volunteering. If either is not the case, or if both are not the case, then volunteering is not the same as donating.

April 27, 2005
James Skemp

Back on the second of February 2002, I first, as far as I can recall or prove, wrote down the question “Is it better to live a lie, or know the truth and cry?” The item that this was written in was an item called Guide to One Philosophy of Life: Revision 1, and consisted of twelve pages of material from January 30, 2002 to September 29, 2002. While I kept saying that I was going to get back to it and revise it, I never did.

A recent item on a LiveJournal journal, along with something I had read earlier in the day on the same area, reminded me of this quote that I had written so long ago. After some searching, I found it in the item mentioned above.

April 24, 2005
James Skemp

According to David Gries (via his site), logician Raymond Smullyan stated the following word problem in one of his many books, which regards lying knaves and truthful knights. A group of three people, each of which is a knight (tells the truth all the time) or a knave (lies all the time) are talking. B says that C and D are the same type (both knaves or both knights).

February 2, 2005
James Skemp

If you’re going to read more on Arthur Schopenhauer, I suggest you start with his main works, followed by other primary resources (id est, books written by him), followed by secondary resources.

December 31, 2004
James Skemp

Looking through an old philosophy anthology, Biomedical Ethics: Fifth Edition, I found and read On Lying to Patients, by Mack Lipkin. After reading this piece, I was again made to realize how much I dislike ethics. While Lipkin sets out to give us a theory, or method, he leaves us with more questions than answers. For this article, I would like to discuss whether doctors have an ethical obligation to tell the truth to their patients.

October 25, 2004
James Skemp

Have you ever visited Cliff Yablonski Hates You on SomethingAwful.com? For those of you have not, maybe you'll want to take a look, maybe you won't. Google it if you'd like to see it for yourself (or just browse Something Awful), or read on. One of the easiest kinds of humour is the kind at the expense of another. Honestly, it's funny to see someone suffer some kind of hardship or accident.

October 21, 2004
James Skemp

Jen: I have lived for six moments, each longer than the last. My every movement is naught when considered within the whole. I have barely moved when I am a teen, and will be hardly older when I am round with child. I can look back at any moment I recall, but any moment I forget is lost to me until an external awakens the buried memories, drawing out recollections of times gone, but still present.

September 26, 2004
James Skemp

Notes: While primarily based upon The Future of an Illusion, Civilization and Its Discontents may have crept into this discussion. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, seeing as how the latter is a sequel of the former, but if you have not read the latter, some of the ideas here may be new to you. Sigmund Freud tells us, near the end of the work, that “the sole purpose” of The Future of an Illusion is point out the necessity of man surmounting infantilism.

September 17, 2004
James Skemp

Listen to On the Saying 'God is Odd' (MP3 format). An old and popular saying states that ‘God is odd’. But is there any validity to this claim? This article shows that there is indeed validity and truth to this claim. God consists, or is equal to the addition, of three characters; ‘G’, ‘o’, and ‘d’. If a number is not evenly divisible by two, that number is odd.

September 3, 2004
James Skemp

René Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy consists of three parts; a preface to the reader, a synopsis, and the six mediations themselves. Heralded as the first ‘modern’ thinker in philosophy, Descartes introduces the problem encompassed by ‘dualism’: how is it that mind and body can interact with each other? Descartes also questions how it is that we can know reality. While the quick answer is through our senses, depending upon our senses opens us up to questions of how we know that our senses are correct.

August 16, 2004
James Skemp

Any indented text is my own regarding the particular blunder outlined above. The rest of the text is Arun Gandhi’s. Mohandas K. Gandhi was convinced much of the violence in society and in our personal lives stems from the passive violence that we commit against each other. He described these acts of passive violence as the "Seven Blunders." Grandfather gave me the list in 1947 just before we left India to return to South Africa where my father, Manilal, Gandhi's second son, and my mother, Sushila, worked for nonviolent change.

