Descartes, Hundreds of years later: “Nothing is certain, so I don’t trust my knowledge. I need to start from scratch…”
Pondering ensues
“I think, therefor-”
Everyone: “Shut up, ripoff!”
More like:
ME: Aw, hey, don’t say that. You know things.
SOCRATES: Oh really? You seem well informed about me. Tell me, what is it that I know?
ME: Well, uh, you know that’s a tree, right?
SOCRATES: Do I? What makes you confident that I know that?
ME: Uh, you know, you can see that it’s shaped like a tree…
SOCRATES: Perhaps, but don’t you think that other things could be shaped like trees, sometimes?
ME: Uh… like what?
SOCRATES: Hey, I’m asking the questions here, wise guy! Anyway, you seem to know a lot about trees, can you tell me how to know the difference between a tree and a large bush?
ME: Well I’m actually not, like, a botanist…
SOCRATES: So you don’t know? But you seemed so confident that I knew! Perhaps it’s not trees you’re well informed about, but knowledge itself? Tell me, what does it mean to know something?
ME: *epistemological stammering*
Aristophanes: <smacks Socrates upside the head> Think normally, ya weirdo!
Diogenes: presents a wooden back scratcher behold a tree
For those curious: a tree has one central stem, in bushes all branches are basically the same
This is how it feels watching conservatives interact with scientists, only belligerent.
Socraties 🤝 Scotty
not knowingIt’s a base reflection of the platonic ideal of a tree.
Kindness meets existential dread.
Socrates: The only thing I know is that I know nothing.
Me: Oh no shit dude you like Op Ivy? They rule. “WEEEEEEEE GET TOLD, TO DECIDE…”
