A debate from IRC last night...

Bard

A little philosophical debate from IRC last night (or at 6am this morning to be precise) threw a question into my mind...

If weird things happen every day... then are they in fact normal things because of their frequency of occurrance?

Just a thought...

Dustaz

at what point did someone type "OMFG YUO AER SO GHEY" in the debate:)

Boston

so then your saying normal things happen every day and a premise becomes a fact within a conjection

with the conjection being that anything is ever really normal,

its kinda like that whole, if a tree falls in a wood thing. when does the whole ceast to be the whole and become something else

Saruman

Define Normal
Define Weird

whats the difference?

A normal Arab might wear a robe and turban
A Weird Irish man might wear a robe and turban

Both are the same and yet not.. so can anyone define what is normal and what is weird?

Bard

Originally posted by Dustaz
at what point did someone type "OMFG YUO AER SO GHEY" in the debate:)

Rich did, as soon as he came back from playing (TFC?)... and now that I think of it, I could have said the same thing about him, playing FPS games at 6 O'Clock in the morning

At least I had the excuse of being just back a short while from work...

Oh, and Saruman, yes- it was the lack of a coherent definition of what is 'normal' and what is 'weird' that descended the discussion into bullsh*t

It may be generally normal for the sun to rise in the morning and set in the evening but what is normal for me (eating Hot & Spicy Pringles with my pint of Guinness for example) might be weird to someone else... so some things can be universally normal and weird while other things can be purely personal...

er... I think...

--

but even if you speak on a purely personal level- if strange things happen every day... does that make them normal things?

Boston

you calling me weird O_o

Im going to get my named changed to bin ladin and join the labor party, you know just for the craic

Gordon

I saw a great play on this exact subject matter at the Gate theatre in Dublin. It is called the shape of things, it's worth a look in.

Kolodny

I think the term 'weird' is somewhat overused on a day to day basis. People say "that's really weird" when they just mean "that wasn't what was supposed to happen" or "that's not what I consider normal". Genuinely 'weird' things (paranormal, surreal etc.) probably don't happen as often.

And Bard.... I happen to think eating hot & spicy Pringles with Guinness is perfectly normal - though I know a lot of people who would think it really 'weird'

Bard

Originally posted by Kolodny

And Bard.... I happen to think eating hot & spicy Pringles with Guinness is perfectly normal - though I know a lot of people who would think it really 'weird'

I think that's exactly my point... :eek:

Me too.

--

By the way... isn't existentialism groovy? :cool:

DadaKopf

Existentialism is boring. It's also wrong. Great when you're a teenager but fundamentally flawed.

Normality/abnormality is always defined in opposition to something either by means of habit or by an individual or group imposing their view. Nothing is intrinsically normal or abnormal, rather it's entirely a social construct, originating from various different areas of our social reality.

Reality is created intersubjectively through a process of objectivation, reification and internalisation so that, although all meaning for us is social created, because it's embedded in the stream of history, we internalise these meanings and make them meaningful to everyone. But people can always challenge the distinctions.

It's predominantly language that creates our world and ceates these distinctions because it's language whose job it is to define them. We invent language and use it to communicate with people; we, at the same time, express our inner thoughts to an outside world and make that world real when we say something. Over time, it becomes an engrained (oppositionary) meaning like normality/abnormality. Only meaningful in relation to its associated social institutions and what they are opposite to.

logic1

Weirdos.

.logic.

Trojan

Originally posted by DadaKopf
Existentialism is boring. It's also wrong. Great when you're a teenager but fundamentally flawed.

Normality/abnormality is always defined in opposition to something either by means of habit or by an individual or group imposing their view. Nothing is intrinsically normal or abnormal, rather it's entirely a social construct, originating from various different areas of our social reality.

Reality is created intersubjectively through a process of objectivation, reification and internalisation so that, although all meaning for us is social created, because it's embedded in the stream of history, we internalise these meanings and make them meaningful to everyone. But people can always challenge the distinctions.

It's predominantly language that creates our world and ceates these distinctions because it's language whose job it is to define them. We invent language and use it to communicate with people; we, at the same time, express our inner thoughts to an outside world and make that world real when we say something. Over time, it becomes an engrained (oppositionary) meaning like normality/abnormality. Only meaningful in relation to its associated social institutions and what they are opposite to.

He always says that... *sigh*



Al.