Comments on: Butchery http://milindasquestions.com/2005/08/08/butchery/ a blog about meditation, Buddhism, the philosophy of mind, metaphysics, psychopharmacology, etc. Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:07:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Owen Goldin http://milindasquestions.com/2005/08/08/butchery/#comment-10 Owen Goldin Mon, 26 Sep 2005 05:51:15 +0000 http://milindasquestions.com/?p=25#comment-10 opsopoiia -- "cookery" -- is that which makes junk food. Donuts. Screaming yellow zonkers. Medicine for the Greeks has a role in telling people what is the right food to eat, what will make them feel good on account of the good condition of the body. Socrates wants to say that this is possible only if one knows what the good of the body is. This isn't explicit, but I think he means to say that if one has a real skill (medicine) one can reason back from intended effect to cause, and will then be able to get the cause to exist, to produce the good that is the effect. Chuang-Tzu seems to be suggesting that even such a knowledge would constitute hacking, would get in the way of accurate practice. It would be like one climbing up a mountainside by keeping in mind mathematical formulae of equilibrium, and trying to put them into effect, instead of simply scampering. Planning too much while climbing a steep hillside makes one more apt to fall. Socrates might respond -- would you want your doctor to just go with the flow? And what of the junk food fan? She's just going with what feels right, isn't she? The Taoist would have to say "no." opsopoiia — “cookery” — is that which makes junk food. Donuts. Screaming yellow zonkers. Medicine for the Greeks has a role in telling people what is the right food to eat, what will make them feel good on account of the good condition of the body.

Socrates wants to say that this is possible only if one knows what the good of the body is. This isn’t explicit, but I think he means to say that if one has a real skill (medicine) one can reason back from intended effect to cause, and will then be able to get the cause to exist, to produce the good that is the effect.

Chuang-Tzu seems to be suggesting that even such a knowledge would constitute hacking, would get in the way of accurate practice. It would be like one climbing up a mountainside by keeping in mind mathematical formulae of equilibrium, and trying to put them into effect, instead of simply scampering. Planning too much while climbing a steep hillside makes one more apt to fall.

Socrates might respond — would you want your doctor to just go with the flow? And what of the junk food fan? She’s just going with what feels right, isn’t she?

The Taoist would have to say “no.”

]]> By: david http://milindasquestions.com/2005/08/08/butchery/#comment-8 david Wed, 17 Aug 2005 05:48:16 +0000 http://milindasquestions.com/?p=25#comment-8 In the Gorgias, Plato compares cookery to rhetoric (cookery:medicine:: rhetoric:philosophy); both are a sort of flattery, he has Socrates say . . . but I say the thing to do is read Anthony Boudain's books on his life as a chef . . . and watch his travel channel series "No Reservations" . . . and watch out for rhetoricians and butchers. In the Gorgias, Plato compares cookery to rhetoric (cookery:medicine:: rhetoric:philosophy); both are a sort of flattery, he has Socrates say . . . but I say the thing to do is read Anthony Boudain’s books on his life as a chef . . . and watch his travel channel series “No Reservations” . . . and watch out for rhetoricians and butchers.

]]>