Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (1889-1951)... The limits of my language mean the limits of my world... and Henry Hazlitt (1894-1993)... A man with scant vocabulary a weak thinker

"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world... Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language."

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein (1889-1951)

Note:

A philosopher, philosophy of mathematics, logician.

Since the rise of mid-20th century Andy Warhol-esque pop culture, language spoken and written have been deluged with adolescent slangs, inordinate expletives, cesspool-ish vernaculars followed by words and terms ignorantly or intentionally redefined, reassigned, recategorized then regurgitated until widespread allowance, acceptance, adoption then adoration. Debates even discussions are presently quite impossible per resulting rife inconsistencies upon persisting rabid idiocies, thereby completely opposite meanings the same word or term when exchanged by two rhetoricians preoccupied by covetously, presumptuously self-aggrandized ramblings. 

Relatedly, the following quote expands further...

"A man with a scant vocabulary will almost certainly be a weak thinker. The richer and more copious one's vocabulary and the greater one's awareness of fine distinctions and subtle nuances of meaning, the more fertile and precise is likely to be one's thinking. Knowledge of things and knowledge of the words for them grow together. If you do not know the words, you can hardly know the thing."

Henry Hazlitt (1894-1993)

Note:

A business/economic journalist, writer, truly his hallmark work was his 1964 book The Foundations of Morality, although more known his 1946 book Economics in One Lesson.

Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.

Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

It is brewing/steeping day...

It is brewing/steeping day, so to replenish my refrigerator with tea and coffee. Nothing like iced coffee in the morning, iced tea in the afternoon amid Mississippi's hot and humid weather... Then later this sultry eve, gin and tonic on the rocks... :-)

If curious by the background items, I have 9 different methods to brew coffee. Bit of an obsession admittedly; American percolator, Italian stovetop, French press, Turkish copper pot, pour-over, steeping/cold-brew (mason jars), Keurig, Breville espresso, Mr Coffee drip, and hope to soon get a Ethiopian clay pot and an old school Bunn. Yet a part of me still obsesses to find more. :-)

Kurt Friedrich Gödel (1906-1978)... The meaning of world is the separation of wish and fact...

"The meaning of world is the separation of wish and fact... But every error is due to extraneous factors (such as emotion and education); reason itself does not err."

Kurt Friedrich Gödel (1906-1978)

Note:

A logician, mathematician, and philosopher.

Many would be surprised by the combined criticism of "emotion and education" as "extraneous factors" towards "every error", however I would go further. Publicly funded schools and universities (emphasis on publicly funded) have long been institutions lacking intellectual pabulum therefore emotive efforts of sentimental strains. Consequently, the aforesaid proffered to susceptible minds more of imaginative concepts, whims then fantasies thus accumulatively compounding inconsistencies, and less of observable events, facts then logic thus determinably impressing consistencies. Upon one hundred and more years of such nonsense, 21st century America finds herself amid pandemonium of situational varieties upon political, social, economic, monetary even religious as well moral chaos.

Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.

Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

A documentary worthy of one's time... The Genius of George Boole...

A documentary worthy of one's time...

"That logic, as a science, is susceptible of very wide applications is admitted; but it is equally certain that its ultimate forms and processes are mathematical."

George Boole (1815-1864)

Note:

Self-taught as mathematician, philosopher, logician, as well first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork. He developed what became known as Boolean Algebra and/or Logic, later used by Claude Shannon (1916-2001) to establish Digital Circuit Design Theory in 1937, then Theory of Communication in 1948.

As I stated in an earlier post... In preparation for my next book, I am studying logic or laws of thought by various ancient, classical as well modern logicians/syllogists. While many may see the applications for mathematics, physics, mechanics, hydro and aero dynamics, information theories (my other profession) and all other sciences of course, therefore the endless discoveries of observable constants and determinable consistencies, I also see ethics or to state more accurately thus clearly the singular ethic.

Claude Elwood Shannon (1916-2001)... Thus we may have knowledge of the past but cannot control it; we may control the future but have no knowledge of it...

"This duality can be pursued further and is related to a duality between past and future and the notions of control and knowledge. Thus we may have knowledge of the past but cannot control it; we may control the future but have no knowledge of it."

