Pynchon & Math (Aristotle vs. Plato)

[Bled Welder]

A second-half band...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U

Now who was the min, thereind?  .....

On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 5:57 AM, alice wellintown <alicewellintown at gmail.com
> wrote:

> Several critical studies examine Pynchon and the American Pragmatists.
>
> I think a good place to turn is to Aristotle. Here in an Introduction
> we see a basic difference in Aristotle from Plato and Socrates, and
> specifically, on Ethics. The wisdom of Aristotle is that he accepts
> the idea that it is wise to examine or explore a topic only so far as
> the topic permits, that there is an exhaustion point, and that in
> Ethics, and in Politics, the topic does not allow for examination as
> it does in other sciences.
>
> Is the application of math to Ethics and Politics Fascist? Maybe.
> Maybe something in that GR....
>
> Is Plato a Fascist?
>
> No, but the math....
>
> The main difference between Plato and Aristotle is this: Plato thought
> ethics was an exact (theoretical) science; Aristotle thought precision
> was extremely difficult in a science such as ethics. Please note that
> "science" is being used in its ancient sense of knowledge in general.
>
> THE PROPER METHOD FOR ETHICS (Bk. I, Sec. 3)
>
> From ethics one can expect only as much precision as the subject
> matter allows. This is opposite to Plato's belief, because it does not
> allow for any mathematical exactness. Does this mean, then, that moral
> rules are "conventions," made up or created by humans? No, they are
> natural, but they are not like Plato's immutable forms. Aristotle
> avoids ethical relativism because of his confidence in human reason
> and experience to decide on general courses of action.
>
> Plato approached ethical questions with a formal, abstract approach,
> analyzing each just as he would analyze a math problem. Aristotle,
> though, believed that because of all the human variables found in
> ethics (but not found in the formal sciences), mathematical precision
> was impossible.
>
> http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/103/aristotle.htm
>
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