ibn Harm

Author: harmenscholte

  • On spirit and matter

    It seems to be the case that a metaphysics that includes spirit and matter is preferred over metaphysical thought that emphasizes the primacy of matter.

  • Language stacking

    If any romance-language speakers or linguists read the blog please let me know if the following speech-act is a thing:

    • Language stacking

    With this I mean the unconscious experience of stacking languages i.e. starting with speaking in Italian or French and then moving to Spanish

  • De bunker

    Een bijzondere plek in Leiden is het Asian-studies gedeelte van de universiteit. Het gebouw zit verscholen bij de universiteitsbibliotheek. Een beetje weggededrukt in de hoek. De mensen die er uit wegkomen hebben een sfeer van mysterie om zich heen hangen. Als een persoon er in slaagt door de diverse lagen van beveiliging heen te komen kan men ontdekken dat er nog een bibliotheek in de bibliotheek zit. Ook zit er een cafe in dit illustere pand. Er wordt wel gezegd dat Napoleon bonaparte naar Nederland was gekomen om dit bijzondere haram te bezoeken.

  • On soulmates (2)

    If soulmates are real in a hypothethical scenario, revelation would have to be relative.

  • On language #6

    Some things are easier said in English than in Dutch. If you want to say goodbye to the cashier at the groceries in Dutch you can choose between “doeg” (bye) or “tot ziens,” (…) but if you want to wish someone a good day it is either “fijne dag” (good day) or “fantastische/super (fijne) dag gewenst” which seems over the top.

    However in English you can say “have a great day,” which fits very well between “fijne dag,” (boring) and “fantastische dag gewenst” (everybody stares at you).

  • Islamophobia

    Can someone please explain to the bigots that foundationalism is in nowhere the same ballpark as fundamentalism.

  • The wealth of the Quran

    Practicing Muslims are aware of this but I want to make some of the wuthering heights of the Quran available to a larger audience.

    Some examples of the unparalleled beauty of the arabic Quran:

    • By the Star when (i cannot translate this); your friend/companion is not straying; ….; inna huwa illaa wahy yuwahy. (This last part is not translatable)
    • Iqra’ in the name of your Lord the one who created. Khalaqa al-Insana min ‘alaq (untranslatable again.) Iqra’ and your Lord is al-akram. The one who teaches by the pen.

    Iqra’ has many meanings so I do not feel certain that I can adequately convey

  • Philosophical investigations: adab

    This investigation will consider the multiple facets of the Arabic ‘ism adab. A first encounter with adab can arise from class in Arabic or in the case of the writer class vis-a-vis عقل vis-a-vis modern typologies and methodologies towards Islamic modes of thought.

    It can in this world be considered an attitude which moves past bigotry. In colloquial language: one should treat his friends with respect.

  • On language use (#5)

    It might be the case that there is something to say about some languages being inherently better suited for expressing deeper emotional dispositions than other languages. Let us consider a simple example:

    • In the Dutch language it might be possible to arive at a point in a conversation where one of the speakers might exclaim “subtle!” (“Subtiel!”) as a judgement on the lack of refinement of the interlocuters’ (use of) language.

    Where in the British language it is not a stretch to imagine the following exchange:

    • …
    • “He made subtle use of …”

    Where “subtle” is used as a noun on the Dutch language in English it can be used as a adjective. The adjective is also used in Dutch “een subtiele behandeling” (a subtle treatment) but it sounds a bit clunky in Dutch, whereas the Brit can choose between “subtle treatment,” “carefull treatment,” “… tentatively.”

    So where a conversation in Duth has at its high point the exclamation “subtle!” in English it is more commonly just a adjective which makes English conversation more “smoothly flowing.”

  • The Study of Science

    The relevance of philosophical enterprises is sometimes questioned. This is not entirely unexpected since great theoretical problems like the trolley problem might not seem very relevant to practical bodily life. In a previous post I have argued already about the relationship between science and philosophy (multiple articles actually) and this metastudy will expand that investigation.

    To build on on aforementioned preliminary thought I propose that we introduce the alien-perspective. Humor me to imagine a alien that is observing the universe. This entity is alive following our conventional notions of aliens. Now how would this alien, who is lone in his genus come to a account of knowledge?

    This thought experiment assumes that knowledge is something to strive for, that entities willingly pursue a “knowledge,” a understanding of the world. Whether this understanding viz. the desire to arrive at knowledge derives from prior universals is not relevant in this possible world.

    Now the alien has a body which is airproof, which has the consequence that she can float in “empty” space indefinitely. The alien could naturally arive at the existence of numbers perhaps, since she can count stars. Is there inherent meaning in counting? Perhaps not, what would the alien do with the concept of the number? Does “5” have any inherent meaning?

    For a lone alien floating through space it seems difficult to make the case. Alternatively why would “5” not have any inherent meaning? Since the conscious or unconscious act of counting seems to derive from a desire it can be interpreted as denying to judge said practice meaningless.

    Let us continue our case and see where it leads. Now the alien counts 1, 2, 3, till 100.000 stars. Would said being infere that there are larger numbers than 100.000? If the being has a sense of self she can infere that at least 100.001 exists, 100.000 stars plus her self. But numbers beyond that? It does not seem emperically obvious that higher numbers exist.

    But if she has the ability to track time, to keep track of time, to keep a mental account of her mental states previous to the arrival at the state of the counting of star number 100.001 she can judge that since at a moment in time there was 1 (star) and then 2 (stars) there seems to be something going up. A “counter.” Now to consider such mental disposition of a hypothetical figure is understood as a possible world inside a possible world.

    This is kripke’s semantics or rather a molested version of it. To return to the second-order judgement of the existence of the counter we (in base reality/first level reality) know that mathematics has concepts like infinite series etc. Would the alien be able to infer the concept of a infinite series from the act of counting the perceivable objects? Perhaps the being realizes that she can go to 100.002 if she counts the blackness of empty space as another thing to be counted.

    But this then finally seems to end the practice of counting. Or is the mental state at ariving at the “end” of counting not another thing in itself? If this is the case the count is 100.003 and will grow infinitely since there are always more mental states. (100.003: the “end” of counting, 100.004: the mental state of the realization that event 100.003 was not really the last thing to be counted. 100.005: counting “event” 100.004, 100.006: counting event 100.006, etc.)

    To be continued.