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[doctor_aquinas]

Any equations beyond the quadratic come from the devil. Exponential functions stomp on small, defenseless animals. Logarithmic functions slept with your wife and secretly fathered that kid of yours with the funky red hair. Rational functions are personally responsible for the interminable media focus on Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Cubic and

Comments

[benjaminmann]

inasmuch as equations beyond the quadratic are entirely descartes' fault, you could be onto something...

[doctor_aquinas]

Have you ever read Gilson's "The Unity of Philosophical Experience"? I had been meaning to a while ago but never got the chance. He argues, I recall, that Descartes is the pivot on which philosophy "turned" into the warty, unattractive morass it is today. Considering Sartre's patriotic (strange juxtaposition of things, that) desire to call Descartes the first existentialist, that might be close to the truth... Though personally, I'm with Weaver: it was all Occam's fault.

[benjaminmann]

haven't read that, but i'd agree that huge portions of the rot originate with descartes. thenceforth, "love of wisdom" takes a backseat to obsessive analysis and pointless speculation... or even gets thrown from the car altogether.

as to whether nominalism was the more pernicious trend or even the 'error errorum', i'm not quite sure. it's certainly a bigger lurch toward the abyss than anything descartes attempted, but having done little secondary reading i'm ill-equipped to either relate or compare them.

[maeuschen]

[blink blink]

I wonder what you would think of the equations I work with on a day-to-day basis...