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A Kripkean Argument For Goatism
Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 10:22 am
by Philosophy Now
Bill Capra demonstrates that the fact that everything is a goat can be shown by a simple argument which draws on elementary modal principles.
http://philosophynow.org/issues/79/A_Kr ... or_Goatism
Re: A Kripkean Argument For Goatism
Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 3:17 pm
by spike
DEAR EDITOR: Bill Capra (Issue 79) argues that everything is a goat. Lawyers, then, are also goats. However, there is a question about whether abstract ideas are goats. The consensus seems to be that only material things are goats – those things that can be clearly defined. So the law that lawyers practice and deal with is not considered to be a goat because laws tend to be abstractions. However, the law is clearly not an abstraction when one finds themselves on the wrong side of it, or imprisoned for breaking it. Being in jail is probably like being in a goat’s stomach. Being in jail is quite a material experience, and one hell of a goat to be in. Goats are known for eating anything.
I don’t think goatism likes lawyers. But they’re a necessary evil, and essential for their ability to help solve problems that arise between other goats. The law profession is instrumental in bring civility to the general goat population.
There is one good thing about everything being a goat. It means there is a commonality that transcends the obstacles such as tribalism which have made it difficult for different races to coexist. In this respect goatism has ‘eaten up’ many of the divisions afflicting humankind – with great help from its lawyer contingency, who drafted and implemented the laws and rights that protect us.
DAVID AIRTH, TORONTO
Re: A Kripkean Argument For Goatism
Posted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 4:09 pm
by spike
I am cruising the Caribbean at the moment and have visited many islands with goats on them. As I was observing the goats eating away I thought of this article.
As I recall there is no explanation as to how or where the idea of goatism as a philosophy came from. I think it was coined to lampoon and mock philosophy. Maybe the philosophy is related to Darwinism.
In many municipalities goats are used to eat the grass. They are used instead of lawnmowers to cut the grass because they are cheaper to use and maintain. Thus, the philosophy of goatism could be about maintenance and keeping things tidy and in order.
I have never heard the excuse used by students, when their homework hadn't been done, that a goat ate it. It is usually a dog that ate their work. Perhaps a goat once ate a philosopher's work, which is how the term came to be, suggesting a void had been left.
Perhaps goatism has to do with the digestion of philosophy and how it becomes sociological.
Did Plato have goats? If he did I am sure he was proud of them because they new their place and weren't eager to advance themselves.
Maybe goatism is about the fact that there are many interpretations to a given philosophy as this post of mine suggests. Thus, the term goatism is so vast in meaning as to be meaningless.