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The "I refute it thus" is one of the funniest episodes in the history of philosophy (next to Diogenes plucked chicken) For the unaware: > “After we came out o
by cambalache 6y ago
The "I refute it thus" is one of the funniest episodes in the history of philosophy (next to Diogenes plucked chicken)
For the unaware:
> “After we came out of the church, we stood talking for some time together of Bishop Berkeley’s ingenious sophistry to prove the non-existence of matter, and that every thing in the universe is merely ideal. I observed, that though we are satisfied his doctrine is not true, it is impossible to refute it. I never shall forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, striking his foot with mighty force against a large stone, till he rebounded from it, ‘I refute it thus.'”(Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson, quoted from Wikipedia.)
- westoncb 6y agoReminds me of Alan Watts trying to point his audience to what's meant by immediate experience by saying (essentially) that any verbal description, for instance of a bell ringing, is missing the point as far as immediate experience is concerned; "it's just": then he actually rings a bell (catching the audience off guard).