A philosophy webcomic about the inevitable anguish of living a brief life in an absurd world. Also Jokes

748

Pride and Prejudice and Logical Positivism



"It is a truth universally acknowledged... " "...that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want..." "...of an exact scientific language with a specific formal structure and signs that are governed by the rules of deductive logic." Description: Carnap gets out of his carriage to attend a ball. Carnap's friend: "Well Mr. Carnap, do you see any girls you like?" Carnap: "No, because none of them can give me an exact scientific language with a specific formal structure and signs that are governed by the rules of deductive logic." Mary Warnock: "But don't you find that even if you create such a language, it will be grossly inadequate to discuss the most important question in life?" Carnap: "No i do not." Warnock: "I see. Good day, sir." Carnap: "Who is that young woman?" Friend: "Baroness Mary Warnock" Carnap: "I dislike her even more than the rest."
"Later...Mary Warnock comes in out of the rain to Carnap's Villa" Carnap: "Oh, it's you again, I don't want to marry you." Warnock: "I don't want to marry you either. " Carnap: "Oh. Then what do you want?" Warnock: "I just came here to tell you that your idea that moral statements are “meaningless” has immensely harmed our ability to discuss the good." Warnock: " and we as philosophers should be working towards clarifying moral questions, and answering real concrete questions in the world, not making them impossible to answer. " Warnock: "I think your philosophy is second rate, and bound to fail in the end. Good day." Carnap: "Hmm, maybe i am in love with her." Carnap: "Too bad the concept of “love” has no empirical content and is therefore meaningless."
"Why don't I want to marry you? Because you are a fuckin' nerd, Carnap, that's why."

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Mary Warnock was a 20th century English philosopher of ethics. She critiqued Logical Positivists like Ayer and Carnap for making ethics a topic that philosophers no longer wanted to contribute to, because ethical questions may not be empirically decidable. This was especially true as positivism became popular in England for her generation of philosophers. She thought a philosopher's role must not only be to clarify moral questions, but ideally in the public sphere in a way that has a real effect. She chaired numerous government committees on ethics, most notably on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.

In contrast Carnap was a huge nerd.

Philosophers in this comic: Rudolf Carnap, Mary Warnock

Permanent Link to this Comic: https://existentialcomics.com/comic/413

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