OVM.
3 random tidbit stories in about 3 minutes.
OVM Story.
Spaces between words started circa 1000 CE because those copying texts found it easier and faster to copy if they introduced spaces between words. The 1215 Magna Carta is a good example of this quality of writing which included word-spacing, uppercase, and lowercase, but no punctuation, nor paragraphs.
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OVM FAQ.
Commands interest philosophers because they do not feel naturally true or false. “Close the door” does not describe reality in the same way as “The door is closed.” It directs action toward a possible future state.
In the Idea of Ideas, commands are not empirical because the commanded future has not happened yet. A command is rational when it directs someone toward a coherent and possible state of reality. “Close the door” is rational because the door exists, closing is possible, and an agent can perform the action.
Commands can also be irrational. A speculative command may be possible, but its execution depends on something unverified: “Bring me a living animal from another planet.” A disproven command asks for something we know cannot be done: “Draw a square circle.”
A rational command can also be forbidden by another rational idea. “Enter the building” may be physically possible, yet prohibited by law. The command remains rational, and the law forbidding it is also rational. The conflict is not about possibility. It is between two rational structures.
Commands also move through time. Instructions begin as rational ideas about a possible future. As they are carried out, the actions become empirical observations in the present. Almost immediately, they move into the past, where memory and history preserve them as rational stories.
I wrote that OVM FAQ,
OVM Story.
30 Phil, Chapter 11, Epicurus, Touchstone 31: Dichotomy of Pleasure.
Epicurus defined two types of pleasure: short-term and long-term. Too frequently people put short term pleasures over long-term ones causing deeper harm than warranted.
A short-term pleasure is kinetic as in the active enjoyment of fulfilling a desire, such as eating a delicious meal or engaging in a pleasurable activity. Longer or deeper pleasures are katastematic and include the relief of quenching one’s thirst or the contentment of a good night’s sleep. Put simply, for each pair of kinetic-katastematic pleasures, Epicurus wants you to prioritize the katastematic pleasure to live a better life.
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