[lit-ideas] Re: "Describe the aroma of coffee"
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:25:04 EDT
On Tuesday, J. M. Geary addressed his class,
"Today we'll discuss the causal theory of perception -- as per Aristippos".
"How do you spell that?"
"A - R - I - S - T - I - P - P - O - S"
Can you write that in the blackboard?
Board.
Board.
Sure. APISTIIIIIOS
Whoa??
Cyril Writing. In our previous meeting we were discussing so-called
'heathen, perverted' analytic philosophy as spread by "Witters". He says, [as
the
teacher grabs the bilingual edition] "Unschreibe der Aroma des Koffee". Now
we'll discuss the corpuscular theory of Locke and Boyle.
Boyle? As in boiling water?
Exactly. Corpuscules are boiled in water, boiling water. Same with coffee,
if not chicken. I (to use Wittgenstein's term, as translated by Anscombe)
'describe' the aroma (smell, odor, 'taste' even) of coffee as the "scent" (or
quintescent", if you must)
How do you spell that?
"5th Sent"
"Where was I. Ah yes. Of coffee sent through the air and not just the
veritable air, but ens realis itself (as distinct from other entia).
So the smell is an entity?
Yes. The aroma of coffee is unique in and of itself, no description needed,
thank you. Even if I just gave you one to tease you. You can cross that out
in your notebooks. It was an 'unwritten dogma'.
And where does chicken come in?
Well, taste is the true test of the philosopher. Aristippos knew that. In
Greek, 'taste' is _touch_. For surely when you taste something literally, your
tongue touches it. It's different with the taste of coffee. And the smell of
coffee. Or bleach for that matter. And then there's the taste of chicken.
Chicken?
Some people say chickens have not taste. But that's not true. Actually, the
scent of chicken is what Plotinus called an 'ennead'. For, he wrote,
"everything tastes LIKE chicken" "Ad gallinuculam omnia tangit". What do frog
legs
taste like? Chicken. Gallinuculam.
What do snakes taste like? Chicken. Gallinuculam. What do fried dill
pickles dipped in peanut butter taste like? Chicken. Gallinuculam. What
does
broccoli taste like? Moldy chicken.
Does that make an ennead?
Yes, he testified with nine essences and he concluded per omnia saecula
saeculorum as we say in Memphis. Here some definition
and description, not necessarily ostensive IS necessary since all tastes
depend on the taste of chicken -- or "the bird" as we call it in Memphis.
Is that semantic narrowing?
No, that's semantic broadening. Surely 'fowl' meant _bird_ and now means
_chicken_. 'avicula' in Latin (little bird) now means chicken in Italian,
etcetera. On the other hand, brid, and bird is _girl_ -- but we must leave
that
synecdoche for a longer day.
So Witters was wrong?
Not really. He was German, or Austrian, if you must. What Witters really
wanted to say, but did not dare, was, what must everything _taste_ like
chicken?
He was into a bigger programme then of refuting Plotinus's idea of the One.
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