Charlie Dunbar Broad Charlie Dunbar Broad
According to The Strangest Man , a biography about the great theoretical physicist, Paul Dirac, one of Dirac’s greatest early teachers was the philosopher, C.D. Broad. According to The Strangest Man , a biography about the great theoretical physicist, Paul Dirac, one of Dirac’s greatest early teachers was the philosopher, C.D. Broad.
Aside from being a fairly influential philospher, Broad was, and is, known as a extremely lucid writer. Aside from being a fairly influential philospher, Broad was, and is, known as an extremely lucid writer.
According to Dirac’s biographer, Graham Farmelo, “C. D. Broad was a wonderfully idiosyncratic lecturer. According to Dirac’s biographer, Graham Farmelo, “C. D. Broad was a wonderfully idiosyncratic lecturer. He always appeared with a carefully prepared script, and he read every sentence twice, except for the jokes, which he delivered three times. He always appeared with a carefully prepared script, and he read every sentence twice, except for the jokes, which he delivered three times. . . . Trenchency was one of his strongest suits. Trenchency was one of his strongest suits.”
For those of you not familiar with Broad, I would like to quote, what I consider, some of his more precious statements. For those of you not familiar with Broad, I would like to quote, what I consider, some of his more precious statements.
I have an extreme dislike for vague, and oracular writing; and I have very little patience with authors who express themselves in this style. I have an extreme dislike for vague, and oracular writing; and I have very little patience with authors who express themselves in this style. I believe that what can be said at all can be said simply and clearly in any civilized language or in a suitable system of symbols, and that verbal obscurity is almost always a sign of mental confusion. I believe that what can be said at all can be said simply and clearly in any civilized language or in a suitable system of symbols, and that verbal obscurity is almost always a sign of mental confusion.
I tend naturally to take a somewhat gloomy view of the world and its inhabitants; and I have a particular horror of all attempts to argue from what ought to be, or what we should like to be, to what is or will be. I tend naturally to take a somewhat gloomy view of the world and its inhabitants; and I have a particular horror of all attempts to argue from what ought to be, or what we should like to be, to what is or will be.
I also intensely dislike and profoundly distrust all strong group emotions. (I think that this may be an excessive reaction against an unacknowledged tendency to feel them rather strongly.) I also intensely dislike and profoundly distrust all strong group emotions. (I think that this may be an excessive reaction against an unacknowledged tendency to feel them rather strongly.)
I am fundamentally sceptical, and I feel no confidence in any elaborately reasoned system of metaphysics. I am fundamentally sceptical, and I feel no confidence in any elaborately reasoned system of metaphysics. Even when I cannot put my finger on any definite flaw in it, there is a still small voice within me which whispers “Bosh!” Even when I cannot put my finger on any definite flaw in it, there is a still small voice within me which whispers “Bosh!” A great deal of so-called sccpticism is simply a particular kind of dogmatism which leads men to reject all alleged facts which do not come within the sphere of recognized science. A great deal of so-called sccpticism is simply a particular kind of dogmatism which leads men to reject all alleged facts which do not come within the sphere of recognized science.
I am almost wholly devoid of religious or mystical experience. I am almost wholly devoid of religious or mystical experience. This is combined with a great interest in such experiences and a belief that they are probably of extreme importance in any theoretical interpretation of the world. This is combined with a great interest in such experiences and a belief that they are probably of extreme importance in any theoretical interpretation of the world.
Is there is joke here somewhere? Is there a joke here somewhere? Is there a joke here somewhere?
No. No. No.
