Jassmine’s Reviews > Utopias, Dolphins and Computers: Problems in Philosophical Plumbing > Status Update

"Is our occupation with theoretical questions really just a self-contained humbug-factory, a web of idle dreams, fantasies and wish-fulfilments? Or are there also dreams which are not idle? Are there effective dreams?"

"When things do go badly, however, we have to do this. We must then
somehow readjust our underlying concepts; we must shift the set of assumptions that we were brought up with. We must restate those existing assumptions—which are normally muddled and inarticulate—so as to find the source of trouble. And this new statement must somehow be put in a usable form, a form which makes the necessary changes look possible."

Unbelievable, I barely started the book, and I am on the verge of tears. Not because it's sad, but because I feel seen and understood. It's like if Midgley took the mingled contents of my brain and straightened it into something understandable...