June 17, 2004
James Skemp

The reason I picked up Martin Heidegger's The Principle of Reason was quite simple - having read Arthur Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation and agreed with many of his points, I attempt to further my knowledge of his principles as much as possible. While Heidegger doesn't mention Schopenhauer a single time in his thirteen Lectures, nor in his Address, Schopenhauer certainly discusses the Principle of Reason, pulling off of Leibniz, and is therefore a blatant oversight of Heidegger's to not mention Schopenhauer at all. Whether this is unintentional one cannot know from simply the text, but for a German philosopher to not know another German philosopher who covered the same content is quite surprising, to say the very least.

Having read Heidegger's work, I can't say he's moved much beyond Schopenhauer. If this is what progress has given us since Schopenhauer's time, I can't say I'm too impressed with the progression. Nonetheless, Heidegger deserves to be mentioned, which is what I shall attempt to do here, in as few words as possible.

June 13, 2004
James Skemp

Rest. Passivity. Inactivity. All speak of the absence of movement – the absence of activity – in common language. Yet, when I stand still is it really very different than when I am moving about? Is inactivity really the absence of activity? Let us say I am walking down the street. I see a beautiful manikin in a storefront window with short, shoulder length, red hair. While it is true that I am no longer in motion – I no longer advance down the street, I still made a choice to stop at the particular storefront window and look in.

June 12, 2004
James Skemp

February 6, 2004
James Skemp

I must admit that Robert Heilbroner's An Inquiry Into the Human Prospect was not quite the book that I thought it was going to be. The title and cover were what drew me to the book, and the back cover information had little impact, if any, because I realized after reading the book that I may not have read it... Of course, Heilbroner refers to Hobbes at least once, and Marx quite a few times, and since these two are political philosophers, and since philosophy runs through everything, I wasn't displeased with the book in the least.

February 4, 2004
James Skemp

Let's assume, firstly, that you are driving in a 55 mile per hour (mph) zone. Now, that is the speed limit, or, in other words, the limitation of traffic/vehicle speed. Now, if you are going 55 mph, then you are going 100% of the allocated speed. That is, you are going 55 in a 55 zone.

Now, if you are going 50 mph, in that same 55 mph zone, then you are going 90.90% of the allocated speed (50 / 55). So, you are going ~ 9.1% under the speed limit (5 / 55). Now, if you are going 5 mph over the speed limit, or 60 mph, then you are going ~ 9.1% over the speed limit, or, 109% of the allocated speed limit (60 / 55). Now, 109% over the posted speed limit is not that bad.

Now, let us assume that you are going 65 mph in a 55 mph zone. 65 / 55 is equal to 1.18, so, you are going 118% over the speed limit. Now, what about 7 mph over the speed limit (in a 55 mph zone)? Well, 62 mph translates to ~ 113% of the speed limit, or 13% over the speed limit.

Now, let us take that 7 mph and translate it to a few different speeds, which tend to be common road speeds (at least in Wisconsin), as well as what 5 mph over the speed limit would be, as well as 10 mph over. All percentages are rounded to the nearest percent (1%) in this and in later tables.

Zone Speed Limit
in mph
(ZSL)

January 17, 2004
James Skemp

Read More

A Brief Discussion Amongst 19th Century Thinkers

December 14, 2003
James Skemp

Dear Sirs: I thank you for your interest in my system, as well as for your interesting comments. I do not think, however, that you clearly understood my main points about the goals, or end, of life. Please find here my thoughts regarding this. I look forward to your comments regarding this. As I said before, everything leads towards one goal, which 'results' in the end of history.

December 11, 2003
James Skemp

Primarily Written/Added: May 14th 2003 Edited/Updated: September 18th 2003; November 10th 2003; December 11th 2003 This article is based upon Chapter 11 of Waking Life. See the complete script for Waking Life. There is more to this then the discussion about God. This is packed full with a lot of various things, all of which deserve some time. I'll start with this passage first. However, before I do that, I should point out that I'm not sure whether or not these two are both film directors.

December 9, 2003
James Skemp

Note: Mainly, I will be quoting Skinner, interceding my own comments if/when necessary. This should not be taken as something which explains this particular chapter, rather as something which points out some of the things that I found to be important (and that I made notes regarding in the margins). Notes regarding mistyped statements would be greatly appreciated (since I had to type all of these quotes myself). Originally titled: B.

