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SO_FAR

                               June 7, 2006

When I see a young twenty-something
getting started wrestling with
weighty issues, I'm always excited
to see them off, and provide whatever
small assistance I can manage...


But no one seems to get
very far with these
matters.  It's rare to
come to a conclusion much
better than a shrug.


So why send someone off
on yet another doomed
mission?


The question at hand
then is something like:

Is there some benefit
from partial success?

Is there some point to
getting part way there?

Is there some benefit to
wrestling once again with
an intellectual problem        My answer, of course, is
that the smart money           going to be "of course!".
would have to bet is
intractable?
                               But this means nothing.
Or: is there
some point to
philosophy?                        I am reminded of the Toadkeeper,
                                   knowing he was dying of cancer,
                                   continuing to fill spiral
                                   bound notebooks with copious
                                   notes about the texts he was
                                   studying, though he knew full
                                   well nothing would every come
                                   of it.

                                        For intellectuals,
                                        intellectual activity
                                        becomes a habit, a
                                        reflex, rather than a
                                        reasoned response.


To sketch out some possible answers:

  o  There's always a chance.

  o  Mental exercise.

  o  Partial successes are not
     uncommon, and possibly useful.

  o  Even "failure" can be of some benefit:

     e.g. grasping the issues may be
     useful in inoculating yourself
     against another's claims to have
     completely solved the problems.

         The hesitant character of
         the Apollonian Way is not
         necessarily a draw back.

            Newtons sleep may
            get one through a
            dangerous night.





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