In recent months, my Parkinson's has worsened to the point at which I find it very difficult to walk at all. Fortunately, the little electric powered scooter that I purchased from another resident here makes it very easy for me to get around the apartment and even to go down to the main building to have dinner each evening. What is really odd is that cognitivelly I seem unchanged. I spend a great deal of time thinking about the study group that I shall lead at Harvard starting at the beginning of February on volume 1 of Capital, I re-read old essays I have written, I follow the world news obsessively, and although I am of course slowed down a good deal from what I was in the late 1960s, when I was teaching at Columbia, I feel unchanged cognitively. In three weeks I shall be 90 years old and yet in my mind I feel 50 or 60.
Life is strange.
As one ages, with luck one manages the information which supports one's worldview or mindset as efficiently and as lucidly as one did when one was young.
ReplyDeleteHowever, first of all, the mindset is more or less fixed. That's not true at age 18 or even at age 30.
Let's take my age, 77. Could I learn a difficult foreign language, say, Chinese or Arabic, at my age? I don't think so, but I certainly could have learned one when I was younger.
How would I do if I were to take the SAT's or the GRE's again? I'd score less than I did when younger, I'm fairly sure.
Could I read and assimilate a difficult author whom I've never read, say, Hegel. No way, although that could be in part because I don't believe that Hegel has much to say to me. Still when younger, I would have been more open to seeing what Hegel has to say to me.
Being less open has to do with one's mindset becoming fixed or more rigid, which I noted above. At an advanced age one has a mental capital, so to speak and if one is lucky and careful, one can preserve that capital, but there's no space for new risky mental investments.
Professor Wolff --
ReplyDeleteI think it was Plato who once complained about how the physical body becomes a drag on the more important process of cognitive activity. It is a pain in the ass (literally) that we have to necessarily spend time going to the bathroom, eating, sleeping, etc., when we could be using that time for constructive study.
Contra Wallerstein, I think we MUST provide space for "new risky mental investments," otherwise, what is the point? The last thing we want to do is disregard those that we feel are beyond saving, beyond hope. I don't ever want to feel that way. So let's keep the door (mind) open as far and as long as we can.
-- Jim
A disappointing debunk of what would have been very good news.... Always check your sources!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.snopes.com/fact-check/nejm-study-most-productive-age/
David Zimmerman,
ReplyDeleteThanks.
You should send it to Leiter because he posted the same unreliable data asking for reader feedback.
No need--- Two commenters sent him the link to Snopes.
ReplyDeleteProfessor Wolff,
ReplyDeleteYou have been quoted on a blog for a quote about Quine in a biography of J.L. Austin: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2023/12/weird-anecdotes-about-philosophers-connected-to-oxford.html
Maybe tonight's little stab of mine at a Philosophical Proof for God's Existence will give you some time to divert your thoughts & forget your troubles presently.
ReplyDelete"St. Paul says that the Foolishness of God is greater than the Wisdom of Men. So in the like manner the Death of God is greater than the Life of Men. So because God is so much greater than Men, he must exist, since even Men do partake of life at times. Therefore, if Men partake of life at times, then God must partake of life always and exist always. So just by stating the axiom 'God is Dead' that statement automatically proves that God must necessarily exist and always because God is so much greater than Men."
Let me insert 'idea' to make this statement more objective...
ReplyDeleteMaybe tonight's little stab of mine at a Philosophical Proof for God's Existence will give you some time to divert your thoughts & forget your troubles presently.
"St. Paul says that the Foolishness of God is greater than the Wisdom of Men. So in the like manner the Death of God is greater than the Life of Men. So because the idea of God is so much greater than Men, that idea must exist, since even Men do partake of life at times. Therefore, if Men partake of life at times, then the idea of God must partake of life always and exist always. So just by stating the axiom 'God is Dead' that statement automatically proves that God must necessarily exist and always because the idea of God is so much greater than the existence of Men."
'If the idea of God is so much greater than the idea of Men. And if in the idea of Men is the reality that Men sometimes exist, then, in the idea of God, exists the reality that God exists always in reality. That is because the idea of God is infinitely greater than the idea of Men. This is because Men are finite in idea, and God is infinite in idea. Therefore Men are finite & God is infinite.'
ReplyDelete'If the idea of God is so much greater than the idea of Men, and if inside the idea of Men is the reality that Men sometimes exist, then, in the idea of God, exists the reality that God exists always in reality. That is because the idea of God is infinitely greater than the idea of Men. This is because Men are finite in idea, and God is infinite in idea. Therefore Men are finite & God is infinite.'
ReplyDeleteExistence is not a predicate.
ReplyDelete'Kant goes on to write, "'being' is evidently not a real predicate" and cannot be part of the concept of something. He proposes that existence is not a predicate, or quality. This is because existence does not add to the essence of a being, but merely indicates its occurrence in reality.'--Wikipedia
ReplyDeleteThe only problem with this thinking is existence could be a dual part of reality. Existence could indicate it's occurrence in reality & also be a quality. Otherwise this is just a Philosophical war of words. Do we know the full spectrum of what being and existence truly are? No we don't. Authorities label it but don't know it fully. I could be wrong, but also Kant could be wrong.
Whose erasing my post?
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