Claude Elwood Shannon (mathematician/electrical engineer, 1916-2001)

Note:

In 1937 as 21 year old student at MIT, Shannon was first to determine Digital Circuit Design Theory, thereby applying Boolean logic as developed by mathematician, philosopher and logician George Boole (1815-1864). 

In preparation for my next book, I am studying logic or laws of thought by various ancient, classical as well modern logicians/syllogists. While many may see the applications for mathematics, physics, mechanics, hydro and aero dynamics, information theories (my other profession) and all other sciences of course, therefore the endless discoveries of observable constants and determinable consistencies, I also see ethics or to state more accurately thus clearly the singular ethic.

It is however by the aforesaid implied lack of ethical understanding cancerously widespread, 21st century society have reached the present chaotic climax politically, economically, monetarily, scientifically, academically even religiously, morally too.

Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.

Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

Quote by D.C. Quillan Stone

Quote by D.C. Quillan Stone

Peter Abelard (1079-1142)... Constant and frequent questioning is the first key to wisdom...

"Constant and frequent questioning is the first key to wisdom... For through doubting we are led to inquire, and by inquiry we perceive the truth."

Peter Abelard (1079-1142)

Note:

Philosopher, logician, theologian, teacher, musician, composer, and poet... Quote taken from his work Sic Et Non.

Questioning, doubting observably, logically, ethically opposes the fool's drone-like acceptance of science, fact, truth or common good as though "in", "settled" or "foregone conclusively" as often promulgated by empowered institutions whether the 16th century Catholic Church, 20th century Nazi Germany and Soviet Union as well 20th/21st century US Government.

Instead, the pursuit of knowledge, logic, consistency, ethic, truth, discernment, wisdom comes only by ceaseless study, endless ponder, tireless labor until one's last breath. The same ends pursued by lesser effort leads unavoidably, inevitably to ignorance, illogic, inconsistency, immorality, falsity, dullness and foolishness.

Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.

Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

Upon an eve of studying, writing then conversing, it is time for good Irish whiskey...

Upon an eve of studying, writing then conversing, it is time for good Irish whiskey o'er three chilled stones and Celtic music, a few of God's many gifts to solace the mind and soul. :-)

"And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of ALL his labour."

Ecclesiastes 3:13

Saint Jerome Writing by Caravaggio...

Saint Jerome Writing by Caravaggio (1571-1610)... o San Girolamo Scrivente di Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio...

Per the studious, ponderous, laborious as well intensely passionate character of the art, subject and painter, this classic Italian piece have long been my favorite. So much so, considered using a portion of it as a front cover but opted alternatively for 10th then 11th and now 12th book covers.

Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.

Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

Upon the third "two-finger" pour of good scotch whiskey...

To continue (see my post earlier this evening)... Upon the third "two-finger" pour of good scotch whiskey after an evening of studying, pondering, laboring, moving on to crooner-less jazz, thus one of my favorites...

When the study and ponder towards Truth becomes a blessing and burden as well curse, then one found the laborious path to it.

Nothing like scotch whiskey and Nat King Cole...

Nothing like scotch whiskey and Nat King Cole after an evening of studying, pondering, laboring... :-)

Growing evidence suggests that we are living in a post-thinking era... Thomas Sowell...

Great quote by Thomas Sowell.

If to merely consider the "Three Primary Laws of Thought" as enumerated by economist and logician William Stanley Jevons (quote below), echoing centuries of other thinkers, logicians, scientists, economists, etc., one would find most if not all of politics obscenely breach the same "consistent" principles, particularly the last two years.

To simplify further, if to merely consider "inconsistency", not when personally, politically convenient but each and every occurrence, one would also find most if not all of politics obscenely manifest the same preceded always by covetousness, presumption and arrogance.

"These laws describe the very simplest truths, in which all people must agree, and which at the same time apply to all notions which we can conceive. It is impossible to think correctly and avoid evident self-contradiction unless we observe what are called the Three Primary Laws of Thought, which may be stated as follows:

1. The Law of Identity. Whatever is, is.

2. The Law of Contradiction. Nothing can both be and not be.

3. The Law of Excluded Middle. Everything must either be or not be.

Though these laws when thus stated may seem absurdly obvious... I have found that students are seldom able to see at first their full meaning and importance."

