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Meinong's Jungle and the Quest for the Married Bachelor



description: Meinong's jungle: and the quest for the married bachelor. A dragon and Pegasus fly above a jungle.

Caption: "Two brave adventurers trek into Meinong's jungle, where all things that didn't exist lived, looking for the mythical married bachelor. They were tracking an ancient demon who claimed to have heard of him."

Frege: "There it is."

Description: the two travelers enter into a hut with a demon.

Russell: "Are you the demon? We are looking for the unmarried bachelor."
Demon: "Yes, it is I. You must travel deep into the jungle, let the light of the evening star guide you.

Demon: "Go beyond glade of the unicorns, over the twin river of xyz, past the griffon's den, past the library of great american novels, and climb the mighty Olympus Mons mountain."
Frege: "Wait, isn't Olympus Mons a real mountain, on mars?"
Demon: "Ours is slightly different!"
Frege: "in what way?"
Demon: "Well, it isn't on mars, it is here."
Demon: "Anyway, there you will find the cave of the philosopher who once was, only from him you can obtain the essence of the impossible thing!"
Frege: "But how-"

Russell: "He's gone."

Frege: "Alright we'll camp until evening, so we can follow the evening star."
Russell: "Nah, i'm pretty sure we can just use the morning star."

Caption: "and so they traveled far until they reached the cave."
[description]: the go past several places, "Great American Novels", "People who understand Hegel", "Ethical Capitalism", and "Live action reboots of animated disney movies that were in any way necessary".

Russell: "Who are you?"
PERSON: "I am the possible bald man in the doorway, to enter the cave you must answer one question!"
Frege: "Ask us the question, we aren't afraid."

Possible bald man: "Do i look fat to you?"
Russell: "No...not really."
Frege: "Maybe a bit chubby?"
Possible bald man: "You may pass!"

Frege: "It's Avicenna! Wise Avicenna, we seek the essence of the thing which cannot be!"
Avicenna: "Here it is, the thing whose essence guarantees that it doesn't exist - the impossible essence."

Avicenna: "you must take it to the peak of the mountain and throw it into the fiery crag. from the smoke will arise the unmarried bachelor. Seek out Cicero, he will be your guide."

Russell: "Are you Cicero?"
PERSON: "No, I'm Tully, but i can show you the way."

Tully: "Here it is, go ahead and toss it in."

Description: A man appears in a flash.

Russell: "is it really you? Are you the married bachelor?"

Married bachelor: "That's me, the married bachelor."
Russell: "So you have a wife?"
Married Bachelor: "Sure do."
Frege: "And you are a bachelor too, how is that possible?"

Married bachelor: "Sure, i'm a bachelor too. Well, at least that's what i tell the ladies."

Russell: "Wait...what? You aren't an unmarried bachelor, you are just a douchebag!"
Married bachelor: "Eh, you call it one thing, i call it another, who is to say, really?"
Turns out that there are actually a ton of married bachelors.

"Meinong's Jungle" is the term used to make fun of Alexius Meinong's ontology. He believed that when we make references to objects in language, the meaning of the words is grounded by the existence the object being referred to. So if we say "Pegasuses have wings", in order for that sentence to be true, Pegasuses must in some sense exist, in order to even have properties and be referred to by language. Russell and others thought this was absurd, and coined the term "Meinong's Jungle" as the place where all these non-existant things where said to exist.

The rest of the comic is references various other reference problems and language thought experiments that puzzled philosophers at that time, such as the "morning star / evening star" problem, or "cicero is tully", the "Twin Earth thought experiment", the "possible bald man", Avicenna's distinctions between different types of Existence and Essence, and the discussion of tautolgies in sentences like "unmarried bachelor" or logical impossibilites of "married bachelor".

"Meinong's Jungle" is the term used to make fun of Alexius Meinong's ontology. He believed that when we make references to objects in language, the meaning of the words is grounded by the existence the object being referred to. So if we say "Pegasuses have wings", in order for that sentence to be true, Pegasuses must in some sense exist, in order to even have properties and be referred to by language. Russell and others thought this was absurd, and coined the term "Meinong's Jungle" as the place where all these non-existant things where said to exist.

The rest of the comic is references various other reference problems and language thought experiments that puzzled philosophers at that time, such as the "morning star / evening star" problem, or "cicero is tully", the "Twin Earth thought experiment", the "possible bald man", Avicenna's distinctions between different types of Existence and Essence, and the discussion of tautolgies in sentences like "unmarried bachelor" or logical impossibilites of "married bachelor".

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