December 8, 2003
James Skemp

As with the 19th century figure Kierkegaard, one could quite easily ask whether the 19th century writer Nietzsche is a philosopher. After all, if we compare their writings to the writings of such 19th century philosophers as Hegel and Schopenhauer, we are confronted with quite a difference. Yet, basing our decision of whether someone is a philosopher on the format of their writings is, I believe, flawed. Rather, one should base their decision of whether someone is a philosopher on the content of the writings.

December 1, 2003
James Skemp

It's said that "a penny saved is a penny earned," but is that really true? How can it be that by saving something you earn it? Doesn't the fact that you already have, in this case, a penny prohibit you from earning it, since we usually give something to someone and say they earned it...? After some thought regarding this topic I have come to find a possible answer to the question of what this saying means.

November 30, 2003
James Skemp

Michael Dawson, in his book Understanding Cognitive Science attempts to provide a basic understanding of cognitive science, specifically by dealing with and using the "tri-level" hypothesis. For this paper, I will be discussing the tri-level hypothesis and what it tells us about cognitive science. One of the major problems in any science is the problem of discussing the findings within a set field with people outside of the field.

November 24, 2003
James Skemp

I recently, while daydreaming yet again in a class, happened upon the phrase residing on the side of a McDonald's cup stating that "Change is Good". I, of course, am quite familiar with this saying, however, I was a tad confused. Because of this confusion, I decided that it would be best for me to go ahead and examine the saying "Change is Good" in order to see just what was meant by this saying.

November 17, 2003
James Skemp

January 2, 2009: The following was written on a piece of paper I recently found (again), dated Nov 17th 2003. Might as well type them up and trash the paper … 'U.S.' versus 'Them' While most people believe that the popular saying "us versus them" means, or says, that it's you with anyone else versus those contrary to you in some regard - the 'thems.' However, it is not so much that is you and your group versus 'them' as it is the United States versus 'them' - namely those that are not the allies of the United States, but sometimes even the allies of the United States.

October 30, 2003
James Skemp

Quite a few years ago I took a lower level Introduction to Biology course in college. While I did pretty bad in the course, I did learn quite a few things. One of the things that I learned was about the 'Biological Imperative'. The 'Biological Imperative', as I now understand it - whether or not it was taught like this - is that all biological beings are born/created (not in the 'Creation' sense, but rather as a way to express plants, which are not born, per se, and some animals, which are hatched, and are not, per se, born) with certain desires/strivings. These strivings are applicable to any, and all, biological entities. For this article, I'd like to discuss the Biological Imperative in various ways. First, I'd like to describe what I believe the Biological Imperative is, at it's fundamental root - at a level basic, and truly applicable, to any and all biological entities. Then, I'd like to mention how culture appears to fit into all of this, bringing in Philosophy when possible and applicable.

Please note that this is a work in progress. Realistically, someone could write a book on this subject (and I was quite surprised that 'Beyond the Biological Imperative' received no results, per se, on Google when I did a search - October 30th 2003) since the subject is so encompassing. So, therefore, I'll be working on sections at a time, not completing the work as a whole, but rather completing parts of the whole. For this reason, I look forward to any comments regarding this material, as they may help guide this article's direction.

October 22, 2003
James Skemp

Starting from the truth that "the world is my representation" [3], Arthur Schopenhauer's The World as Will and Representation lays down what Schopenhauer believes the world is. After determining that the world is not only representation, but also will, he goes on to discuss how this all works together, and how other philosophers work into this system. For this paper, I will be focusing on the relationship between aesthetic contemplation and asceticism within this work.

September 29, 2003
James Skemp

According to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, the dialectic "is in general the principle of all motion, of all life, and of all activation in the actual world", as well as "the soul of all genuinely scientific cognition." [1: 171] In other words, Hegel believes that the dialectic is the soul - the spirit one may say - of scientific cognition, or thought, as per the second quote. Because of this, if one wants to perform science, if one wants to study, and understand, the world around oneself, the dialectic must be used, and understood.

August 27, 2003
James Skemp

"Just once wouldn't you love for someone to simply show you the evidence for God's existence? No armtwisting. No statements of, "You just have to believe." Well, here is an attempt to candidly offer some of the reasons which suggest that God exists." [1] Sounds like an interesting, and bold, statement. After all, people have been attempting to prove God's existence by use of reason almost as long, and as much, as they have been using force to.

