tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post2780709542007657463..comments2024-03-28T23:42:09.625+00:00Comments on Poul Anderson Appreciation: Impossible HistoriesKetlanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08588156788583883454noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post-60939742316182286012016-02-16T07:33:38.923+00:002016-02-16T07:33:38.923+00:00Nicholas,
Thank you.
Paul.Nicholas,<br />Thank you.<br />Paul.Paul Shackleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04180596532266581425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post-62627052372836147152016-02-16T04:04:42.968+00:002016-02-16T04:04:42.968+00:00Kaor, Paul,
I think it was Emerson who said that ...Kaor, Paul,<br /><br />I think it was Emerson who said that about a foolish consistency.<br /><br />Best Regards,<br />Nicholas D. RosenAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post-66140039339788207002016-02-15T08:35:26.830+00:002016-02-15T08:35:26.830+00:00I think that Whitman went on to say that a foolish...I think that Whitman went on to say that a foolish consistency was the hobgoblin of small minds? A foolish consistency would be holding someone to the letter of everything he had already said even when he was having the opportunity to learn more and to revise his opinions during a discussion.Paul Shackleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04180596532266581425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post-55457306290062624432016-02-15T08:08:33.449+00:002016-02-15T08:08:33.449+00:00David,
Whitman must have meant something like, &qu...David,<br />Whitman must have meant something like, "On some matters of taste or opinion, I sometimes feel one way and sometimes another." However, he cannot sensibly have meant, "I simultaneously think both A and not-A."<br />Paul.Paul Shackleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04180596532266581425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post-43437327930005770552016-02-15T00:47:13.685+00:002016-02-15T00:47:13.685+00:00Paul:
'...no author ever says anything like, &...Paul:<br />'...no author ever says anything like, "Have I given several incompatible dates for a fictitious event? That is because I transcend logic and am not obliged to be consistent."'<br /><br />Actually, George MacDonald Fraser said something rather like that in the opening pages of his wildly funny and insanely anachronistic spoof *The Pyrates*. He remarked that the story begins on a day when Samuel Pepys recorded [certain incidents] in his diary, and John Evelyn recorded [certain rumors] in his, and then Fraser added that "anyone checking these entries will find they are years apart, which gives some idea of the kind of story this is...." <br /><br />Fraser was doing it to be funny (he succeeded). I don't know WHAT Walt Whitman had in mind when he proclaimed, "Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes." What WAS going through his head -- and how much did he pay his pusher for it?David Birrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08973889429164886381noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3538502828554372917.post-34003198609941627762016-02-15T00:22:54.827+00:002016-02-15T00:22:54.827+00:00Kaor, Paul!
Alas, I too have had trouble with per...Kaor, Paul!<br /><br />Alas, I too have had trouble with persons who did not understand logic. Some even denied that "opinions" can be false. E.g., they denied that someone's opinion that Hitler was a good and saintly man was false. Or that two plus two does not have to ALWAYS equal four was false. I discussed this problem with Mr. Wright on his own blog and he found it interesting enough to write a long blog piece about logic.<br /><br />SeanSean M. Brookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13973738112230622557noreply@blogger.com