Thursday, October 09, 2008

I don't think those words mean what you think they mean.

Anyone who denies the law of non-contradiction should be beaten and burned until he admits that to be beaten is not the same as not to be beaten, and to be burned is not the same as not to be burned. ~Avicenna
Anyone who responds to a discussion about objective reality by saying, "That's might be your objective reality, but it's not my objective reality!" is not worth the time that talking to them would waste. They are really not worth the time taken to interact with them in any way. The sole possible exception is, per Avicenna, the time it would take to beat and burn them. And they are only worth that because it is the only kind of argument they are capable of understanding.

Edited to add: I am not, of course, suggesting that anyone actually beat and burn relativists, at least not without first consulting with your confessor. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a confessor who looks entirely kindly upon my beating people and setting them on fire. Not even if it is for the best of reasons.

5 comments:

Niggardly Phil said...

How could we possibly beat or burn the mentally retarded? What an awful thing to suggest. You should be ashamed of yourself. They need to be loved, embraced for who they are, loved again and then restrained physically for their own good. Oh, we could put a television in front of them with "Desperate Housewives" or "American Idol", just to keep them occupied, but definitely physically restrained. FOR THEIR OWN GOOD, mind you. They ARE retarded, after all.

Anonymous said...

Sir,

I abhor the previous commentor's equation of relativists with the mentally retarded, or as we prefer to be known, Darwinists, and his positively medieval suggestion that we be physically restrained. Modern science has determined beyond a shadow of a doubt that the proven therapeutic technique of electric shock therapy has for many years yielded nothing but the best results, and provides for the hardened Darwinist a most physical hope for his materialist condition. I have in fact been administering such therapy to myself for many years now, with notable improvement, aside from a slight stutter and an occasional...

Yours etc.

Anonymous said...

How do you like your relativist?

Medium rare or Well done?

John Médaille said...

Are you sure that was Avicenna? I always thought it was Duns Scotus.

brendon said...

Scotus does use it, but I believe he is quoting Avicenna. As far as I know, the original source is Avicenna, Metaphysics, I.