June 2, 2003
James Skemp

It is said that "Idle Hands Are The Devil's Tools", meaning that when one is bored, one tends to get into trouble. I have a problem, or concern, with this statement however. Let's say I'm bored and I end up setting fire to a kerosene soaked blanket which ends up leading to my home becoming engulfed in flames. Now, if we want to get technical, which is exactly what I want to do, then as soon as my hands are no longer idle - as soon as I begin to do something with my hands - they are not the devil's tools, right?

To put it into logical terms, "Idle hands are the devil's tools" seems to be something like: I ≡ D, where I is 'Idle Hands' and D is 'the Devil's Tools', meaning that 'Idle Hands' are 'the Devil's Tools'.

May 19, 2003
James Skemp

One of the most heard sayings in the customer service business is "the customer is always right". The common meaning of this statement is that no matter what the customer says, they are to be treated as though they are correct. Let us take an example. Customer orders a burger with no ketchup and with no cheese. They ask for it to be this way. Then, after getting their burger, they come up to the counter and say that they didn't get the cheese on the burger, even though they asked for it.

May 14, 2003
James Skemp

Another version of this, slightly updated it seems, is also available, titled Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica and the Question of the Will. Whenever I think about Medieval Philosophy, from this point on after taking this class, I will also think about religion. When I think about religion I think about God and free will. So, since I need to have a topic for this final analysis, I decided that I should probably take one of these topics, and find some writer who would be the best to analysis in this area.

May 13, 2003
James Skemp

Whenever I think about Medieval Philosophy, from this point on after taking this class, I will also think about religion. When I think about religion I think about God and free will. So, since I need to have a topic for this final analysis, I decided that I should probably take one of these topics, and find some writer who would be the best to analysis in this area. After looking at the articles, I decided that I would take Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica and look at how he answers the question of what the will is, and whether it acts of its own accord.

May 11, 2003
James Skemp

This semester, we looked at Michael Corrado’s Analytic Tradition in Philosophy: Background and Issues, Tim Crane’s Elements of Mind: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind, and The Cambridge Companion to Husserl. Through these writings we have learned more about the Theory of Intentionality, from two different perspectives, the Analytic Philosophy tradition – as shown by Corrado and Crane – and the Phenomenological tradition – as showcased by Husserl, or, more perhaps more appropriately, the individuals writing on Husserl.

May 7, 2003
James Skemp

1. Present Algazali’s argument for the incoherence of the philosophers and Averroe’s response to it. Also present your own critique. Algazali, in The Incoherence of the Philosophers, argues that “what is customarily believed to be cause and what is believed to be an effect is not necessary, according to our opinion; but each of the two [namely, cause and effect] is independent of the other.” [1: 283] In other words, while philosophers believe that there exists such a law that if x occurs then y occurs – that there is a system of cause and effect – Algazali believes that there is no relationship between cause and effect.

May 5, 2003
James Skemp

Francis Bacon's New Atlantis was the first chosen source to read for this Age of Reason class. Bacon's work best fits as a beginning reading for various reasons, one of which is the applicability of the book as showcasing the major ideas of the Age of Reason at the beginning of their formation, in many cases. For this paper, I will begin by examining Bacon's New Atlantis, in a specific area, and then pursuing that area's progress, or reiteration, in some of the other readings from this age.

April 27, 2003
James Skemp

In this paper, I will be trying to discuss Edmund Husserl’s theory of impossible objects and meanings in the Logical Investigations. His theories of experience, knowledge, truth, and fact, will also be discussed in an attempt to determine their relation to these impossible things. By looking at the Logical Investigations Investigation by Investigation, I hope to see where he speaks of his ideas of experience, knowledge, truth and fact. After looking at these ideas, I should be able to end by speaking of impossible things.

April 21, 2003
James Skemp

We often hear of the importance of one. This will briefly look at the numbers of just how important one is. After that, I’d like to discuss this issue (knowing full well that I will end up going off on a tangent). The importance of one person when there are x people: x people % that one person equals (1/x)*100 1 100 2 50 3 33.