William Stanley Jevons (1835-1882)

Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.

Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

Henry Hazlitt (1894-1993)... A man with a scant vocabulary will almost certainly be a weak thinker...

A quote that greatly inspired when long ago I started to study economics praxeologically, leading appropriately to history, political science (oxymoronic term), psychology, logic/syllogism and more...

"A man with a scant vocabulary will almost certainly be a weak thinker. The richer and more copious one's vocabulary and the greater one's awareness of fine distinctions and subtle nuances of meaning, the more fertile and precise is likely to be one's thinking. Knowledge of things and knowledge of the words for them grow together. If you do not know the words, you can hardly know the thing."

Henry Hazlitt (1894-1993)

For those more theological, is it not interesting if not profound to note then compare the Gospel according to John per the introduction "In the beginning was the Word..."

Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.

Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

George Boole algebraically represented the 2nd of 3 laws of thought... x (1 − x) = 0...

Another midnight reading/studying (with glass of fine scotch whiskey), still partaking of George Boole's 1854 book An Investigation of the Laws of Thought as part of a list of books in preparation for my current book project on the singular human right to consent or dissent on all matters. Thus, intriguingly fascinating...

"That axiom of metaphysicians which is termed the principle of contradiction, and which affirms that it is impossible for any being to possess a quality, and at the same time not to possess it, is a consequence of the fundamental law of thought, whose expression is x2 = x. Let us write this equation in the form x − x2 = 0, whence we have x (1 − x) = 0; both these transformations being justified by the axiomatic laws of combination and transposition."

George Boole (1815-1864, mathematician/philosopher/logician)

Boole clarified the context prior by defining the number "1" to equal "Universe" or "Everything" while the number "0" to equal "Nothing" or "Impossible". In so doing, he algebraically represented the logical law of contradiction (2nd law below), or as Jevons described thus defined best in his 1870 book Elementary Lessons in Logic: Deductive and Inductive...

"These laws describe the very simplest truths, in which all people must agree, and which at the same time apply to all notions which we can conceive. It is impossible to think correctly and avoid evident self-contradiction unless we observe what are called the Three Primary Laws of Thought, which may be stated as follows:

1. The Law of Identity. Whatever is, is.

2. The Law of Contradiction. Nothing can both be and not be.

3. The Law of Excluded Middle. Everything must either be or not be.

Though these laws when thus stated may seem absurdly obvious...I have found that students are seldom able to see at first their full meaning and importance."

William Stanley Jevons (1835-1882, economist/logician)

Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.

Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

Private property my country, family and friends my countrymen...

Private property my country, family and friends my countrymen, consequently the sweaty, dirty, bloody, long worn shirt-off-back my flag, for upon a rustic post centered in my domain I have nailed that banner however tattered, patched, frayed, stained, worked thus ragged while individually, completely purchased. I pledge allegiance to no other!

D.C. Quillan Stone

Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.

Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

www.DCQuillanStone.com / www.CafePerQ.com

While writing my 11th book, pondering several days... I was passionately compelled to write the following text on the eve of 10 December 2019...

While writing my 11th book, pondering several days on the first few chapters of Ludwig von Mises' Human Action as well John Locke's Two Treatises of Government, Alexander Hamilton's Federalist Paper No. 84, Lysander Spooner's No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority, the latter delineating the complete failure of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights by 1867 (when published), I was passionately compelled to write the following text on the eve of 10 December 2019...

Proem & Poem No. 139 - Bill of Right

      If such understanding forms and foments, then solely amid ceaseless study, ponder and labor, concluding first in part, later in whole, to logically respect then ethically regard, hence fervently declaring then firmly establishing in this manner.

      The propensity, preference and persistence upon observable practice by Each and Every Individual since first reasoned the Specie Human and Peculiar above all other species, thus consistently inclining, constantly insisting the Singular Right to Consent or Dissent regarding Each and Every Matter, indeed without exception as exemplified per unwanted prevention, unacceptable prohibition, undesirable preemption, unwelcomed intervention, unwarranted retroaction by persons ever covetous as well parties ever contemptuous whether private, religious, philosophical, economical, social, political, governmental and more.

