Saturday, September 06, 2003
 
Misplaced Modifier of the Week

In The Skeptic Volume 10, Number 1, Michael Shermer writes in a review of The Origin of Minds: Evolution, Uniqueness, and the New Science of Self:
    Alfred North Whitehead once famously quipped that all Western philosophy consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. Although Aristotelians would beg to differ, a similar observation may be made that modern theories of the mind are footnotes to Darwin.
As someone who considers himself vaguely Aristotelian (next person to ask me how I am gets that as a response: "Vaguely Aristotelian. You?"), I have to say I have never considered begging or differing with observations that may be made about Darwin.

Heck, no one's even asked.

On the other hand, I'll lick any self-important Idealist who wants to tell me that I should be ruled by a class of my betters or that I, as a better, should rule everyone else. If you call a size eleven cheap sneaker applied judiciously to the glutes and occasionally the tensor fasciae latae a footnote, then I guess I'll have to agree with the poorly-written statement in the quote.

 
To say Noggle, one first must be able to say the "Nah."