April 13, 2003
James Skemp

Often times we will hear one say to another that they do not believe in God. They will then say, as a way to prove to the other that they are right, that God does not exist, that if God exists then God would have the power to strike him down, as he is a non-believer. Of course, this cannot happen for various reasons, which I will attempt to discuss below.

March 30, 2003
James Skemp

In Tim Crane’s book, Elements of Mind: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind, we are given a contemporary look at the Analytic Tradition, and their use of the ideas of Intentionality to come to the truth about perception and thought. Crane attempts to explain to the reader how perception and thought are related, as well as the role of intentionality in relation to perception and thought. For the most part, when we speak of the terms ‘perception’ and ‘thought’ we can rely almost solely upon a particular individual.

March 24, 2003
James Skemp

1. According to Augustine, God is not responsible for the existence of evil. What is his argument? Present the argument in detail. In On Free Will, Augustine speaks of man’s freedom to will, or make decisions, for himself. He also speaks of evil, and how a man can do evil, as well as where evil comes from. Now, Augustine believes that man is inclined to do Good, which is to follow God and seek out happiness, through virtuous activity, and not through the goods of this physical world.

March 13, 2003
James Skemp

The following is a paper written for a Religion and Medieval Philosophy course. Every time I heard someone speak of scholasticism I never quite knew what they meant. Having heard of it in many classes in the philosophy of religion ‘genera’, I was convinced that it was something that refers to philosophers who dealt with the philosophy of religion, and specifically in the time period of the medieval era – especially around the years of St Thomas Aquinas and St Augustine.

February 23, 2003
James Skemp

This paper was written for a Religion and Medieval Philosophy course. The material of this text analysis will be Peter Abailard and his work The Glosses of Peter Abailard on Porphyry. As Abailard tells us, “There are then three questions, as Boethius says, secret and very useful and tried by not a few philosophers, but solved by few. The first is as follows, namely, whether genera and species subsist or are placed in the naked understandings alone, etc.

February 16, 2003
James Skemp

In Michael Corrado’s Analytic Tradition in Philosophy: Background and Issues, we are introduced to the analytical tradition in a way that has not been attempted since the time of this book. Instead of bundling philosophical works into an anthology Corrado attempts to explain what the fundamental characteristics are that tie these thinkers together. For this paper, I focus solely on the problems of perception and thought in the earlier analytic tradition, as Corrado discusses in this work, particularly on the first part, in which he discusses the background of the tradition – and therefore the earlier tradition.

February 10, 2003
James Skemp

The following was written for a Religion and Medieval Philosophy course. In Augustine’s The City of God, Augustine discusses what he thinks the City of God would be like. While there is no one particular page or passage that especially stuck out for me, I’m going focus on what Augustine says about other gods/religions and how that compares to what many people think in today’s society. For this analysis, I would like to show some of the reasons that I think this.

December 18, 2002
James Skemp

For over 2500 years, philosophers have debated on such issues as rights, reality, freedom, and justice. In all of those years, one decision on what is meant by these terms has never been set in stone; a final definition - or answer - has never been reached. Therefore, when someone asks the philosopher, or even one who has merely studied philosophy, what justice is, or what any of the other terms mean exactly, there is typically not one answer that is prevalent to all.

December 16, 2002
James Skemp

Edmund Husserl, in his Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, begins by discussing natural cognition and experience. Husserl explores experience, believing that experience is how we view the world around us. However, it is not enough to know that experience gives us insight. According to Husserl, we must, primarily, know how we are conscious of the world around us, before we can talk about the actuality of what we see.

December 15, 2002
James Skemp

The nineteenth century could be described as containing three major movements; Romanticism, Realism, and Modernism. Each movement has its own important features and major themes that have had an effect on the present day world. If I had to state one of the major themes of the entire nineteenth century, it would be the increase of the power of man and science. The beginning of the nineteenth century saw writers such as Mary Shelley, with her work Frankenstein.

December 8, 2002
James Skemp

Part I The question of what it is that makes one particular experiment ethical while another is unethical is a troublesome question. Is the ethicalness of a scientific experiment based upon whether the subject is harmed, whether the subject's rights have been in some way infringed upon, or is it based upon some other criteria? In this paper, I will take the position that it is not whether the subject was harmed, or whether their rights were infringed upon, but rather that it is ultimately power that determines the ethicalness of an experiment (position IV).

