From "engines"
"Let me try a question on you: Was Sherlock Holmes a Platonist or an Aristotelian?"
http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1519.htm (He was both. Are you?)

well, I'm a bit of both, though I lean much more heavily on the Platonist side.

Dear wwh,

I wish the essay you posted the link to had been longer. I'm acquainted with some of Aristotle's writings, have been fascinated by his ability to categorize thoroughly, but have never read anything of Plato's.

However, based on the information in the article, I'm clearly more of a Platonist. Here's one point:

"Aristotelians will read the manual. Platonists expect to be able to figure things out on their own. Platonists shake their heads over the time wasted by Aristotelians. Aristotelians wonder why Platonists won't take the time to get it right the first time. "

I detest manuals. It's probably why I'm so very slow in learning anything about technology. I like experimenting with my computer, rarely read FAQ pages, hit walls all the time, and eventually, if I really want to know how to do something, will ask someone who probably can guide me. But I'd rather figure out a problem on my own.

And the Meyers-Briggs test, though flawed as are all such tests, showed me that I'm nearly purely "N" rather than "S." I am very much out-of-touch with my surroundings. The inner world has a lot more interest to me than the outer one. I am that person who visits your home a hundred times, one day asks you about a picture on the wall, as though it were something brand new, and you tell me it's always been there for every one of my visits. And I am surprised. Shocked even. How could something so lovely have escaped my attention? Well, most physical things escape my attention. Yet my intuition picks up information immediately. It's not perfect--that intuition. No mental faculty is perfect. And I do make mistakes. However, I've picked up information about individuals and groups of people that has been correct just with that gut response.

I also have this lifelong dream world that seems often more understandable to me than the outer world, which often seems foreign and often cruel.

But I suspect the author of your article may have oversimplified Plato. Perhaps I should read some Plato to see whether I find a kindred spirit there. What should I read first, I wonder?

Anyway, thanks for providing the link. Something new to think about, and that's always good. My dream world will be enriched!

Best regards,
WW

Next question: Who first said: When everything else fails, read the manual"?

Next question: Who first said: When everything else fails, read the manual"?
My husband! At least, that was the first place I heard it. Typically, I find that I alternate between reading and trying-it-on-my-own. If it's something I think I have a chance of figuring out, I'll likely try that method. If it's something I know nothing about, I'll try reading the manual. But that depends on how much time and patience I have--which is why I still cannot operate our digital camera!

Was Sherlock Holmes a Platonist or an Aristotelian?

Was Sherlock Holmes an apollonian or a Dionysian?

Shearlock Holmes was a sheep.

Remember how awful the early remote control manuals were. I never did learn to use them
I didn't enjoy the ;programs enough to sweat out the meaning of the engineers' jargon.

apollonian or a Dionysian?

Given his *passion(s), it seems he tended to be more Dionysian than Apollonian, however, his intentions were to be perceived as the opposite.

Sherlock Holmes was a Cocaineist. His philosophy was "I believe I'll have another line."

A Quote: Holmes never ONCE says either "Elementary, my dear Watson." or
"Quick, Watson: the needle ...

No, that's..."I'll believe I'll have yart".

No, that's..."I'll believe I'll have yart".

If you're pointing out another glorious reinyartnation®, link to the evidence, Dr. Musick, link to the evidence!...so I can take proper credit! It's an elementary procedure, you know!

I have read speculations that Conan Doyle himself experimented with cocaine. All I could find
was about Shrelock Holmes' use thereof:
http://www.siracd.com/work_h_cocaine.shtml

I cannot remember the name of the author, but someone within the last ten years or so wrote a book called "The Seven Percent Solution", which is mystery a la Holmes. I read it but it apparently made little impression on me.

The title referred to the strength of the cocaine Holmes used.

I went to look up the name of the author, which is Meyer, and came across this, which I have edited suitably to make it noncommercial:

Customers who wear clothes also shop for:

Clean Underwear from ******* Store

Ladybug Rain Boots from ************* Store

Pet Socks from ********************* Store

Puppy Footed One-Pieces for Newborns from ******Store




Makes me wonder what people who don't wear clothes shop for. And in the second line, is the alternative shopping for dirty underwear?

Since you asked the question, I searched and found a site in Germany
that offers fetish soiled panties. Somehow I did not expect anyone to want the URL.

Edited, thanks to etaoin.

actually, that was TEd...

baaa...

Makes me wonder what people who don't wear clothes shop for. Purses, of course. Think about it.
The 7% Solution was also a very funny movie, considerably more than 10 yrs. ago.

Platonism pervades my bones. It's true. I took a "learning styles inventory" when I got ready to go to college and rated as a near perfect "assimilator." I collect knoweledge and try to put it together in a way that makes sense. The counselor deduced somehow that I would be a good bean counter (accountant) which is a truly repulsive thing to say.

