A Commentary on the Passing Scene by
Robert Paul Wolff
rwolff@afroam.umass.edu
Friday, January 21, 2022
POLITICAL REPORT
I am sitting at my desk in my office and to my right, on the floor, is our little cat Chloe. She is curled up asleep as is the way with cats and her chin is on a copy of the Communist Manifesto. And they say cats can't read!
The Cat Whisperer taught me that if you blink both eyes at a cat several times, you're communicating that you love them. Sometimes you'll get blinks back and sometimes you'll get the stink eye.
If cats evolved the capacity for language in the same complex ways that humans have, do you think they would create an individualist or collectivist society? Or would they create an entirely new superstructure predicated on a whole set of values and beliefs that we, as primates, couldn't possibly understand?
I guess the moment in time between blinking and not blinking. I guess it's the same with the moment in time between day and night. You could ask a similar question along the lines of: when is it not the case it is either Day or Night? The answer is at Dawn or Dusk. Aristotle's tripartite philosophy believes there is a medium between any two opposites. He learned this from Plato's Phaedo when Socrates talks about the intervals between life and death.
But you're right, LFC. I didn't read the question carefully enough. My apologies.
"You could ask a similar question along the lines of: when is it not the case it is either Day or Night?"
The medium still is valid between Day or not Day instead of Day or Night. For not Day could mean dusk, dawn, night, or all not Day. The Platonic middle ground, or medium, is still valid no matter what not Day means.
For unless anyone here is God & knows the complete mysteries of Time & Space, then I apprehend that Plato's paradox between two opposites is still sound.
Actually, cats are more intelligent than we give them credit for. They only meow to humans.
“Interestingly, you won't see an adult cat meow at another cat. They rely on body language, scent, facial expressions to communicate with fellow felines. According to Psychology Today, cats have specifically refined the meow to talk to humans. It's as if they've learned the other techniques of communication they use on fellow cats simply don't work on people, and so have adopted a distinctive sound all for us. For a cat, meowing is a second language.”
Kittens for Communism! Who would have thunk it.
ReplyDeleteThe Cat Whisperer taught me that if you blink both eyes at a cat several times, you're communicating that you love them. Sometimes you'll get blinks back and sometimes you'll get the stink eye.
ReplyDeleteI have tried that a number of times. But who knows what a cat thinks?
ReplyDeletePerhaps, Jackson Galaxy.
ReplyDeleteML wrote: Sometimes you'll get blinks back and sometimes you'll get the stink eye.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of what people sometimes say about prayer: "Sometimes God answers 'Yes," and sometimes God answers 'No' (or 'Not yet')."
When is it not the case that a cat will either blink or not blink? ;)
If cats evolved the capacity for language in the same complex ways that humans have, do you think they would create an individualist or collectivist society? Or would they create an entirely new superstructure predicated on a whole set of values and beliefs that we, as primates, couldn't possibly understand?
ReplyDeleteCheers!
'When is it not the case that a cat will either blink or not blink?'
ReplyDeleteA cat will probably not blink after leaving a tootsie roll on the ground.
Perhaps a cat pic?
ReplyDeleteML,
ReplyDeleteRead that question again, slowly. ;)
LFC,
ReplyDeleteI guess the moment in time between blinking and not blinking. I guess it's the same with the moment in time between day and night. You could ask a similar question along the lines of: when is it not the case it is either Day or Night? The answer is at Dawn or Dusk. Aristotle's tripartite philosophy believes there is a medium between any two opposites. He learned this from Plato's Phaedo when Socrates talks about the intervals between life and death.
But you're right, LFC. I didn't read the question carefully enough. My apologies.
"You could ask a similar question along the lines of: when is it not the case it is either Day or Night?"
ReplyDeleteThe medium still is valid between Day or not Day instead of Day or Night. For not Day could mean dusk, dawn, night, or all not Day. The Platonic middle ground, or medium, is still valid no matter what not Day means.
For unless anyone here is God & knows the complete mysteries of Time & Space, then I apprehend that Plato's paradox between two opposites is still sound.
ReplyDeleteML
ReplyDeleteNo need for apologies. It's all meant to be in a somewhat humorous spirit, I hope.
Meowist.
ReplyDeleteYup, just having fun, of course.
ReplyDeleteSee also that bit about G.E. Moore having just welcomed a new child - "Is it a boy or a girl, Professor?" "Yes."
(No disrespect to the non-binary community intended.)
I assume the copy is not dogeared.
ReplyDeleteFritz Poebel - argh. Good one.
Can cats read? No, they can't as they are unable to comprehend words and letters.
ReplyDeleteThe Communist Manifesto: Chloe = catatonic.
ReplyDeleteif cats could talk, we couldn't understand them.
ReplyDeleteActually, cats are more intelligent than we give them credit for. They only meow to humans.
ReplyDelete“Interestingly, you won't see an adult cat meow at another cat. They rely on body language, scent, facial expressions to communicate with fellow felines. According to Psychology Today, cats have specifically refined the meow to talk to humans. It's as if they've learned the other techniques of communication they use on fellow cats simply don't work on people, and so have adopted a distinctive sound all for us. For a cat, meowing is a second language.”
https://facty.com/network/answers/pets/why-do-cats-meow/?style=quick&utm_source=adwords-network&utm_medium=c-search&utm_term=why%20do%20cats%20meow&adid=354023898684&ad_group_id=70412960286&utm_campaign
some larger cats being cats
ReplyDeleteNap in the morning, nap in the afternoon, nap in the evening, nap after dinner.
ReplyDeleteA laser-pen is haunting Europe.
"Can cats read? No, they can't as they are unable to comprehend words and letters."
ReplyDeleteThat's what they want us to believe. There is power in deception.
Is Ginni Thomas, J. Thomas’s wife, a threat to the Supreme Court? Article in the New Yorker says she is:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/31/is-ginni-thomas-a-threat-to-the-supreme-court