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Lessons for Philosophers and Scientists from Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown

blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk

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Re: Lessons for Philosophers and Scientists from Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown

#2
Father Brown was a great respite while I was locked in solitary last year as a political prisoner of Iowa Chief Justice Susan Larson Christensen and her brother 4th District Chief Judge Jeff Larson. As a lion's paw she named every first degree blood relation except her brother to the Iowa House today - disgusting.

For some reason I could only read a chapter at a time - the stories exhausted the mind. Not sure if it was Chesterton's unique prose or the ripples of thought it set off.

Re: Lessons for Philosophers and Scientists from Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown

#4
post #2

Father Brown was a great respite while I was locked in solitary last year as a political prisoner of Iowa Chief Justice Susan Larson Christensen and her brother 4th District Chief Judge Jeff Larson. As a lion's paw she named every first degree blood relation except her brother to the Iowa House today - disgusting. For some reason I could only read a chapter at a time - the stories exhausted the mind. Not sure if it w…

> while I was locked in solitary last year as a political prisoner of Iowa Chief Justice Susan Larson Christensen and her brother 4th District Chief Judge Jeff Larson. As a lion's paw she named every first degree blood relation except her brother to the Iowa House today - disgusting.

What now?

Re: Lessons for Philosophers and Scientists from Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown

#5
post #3

Everyone has heard of Sherlock Holmes, but probably fewer (in the US) have ever heard of Father Brown. It’s a great series (from the BBC?) that I recommend to anyone looking for a nice calm detective series.

I'd really recommend the books rather than the series (though the latter isn't bad). Chesterton is one of my favourite writers, and the stories are short and easily digestible.

Re: Lessons for Philosophers and Scientists from Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown

#6
post #4
post #2

Father Brown was a great respite while I was locked in solitary last year as a political prisoner of Iowa Chief Justice Susan Larson Christensen and her brother 4th District Chief Judge Jeff Larson. As a lion's paw she named every first degree blood relation except her brother to the Iowa House today - disgusting. For some reason I could only read a chapter at a time - the stories exhausted the mind. Not sure if it w…

> while I was locked in solitary last year as a political prisoner of Iowa Chief Justice Susan Larson Christensen and her brother 4th District Chief Judge Jeff Larson. As a lion's paw she named every first degree blood relation except her brother to the Iowa House today - disgusting. What now?

Or, more generally: what..?

I wasn't able to really make sense of that explanation at all despite often reading (and often preferring) English as much as my native language for years I think.

Re: Lessons for Philosophers and Scientists from Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown

#7
"In science it is rather more important to find out the right answer than to identify an answer that will fit one’s currently ruling paradigm."

Which is why "consistency is the virtue of a narrow mind". And why debugging can be so hard when the ruling paradigm of system behaviour in your head is not aligned to real system behaviour.

Re: Lessons for Philosophers and Scientists from Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown

#8
post #5
post #3

Everyone has heard of Sherlock Holmes, but probably fewer (in the US) have ever heard of Father Brown. It’s a great series (from the BBC?) that I recommend to anyone looking for a nice calm detective series.

I'd really recommend the books rather than the series (though the latter isn't bad). Chesterton is one of my favourite writers, and the stories are short and easily digestible.

And all are public domain! Amazon provides them as $0 kindle books.

Re: Lessons for Philosophers and Scientists from Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown

#9
post #2

Father Brown was a great respite while I was locked in solitary last year as a political prisoner of Iowa Chief Justice Susan Larson Christensen and her brother 4th District Chief Judge Jeff Larson. As a lion's paw she named every first degree blood relation except her brother to the Iowa House today - disgusting. For some reason I could only read a chapter at a time - the stories exhausted the mind. Not sure if it w…

Ouch a year of solitary! That is some gulag archipelago right there!

Re: Lessons for Philosophers and Scientists from Sherlock Holmes and Father Brown

#10
"Utilitarianism, without a theory of value – a way of saying what is regarded as the desirable end, and why – is an empty and useless game."

Utilitarianism, if I've read Mill correctly, does state that minimising suffering and maximising happiness is doing good. So it has its theory of value right there, built in. Stating that "X without Y is just a Z" isn't very insightful. A brush without bristles is just a stick. Ok, So what?

Furthermore, the "and why" part of the statement implies that there exist universally acceptable reasons why anything should be worthwhile which is arguably nonsense. I'd say it is an "empty and useless game" regardless of any theory of value, but we choose to play it anyway.

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