November 27, 2002
James Skemp

One of the most prevalent themes in the readings for this class has been religion, or mysticism, and its influence on and necessity for both man and society. The question that keeps arising is, however, can man and society live do without religion, or something similar? The modern man has more trust, for the most part, in science then he has in religion. However, what does this mean? First, I would like to take a look at what religion has done for man, in relation to the readings in general.

November 27, 2002
James Skemp

See also my paper tiled: Philosophy, Politics, and Law Final Regarding Justice and Various Philosophers. For my paper, I was going to attempt to answer what justice is. Obviously, Plato's Republic will be of use for this topic. Particularly his discussion with others, as well as how he thinks the state should be setup. I'm not going to put any of Machiavelli's The Prince in my paper, because I wasn't too much of a fan of him, and he doesn't really go into what justice 'really' is.

November 12, 2002
James Skemp

Recently, while listening to a philosophical discussion, I came to hear that there were not two kinds of inference (deductive and inductive), as I thought before, but instead that there were three kinds; deductive, inductive, and abductive. Wanting to know more about abductive reasoning, I did a little search, finding the following information.

First, let's show deduction, by way of an example:

October 31, 2002
James Skemp

In his Notes from Underground, Fyodor Dostoevsky asks what it is that civilization, or society in general, gives to the individual. In essence, the question concerns where the individual resides in society; what can be learned from man's place in a society? Dostoevsky presents to the reader a conflicted, sickly individual, and explores why the individual is the way he is, as well as whether society could do anything to help him from his lowly state.

October 29, 2002
James Skemp

It is important to mention what sentential logic is. While my guide has been out for almost two years now, I’ve yet to discuss what these rules are for. Sentential logic is one logical system, by which conclusions can be reached via premises, which may or may not be true. The truth of the premises does not concern sentential logic. Rather, sentential logic will tell you what conclusions necessarily come from the premises posited.

October 29, 2002
James Skemp

The Problem

What exactly is it that makes an individual a ‘friend’? Why is one person a ‘friend’, another not, and yet another your ‘best friend’?

According to Dictionary.com, a friend is;

October 2, 2002
James Skemp

In this paper, I will be discussing the points that Antony Flew contributes to the debate on whether religious claims must be proven by empirical means in order to be factually meaningful. First, I will discuss Flew’s major contribution, which is the analogy of the gardener. Second, I will discuss why this analogy helps to show that religious claims make no assertions, and are instead mere utterances. Flew begins his piece with a parable.

September 29, 2002
James Skemp

The following was written from January 30, 2002 to September 29, 2002, but I am just now (January 30, 2009) getting around to posting this. I can honestly admit that I haven't read over this in a very long time, but the skimming that I have done reminds me of certain things ... As time progresses I may go back and re-purpose this content. (Of particular note, also, will be at what time these were written and when I was reading certain philosophical works.

May 6, 2002
James Skemp

Descartes’ rationalist notion of necessary and contingent connections between simple natures has an important role in his Meditations. This, in turn, has an impact on other philosophers to come, in relation to the problems that the Meditations raise. This paper will first deal with simple natures, their connections, and their role in Descartes’ Meditations. After looking at Descartes, three other philosophers will be looked at to see how they deal with the ideas brought up by Descartes.

April 22, 2002
James Skemp

For this paper, I would like to focus on the topic of conflict and the ruler from the view of Confucianism. Specifically, I would like to look on how a ruler should operate, and under what conditions conflict, or war, should occur. By looking at the Analects, the Book of Mencius, the Doctrine of the Mean, and the Great Learning, I hope to gain some insight into the relationship between these two subjects.

April 21, 2002
James Skemp

“Let us suppose that organ transplant procedures have been perfected; in such circumstances if two dying patients could be saved by organ transplants then, if surgeon have the requisite organs in stock and no other needy patients, but nevertheless allow their patients to die, we would be inclined to say, and be justified in saying, that the patients died because the doctors refused to save them. But if there are no spare organs in stock and none otherwise available, the doctors have no choice, they cannot save their patients and so must let them die.

