History of Thought?

I have always been astonished by people (especially teachers and thinkers) who seemingly give no credit for what comes before them in thought. It as if they have discovered something, and that something does not have antecedents. Or if the documents exist, they needn't be recognized. There is something so arrogant about this in a way, and so simplistic and sad in another. It is probably a hallmark of our age when there is so much information around about everything; so why not simplify and not study or call attention to where thought has been, we cannot keep up with what is?

A recent book on cosmology by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, "The Grand Design," traces some of the philosophic problems inherited by earlier thinkers by describing Aristotle's achievements and problems, and how these have affected thinkers for over 2,000 years. "Aristotle, however, did not see problems in measurement and calculation as impediments to developing a physics that could produce quantative predictions. Rather, he saw no need to make them. Instead, Aristotle built his physics upon principles that appealed to him intellectually. He suppressed facts he found unappealing and focused his efforts on the reasons things happen, with relatively little energy invested in detailing exactly what was happening. Aristotle did adjust his conclusions when their blatant disagreement with observation could not be ignored. But those adjustments were often ad hoc explanations that did little more than paste over the contradiction." It is sobering to think that Aristotle's thought was a powerful influence on St. Thomas Aquinas and thus influenced millions of thinkers for centuries thereafter.

Today we have powerful conservative thinkers weighing in on climate change/global warming for ideological/philosophical reasons. It is as if their intelligence comes out of a flatland cosmology, where "problems in measurement and calculation as impediments" to understanding the causes, affects and solutions of weather phenonoma are simply outweighed by the importance they give to their descriptions and conclusions. These are people who like Aristotle have thoughts which undoubtedly appeal to them intellectually, and will search high and low for corrobative evidence to back up this flatland landscape. How they imagine solutions to the problems which not only surround them, but undoubtedly buffet them as well, is beyond me. Meanwhile mother earth seems to be racheting up the evidence as fast as these thinkers deny the last of it. Hold on to your saddles, ladies and gentlemen, push back is the thought of the day for these folks.

"Git 'er done, son"

Why write about certain things, and thus not others? And why should I imagine that this or that story or subject will appeal to anyone? Well, I have to keep asking the questions, it feels good to know that people do read what is written here. Community is extremely important to me, and the people of my community are critical. Some are more interesting than others, and some that have captured my interest are hardly people who are generally attractive to others, for example a long haul truck driver.

Tom would show up in the garage of a neighbor, they enjoyed drinking and telling stories; the neighbor sometimes drove truck for the other man, and a times helped him with mechanical problems. Both had considerable experience in trucking, all weather, long distances, lots of stories, of course. But the story which really got a hold of me was the trip that Tom took as a passenger with his trucker father, Don, which included many miles on the West Coast.

It was late one night, the day had been long in miles and Don was extremely tired. It seemed they would have to stop, but there were many miles to go. Don looked over at his young teenage son and made a decision, it was time for him to take the wheel. We are talking about a truck that would be considered an antique by now, one which not only had eighteen gears (and, of course, no automatic transmission), and took considerable strength to steer, not to mention shift. "Git 'er done, son, was the advice as he stopped the truck and turned the wheel over to Tom.

Don's been retired for awhile, and my desire is to talk with him sometime about that night when Tom took over for him continues. His was a considerable act of faith, to say the least. And presumably Tom did not miss a shift or disappoint his Father. With today's laws, trucking regulations, insurance restrictions, one wonders if Tom might turn the wheel and gear shift over to his son, if he had one (?). Perhaps we will have "Git 'er done, son" II one of these days.