by Robert Priddy, Oslo University. 1983
Lecture study notes for a post-graduate course in comparative Western American history of philosophy
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Original cowboy lyric |
Notes and References |
| Now, lemme tellya sumthun' of the ole West's his-toree... 'n don' think this ain't no party, friends this is phi-los-o-py.Jus' like some empty barrels that maksa lotta noise or some coy-ote howlin' out orn the wiiiide prarie. (An' it sure stirred folks up wors'n a dust devil) |
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| Ole Socrates begun it 'n gave it all he'd got... preachin' law 'n order to try'n stop the rot. All for the honour of the West... till they brought him in fur questionin' 'n sent him to his death. (Gee, but did that dude say some purdy words at the trial!) |
law 'n order = theory of the rational see Plato "The Apology" |
| While still measurin' up his corpse Young Plato jus' said 'Yup' 'n swore he'd take revenge - get justice evened up. He rode out to confound the world - tough when he was on form - a real smooth justice-talkin' man to see State law reformed. (All this was long ago in ole Athens, Arizona State) | Plato present first shortly after Socrates' death i.e. the purpose of writing The Republic - To Syracuse, where he was virtually made 'deputy'- - - until the despot Sheriff there took away his badge |
| A slick young critter rode to town A-ristotle was his name My! Did he have the Final Cause zat put Plato to shame. Why, he was the fastest thinkin' gun that ever hit the West. He shot down everyone in sight to prove his reasonin' was best. (But his young side-kick Alex was a bad 'un!) | 'critter' lit. 'creature' or animale rationale - ref. Aristotle's theory of entelechy - - and his wide-ranging critical destruction of others' arguments - - i.e. Alexander the Great, Aristotle's pupil |
| Now, Ah cain't tell ya ev-er-y-thin' that went on in them days but folks say they remember Black Doubtin' 'Des' Cartes He was a wise guy... loner, ridin' up noo trails and surely noo himself to be of clear and certain aim. (Yes and Des had 'God' branded into his cowboy brain) | i.e. leaves a blank of 1,900 years between Aristotle/Descartes! - - Black is the Jesuit colour & of shadows of doubt. A loner who withdrew from the world to doubt it, living alone in a stove. 'Noo' = modern. Descartes claimed a new beginning with the cogito, a proof 'clear & distinct to the mind'. Descartes' claim that the idea of God is inborn, and is impressed on every mind. |
| Then Davie Hume did call him out for layin' down the law and met him close to sundown outside the One-Up Bar. Hume sez: "Stranger, mah impressun is you' mind was blank from birth" while he drew his Smith and Wesson an' blew him off this earth. (When they laid out his body, it was separate from his soul) | Hume's critique of rationalistic certainty as a basis for laying down dogmatic Jesuit moral theory. - the well-frequented philosophical locale where points are scored in rational or physical arguments. - An emotive argument to avoid the counter claim, namely, one can have no impression of the mind's blankness at birth. But as for his pineal gland, who can say? |
| Hume's barrel was still smokin' when Johnson's posse came to lynch him his alibi: "You cain't prove no nec'sury connection! Plain ornery doggone reason won' tell ya what AH ought so look out for ma passions 'n pour another quart! (Yessir, Davie was a hard-drinkin' man) | Samuel Johnson's posse. The famous argument against causal certainty. Plain ornery reason = common sense Hume wrote, "Reason is, and ought to be, the slave of the passions" Reason cannot therefore prescribe what one ought to do. Port is mentioned in some of Hume's works, though he himself was Scotch. |
| The dust had hardly settled when Manny Kant blew in ridin' a posteriori to smooth out ev-ur-y-thin'. That man sure noo his duty defendin' what is right ridin' down them mavericks to bring 'em in alive. (Manny wouldn't harm a hair on their scalps) | The 'dust' of the scholastic vs. empiricist arguments, - lit. 'on the posterior' or 'on the rear seat'. to reconcile rationalisn & empiricism. the Kantian 'noo' = 'to intuit with apodeictic evidence', as a priori synthetic. - - "regarding them as an end withall, not just a means" |
| Fichte, Schiller, Schleiermacher quickly hit the trail 'n George William Freddy Hegel was close upon their tails and Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Marx - all shot it out in vain - 'til ev-ur-y-one had bit the dust wid nothin' more to say. ('Ceptin' Karl 'the Marksman' still speaks from the grave, they say) |
The German hill settlers whose elevated ideas caused real trouble for
the Law. In Highgate Cemetry, they say & in a few remaining Socialist States. |
| Now, none 'o them had reckoned ohrn that hustler from down-town with phe-nom-e-nal renown. Sure! Ed the Hussler was the name - a desperate one with certain aim - known as 'The Crisis of the West' standin' in a natural way to clear ole Black 'Des' Cartes' name. (Ed the Hustler slung a real essential gun) | - - - - - "The Crisis of European Philosophy" 'Husserl's aim to revisit the 'natural attitude' Phemenology aimed to justify Descartes' approach. i.e. famous for his method of throwing a gun. |
| The Marshal called the troopers in to put the Hustler down but Eddie got 'em, one by one, his method won all round. One glance of his could soon re-dooce the existence of that town but he had no kinda prejudice 'gainst puttin' prejudices down. | - Husserl's phenomenological method won over Heidegger, Sartre and many more, - Re-dooce = the phenomenological 'reduction' or epoché. - Préjuges - Husserl aimed simply to describe things & values etc. & be neutral on ethics. |
| Well, things had reached a lawless state - cattle thieves out rampagin' State Marshall White-gun-stein arrived ridin' shotgun on the stage: "Ah'm gonna putta stop to this dis-grace-ful state 'o affairs all this primitive language and foul talkin' ev-ur-y-where... | eg. Bertrand's Rustlers - Wittgenstein's return from Norway, to put things straight in Cambridge etc. - primitive language "Philosophical Investigations" p. 7. |
| Jus' hold you' peace, or speak up clear - don' use no empty words - 'cause I cain't stand no contradiction O.K.? So now y'heard! This world is all that is the case - it's that and plenty more - 'N any-one don' agree with me can try'n outdraw mah draw! |
"What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence." Does 'outdraw my draw' picture an object or is it just a challenge or (empty) boast? |
| If what Ah say is meaningless Ah sez it jus' the same to fool durned Bernie Russell - takin' cattle with no shame! But ah'm a man of action - no time for fancy talk - Ah change mah mid just when I like... Form now on, Ah'm the Law!" | Tractatus contains no propositions with reference, so all
of it is,strictly speaking, meaningless. Tractatus eclipsed Bertrand Russell's similar work, so Wittgenstein was humiliatingly examined by Russell & Moore for his Ph. D. W.'s preference for 'ordinary language' The alleged change of opinion after Tractatus - Who can challenge his authority now? |
| And so the modern world was made, the Pride of all the West with Eu-ro-pean phil-o-so-phy put to the trigger test. Right now the dollar's ridin' low 'n reason's in decline but trigger-happy action men are doin' mighty fine! | - - - - Insert 'high' for 'low' when Greenspan advises- - - (Orchestration: basic melody 'Ghost Riders in the Sky') |