March 30, 2002
James Skemp

From the introductory material, we learn that the Great Learning "gives the Confucian educational, moral, and political programs in a nutshell" (1: 84). These ideas are summed up as, and consist of; manifesting the clear character of man, loving the people, and abiding in the highest good. There are also eight steps that should be followed; "the investigation of things, extension of knowledge, sincerity of the will, rectification of the mind, cultivation of the personal life, regulation of the family, national order, and world peace" (1: 84).

December 20, 2001
James Skemp

This semester we have looked at many different philosophers from the pre-Socratic up to Aristotle. For this paper, I will be talking about Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics and my view of what Aristotle states in this work. Specifically, I will be focusing on his view of happiness and comparing it with my view on happiness. Aristotle first begins Nichomachean Ethics by giving a definition of the good. “The good, therefore, has been well defined as that at which all things aim.

December 12, 2001
James Skemp

So far this semester, we have looked at four different writers of the Renaissance period. Of all of them, I personally found Montaigne to be the most interesting and appealing author. For this final paper, I will be discussing Montaigne’s use of the self and the main points of the pieces that we read, followed by what I think about Montaigne’s writing. The first piece that we read by Montaigne was Essay 14 in Book I: “That the taste of good and evil things depends in large part on the opinion we have of them”.

November 3, 2001
James Skemp

For my chapter synopsis, I read Chapter XIX. Of the Dissolution of Government for John Locke. This chapter deals with dissolving the government; how governments are dissolved, and what do to when they are. He says that governments are either overturned from without, or from within. When a foreign force conquests the commonwealth, the current government can not survive. Therefore, we return to the state of nature, and are free to survive alone, or find another way to survive, with another government.

October 30, 2001
James Skemp

The following paper was written for an Ancient Philosophy course that I took in college. I have not reviewed it since. Although none of Socrates actual writings exist, what we can get from Plato about Socrates shows the importance that Socrates played in not only the past, but also the influence that he has today. In this paper, I will be discussing the main reasons that Socrates had such an influence on philosophy.

October 25, 2001
James Skemp

This was the first attempt at The Importance of Socrates. Although none of Socrates actual writings exist, what we can get from Plato on Socrates shows the importance that Socrates played not only in the past, but also the influence that he has today. From Plato, we are able to learn some of the reasons that Socrates is important. In this paper, I’ll be discussing the main reasons that Socrates was persecuted, in the hopes that this will shed some light on why he was so important.

October 10, 2001
James Skemp

This paper was written for the class Perspectives of Human Values: The Renaissance for the mid-term paper. This paper will explore Erasmus’ understanding of authority. First of all, Erasmus’ view on the Bible and Scripture will be discussed. Secondly, what he has to say about the Spirit will be discussed. Lastly, Erasmus’ view on church will be discussed. Since Erasmus’ primary focus in his paper was on the Bible, that too will be the focus of this paper.

September 19, 2001
James Skemp

This paper was written for the class Perspectives on Human Values: The Renaissance. For this short response paper, we’re asked to summarize “On the Freedom of The Will” by Erasmus. To sum it up very shortly, free will. Throughout the book, Erasmus is trying to show us that the Bible is filled with examples that strength the idea that an individual has free will, or the choice to do as they want, whether it be good or evil.

May 4, 2001
James Skemp

Probably not worth much, but here’s an outline I did for a Social and Political Philosophy course, with Dr. Fiala, for who was doing what for a presentation. Ralph is Ralph Gadbois, and that’s about all else I remember. Perhaps this will help someone else, someday … Ralph: History of nuclear weapons MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction) Oppenheimer Pictures of nuclear explosion. Tobin: Ethics of nuclear weapons Arguments against nuclear weapons Chris:

March 7, 2001
James Skemp

“Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.” (Rousseau, Chapter I). Jean-Jacques Rousseau and The Social Contract had a large impact on Western Civilization in the late 18th century. Rousseau based his ideas on some of the writings of previous philosophers, trying to form a good political theory. The Social Contract was developed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau around 1762, during the time of the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment. The Social Contract was based on the ideas of Baron de Montesquieu and John Locke.

Older

Search

Links of Note

Support This Site

If my blog was helpful to you, then please consider visiting my Amazon Wishlist.