---

Ten enumerations honored, revered, still circumvented

As the Founding Framers and Schemers perhaps intended

Syntax bended, parallax presented; a logical suspicion

Yet anagogical the promulgation for Statism’s veneration

---

Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.

Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

Books studied thus far in preparation or my 12th book... currently studying George Boole's An Investigation of the Laws of Thought...

Books studied thus far in preparation (two stacks more yet to read), currently studying George Boole's An Investigation of the Laws of Thought as well worked into the wee hours of morn this past weekend on potential opening sentence, paragraph even page for my 12th book; Propositions, Problems & Poems on the Peculiar Human ABILITY to REASON, Singular Human RIGHT to CONSENT & Other Neglected Matters...

"As much the human specie possesses the peculiar ability to reason, so inseparably aware of the singular right to consent or dissent on all matters. As much the nonhuman species do not possess the peculiar ability to reason, so consequently unaware of the singular right to consent or dissent on all matters."

"If to propose the existence of reason as absolute as it is a human ability peculiar, so must propose else consider the existence of ethic as absolute as it is a human right singular."

At the moment, leaning towards the above statement or a reworked version of it. With that said, as I continue studying, may toss it and write another. :-)

And of course, will sign off on each proposition at bottom of page with the usual text below...

Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.

Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

If to propose the existence of reason as absolute as it is a human ability peculiar, so must propose else consider the existence of ethic as absolute as it is a human right singular...

With Minor Case rye whiskey then Southern Pecan beer at my side.... been reading, studying George Boole's An Investigation of the Laws of Thought as well working into the wee hours of morn on potential opening sentence, paragraph even page for my 12th book; Propositions, Problems & Poems on the Peculiar Human ABILITY to REASON, Singular Human RIGHT to CONSENT & Other Neglected Matters...

"As much the human specie possesses the peculiar ability to reason, so inseparably aware of the singular right to consent or dissent on all matters. 

"As much the nonhuman species do not possess the peculiar ability to reason, so consequently unaware of the singular right to consent or dissent on all matters."

"If to propose the existence of reason as absolute as it is a human ability peculiar, so must propose else consider the existence of ethic as absolute as it is a human right singular."

And of course, to sign off on each proposition and page...

Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.

Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

Prince Michael von Liechtenstein... Afghanistan’s sad story and a new wave of immigration to Europe...

"Have no illusions: the Afghan refugees will move west. It is inevitable, and we should show understanding for their plight." --- Prince Michael von Liechtenstein

Afghanistan’s sad story and a new wave of immigration to Europe by Prince Michael von Liechtenstein...

https://www.gisreportsonline.com/afghanistans-sad-story-and-a-new-wave-of-immigration-to-europe,3583,c.html

Whatever comparison one can appropriately make, US-Afghanistan War versus Soviet-Afghanistan, US-Afghanistan War versus US-Vietnam War even US-Afghanistan War versus US-Korean War and to go further back, US-Afghanistan War versus US-Spanish / US-Filipino Wars, the assessment is the same; American empire's intervention policy failing once again, therefore should have "never" endeavored. However, the focus should not be solely on United States' repeated failures but 20 years of US warmongering that have killed 250,000+/- people (by some estimates) in just one country.

As an American I am embarrassed, ashamed, and quite confident my government will NOT suddenly learn the obvious political, moral lesson, but will continue intervening other countries when opportunities arise.

Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.

Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

Per an online survey "Do you think people today have good sense and judgment about practical matters?", consequently I commented further...

Potentially, yes. For every individual have the peculiar (unique) human ability to reason, well utilized each passing moment. That is to say, reasoning used appropriately as so long the individual bears fully his/her own responsibility and risk. That is to say differently, there is never a passing moment when an individual is not reasoning, therefore reasoning constantly. 

Therefore, grossly oxymoronic to suggest a person, a member of the human specie, is unreasonable. For to reason is human (see Nos. 22-24,33,34 of my 10th book), or to be human is to reason, inconsequential thus a different matter whether the person's action or behavior are constructive or destructive.

If the individual is not fully bearing his/her own responsibility and risk per others (parents, charities, etc) or per government (welfare, subsidies, grants, loans, prohibitions, regulations, monetary expansion, etc), hence responsibility and risk mitigated else negated, then the individual ability to reason becomes misdirected, distorted, corrupted even perverted, in parallel to inciting covetousness towards presumption and arrogance for more of the same.