I love math and while I like science very much, it seems a bit messy to me.


Also, Plato, while I disagree with him and he's caused me a bit of heart-ache in the past, makes some sense to me. (Well, at least as far as he has put himself into the person of Socrates.) OTOH, I've tried to get through Aristotle many times and find it sincerely irritating. (Probably in large part to the fact that the translations were too literal.)


k

My sidekick Andy was more than usually bothersome this weekend because he was trying to answer this question...

"What was Doctor Watson's specialty?"

It was written by Doyle that Watson spent several years in medical school. All students of medical study in Sherlock's time acquired a specialty. Andy and his bunch of book nerd friends find delight in finding answers to unrecorded aspects of the lives of fictional characters like Watson and Holmes.

Question: Is Andy and his nerd friends Appolonian or Dionysian, Aristotelian or Platonist, or do they just need to go out and buy some decent clothes and find some nice girls?


PS: Today Andy is trying to find out if the fictional version of the story of Tom Dooley is truer than the true version of his hanging as reported by "Doc" Watson, the famouser one. (Right Musick? Consuelo?).

http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/3448/tom.html

Dear milum: It's been many years since I read the Sherlock Holmes stories, but I simply
cannot remember any mention of Dr. Watson having any patients, nor any mention of
his having any specialty. Of course none of his patients could bother him with phone
calls. Wonder how he paid his bills.

Damnit Bill, you are turning into a nerd like Andy. Go out and buy yourself some nice new clothes and find yourself a nice new girl or you'll become a computer nerd like Andy. These people are MAKE-BELIEVE and you, so far, are not.

Remember, you are my hero,
Milo.

What was Doctor Watson's specialty?

He was an army doctor in Afghanistan, so he was probably pretty GP.

Did GPs have to have much training? I was under the impression that in the 19th century it wasn't very difficult to become a GP.

Watson's patients and practice are mentioned occasionally, in fact I seem to remember that at least one of them led directly to a case for Holmes.

It's coincidence that I mentioned Holmes and philosophy in another thread today before reading this one. I looked to see if there could have been some subliminal connection made, but the timings seem wrong.

I looked to see if there could have been some subliminal connection [whisper] Hear that, guys? It's working! [/whisper] <eg>

"Wonder how he paid his bills."

Maybe he was Holmes's cocaine dealer.

Did GPs have to have much training? I was under the impression that in the 19th century it wasn't very difficult to become a GP. asks Dub-Dub.

Well, it all depends which end of the C19 you are talking about, really. It was a century of great change in more or less all areas of society, including both medical science, and the art of doctoring. C18 doctors were looked upon pretty much as craftsmen, not as professionals. (You will be able, of course, to find specific examples to "disprove this statement - however, as a general rule it is true enough.)
The doctors spent a lot of time and effort in the last years of the C17 and first half of the C19 in becoming accepted as professionals. Various professional bodies were formed, The Lancet was published, and medical schools were founded in England, so that one no longer had to go to Germany France, or (God Forbid!!) Edinburgh for training. Examinations were instituted, and eventually, legislation was passed requiring all practitioners to be qualified. Barbers were no longer allowed to practise simple surgery; pharmacists had to have passed exams, as had physicians and surgeons.
So, by about 1860/70-ish, new doctors arriving on the scene had passed exams whereas those who had started practice in the 1820s had not necessarily done so.

The Afghan Wars were in 1838 & 1840, and one might assume with some confidence that Watson was a young man when he went. As he had been to medical school (quite probably Edinburgh, which was (and is) a centre of medical excellence) it is likely that he had taken formal examinations, but is highly unlikely that he had any particular speciality, I think - except perhaps the repair of torn tissue and the relief of fever. A few soliders suffered from the former, nearly all of them suffered from the latter, which killed many more troops than did the enemies bullets.

Thanks, Rhubarb, for your mini-essay on medical training in the 19C! Very enjoyable reading there.

"Wonder how he paid his bills."

Maybe he was Holmes's cocaine dealer.

Ha! A doctor of alchemy.

Googling around, this turned up pretending to be written to Dr Watson with his response:

"We're sorry to hear you've been seriously wounded at war. Can you tell us about your experiences in the Afghan wars in the 1880s?"

"The Battle of Maiwand, where I was injured, was one of our few defeats during the Afghan Wars. The British government has been very concerned about the Russian advance through Europe and Asia and we are determined not to allow the Russians to reach India, which is a part of the British Empire. At Maiwand, 2,400 of us were attacked by ten times as many Afghans. But General Roberts came to our rescue by marching his men across the mountains to rescue us."

The Lion's Mane, one of the last tales, is set in 1907 which fits with the 1880 date.

So if Watson's Afghan experiences were during the 1880s, that suggests he was born after 1850, perhaps he was not so badly trained after all.