>
>John Larkin wrote:

>>
>> On Sat, 23 Aug 2008 23:19:07 -0700 (PDT), Immortalist
>> yahoo.com> wrote:
>>

>>>On Aug 23, 4:36 pm, John Larkin
>>>highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com> wrote:

>>>> On Sat, 23 Aug 2008 16:01:25 -0700 (PDT), Immortalist
>>>>
>>>> yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>>

>>>>>Descartes attempts to create a foundationalist philosophy based on a
>>>>>single, undeniable truth which he knows to be "fixed and assured". He
>>>>>takes "I think, therefore I am" "as the first principle of the
>>>>>philosophy I was seeking", believing that this is the only truth which
>>>>>is necessary to found a philosophy. His logical structure , however,
>>>>>relies on a second postulate. He claims that "the capacity to judge
>>>>>correctly and to distinguish the true from the false is naturally
>>>>>equal in all men". This postulate is more fundamental to his logical
>>>>>structure than the cogito because without it, he cannot escape the
>>>>>skepticism of his foundationalist structure.

>>>>
>>>> That's just silly. Some people have no talent for thinking, and a lot
>>>> of people who potentially have talent haven't practised enough to get
>>>> any good at it.
>>>>
>>>> Learning to think is like learning most other things: have some good
>>>> instructors; do it a lot; get good feedback.
>>>>
>>>> Descartes obviously didn't.
>>>>
>>>> John

>>>
>>>But weren't you attempting to create a foundationalist philosophy
>>>based on a single, undeniable truth, the giveness of sense data which
>>>you somehow believe is "fixed and assured"?

>>
>> No, I attempt to design and sell electronic circuits. Since it almost
>> always works, I must understand something close to the way the world
>> operates.
>>

>>>But if that were all
>>>there was to this truth, there would be just the seemingness of sense
>>>experience. In order to say anything else about it or interpret the
>>>seemingness of sense wouldn't you need the capacity to judge correctly
>>>and to distinguish the true from the false? These arguments are
>>>separate from the sense data given.

>>
>> If the stuff works, and unless my entire universe is delusional (all
>> those numbers on the test equipment, all those purchase orders... all
>> illusions?) then I must be pretty close to right. And when I'm wrong,
>> I find out fast and fix it.
>>
>> Really, life's not all that difficult. Just do what works.

>
>
> That's his problem. His life doesn't work, so he has to spin silly
>scenatios.