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Episode #174 - Transcript — Philosophize This!

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So in one of her earlier journals Simone Weil writes about a moral dilemma that ENDS UP being a METAPHOR, for a situation that a lot of people might FIND themselves in while LIVING in the modern world. She says to imagine a man…who lives in a society…where he is forced to solve complex math problems all day long…but the CATCH is that WHEN he SOLVES one of these math problems…ANY TIME he arrives at an answer, and that ANSWER is an EVEN number…he gets beaten with a STICK…by the powers that be. They tell em we don’t take too KINDLY to EVEN NUMBERS round here son. Now go on…SOLVE another one of them math problems, as he twirls the stick smiling with his dirty hands. The moral DILEMMA for Simone Weil was this: what should the mathematician DO when he FINDS himself in this situation? Should he resist and fight back? Should he just refuse to solve any more of their math problems? Should he make a sign and PROTEST about how UPSET he isr? By the end of these two episodes released here today we’

Episode #174 - Transcript Feb 2 Written By Philosophize This! So in one of her earlier journals Simone Weil writes about a moral dilemma that ENDS UP being a METAPHOR, for a situation that a lot of people might FIND themselves in while LIVING in the modern world. She says to imagine a man…who lives in a society…where he is forced to solve complex math problems all day long…but the CATCH is that WHEN he SOLVES one of these math problems…ANY TIME he arrives at an answer, and that ANSWER is an EVEN number…he gets beaten with a STICK…by the powers that be. They tell em we don’t take too KINDLY to

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