To logically, consistently define, to reason; the ability to economize, prioritize thus determine per propensity, prerogative, preference, necessity, pursuit, objective upon knowledge or information gathered by experience directly (life lived) or experience indirectly (reading, studying, etc).

Note:

The above text derived from my studies and notes as I begin to work on the opening statement, paragraph and page for 12th book project in progress; Propositions, Problems & Poems on the Peculiar Human ABILITY to REASON, Singular Human RIGHT to CONSENT & Other Neglected Matters.

Ayn Rand (1905-1982)... I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine...

"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."

Ayn Rand (1905-1982, from her book Atlas Shrugged)

Best exemplified the beauty of self-interest respected thus regarded per modest governance, when individuals separately calculate, speculate, labor and produce, then in the marketplace of mutual consent, not taxed, regulated, subsidized, prohibited, sanctioned, confiscated nor seized, negotiate and exchange their goods and services, all proportionately satisfied even benefited.

Best exemplified the ugliness of self-interest disrespected thus disregarded per arrogant governance, when individuals separately calculate, speculate, labor and produce, then in the marketplace of covetous presumption, well taxed, regulated, subsidized, prohibited, sanctioned, confiscated or seized, adjust and transact their goods and services, all disproportionately unsatisfied even harmed.

Come let us Reason. Peace is always a Choice.
Study, Ponder, Labor, till last Breath.

Note:
Book cover is a 1996 paperback preprint of Rand's 1957 novel, a storyline then somewhat speculative although now quite definitive.

George Boole (1815-1864)... It is to be remembered that it is the business of science not to create laws, but to discover them...

"It is to be remembered that it is the business of science not to create laws, but to discover them."

George Boole (1815-1864), self-taught mathematician, philosopher, logician and professor, then articulated further in his 1854 book An Investigation of The Laws of Thought...

"We do not originate the constitution of our own minds, greatly as it may be in our power to modify their character. And as the laws of the human intellect do not depend upon our will, so the forms of the science, of which they constitute the basis, are in all essential regards independent of individual choice."

The same Boole as Boolean logic... Thus the book currently studying in preparation for my next book project (3rd posted image), upon reading thus far; Hazlitt's Thinking as a Science, Jevons' Elementary Lessons in Logic Deductive and Inductive, Porphyry's Isagoge, Aristotle's Organon, La Boétie's The Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, Spooner's Natural Law, Rothbard's Anatomy of the State, with a couple of stacks yet to read and study...

George Boole's book (pdf), courtesy of Project Guttenberg...

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/15114/15114-pdf.pdf

A poem... BY CULL PRO CONCORD by D.C. Quillan Stone

BY CULL PRO CONCORD by D.C. Quillan Stone

16 September 2009

 

"Ye naked bipeds, without beaks or claws,

Hairless, and featherless, and tender-hided,

Weeping ye come into the world—because

Ye feel your evil destiny decided;"

 

Voltaire (1694-1778)

 

Lacking feather, scale, and fur

The vulnerable notion occurs

In soul manifested in body

The Jungian types lowly float

From mind’s night to kind of light

Retreating, betwixt the odd mix

The long Styx-like mélange

Aligning an au courant echelon

 

The thin line drawn in sketch

Rightly in etch, a correct divide

Between echo and bliss, amiss

The proctor’s lisp and inebriety

 

(note to self)

Sobriety, a poet’s antagonist

 

Goddamn the inner flim-flam

Psychology’s fuckin’ conjecture

Voltaire’s eccentric censure

Philosophy’s gray relativity

Curses for those who mourn

With shorn head, born as dead

Prostrating in hot ash and coals

As mere elections to ascend

Rescind again the declination

 

(a tangential rant)

Sauntering are pompous bastards

Leading crews to bleed in fields

Scorn the sense, the logic

For the austere alternatives

To ascetically be, `tween enemies

By cull pro concord, always

Via volition con violence

Note:

Poem taken from my 6th book MIDLAND (2011). See links/sites for all books, further information, excerpts, commentaries, blogs, etc.

www.DCQuillanStone.com (books) / www.CafePerQ.com (blogs)