Magic Hat #9

In which I ramble over what "rambling" is.

It's been a little over a week since my last post, so here's a new one.

I missed my review on an Affligem Blonde because I drank it all away from a computer. Oh well. Tonight I have lined up a review of the Magic Hat "Not so pale ale" #9 as well as some meta-philosophy. That's right, I'm going to talk about the philosophy of philosophy. Buckle up.

If you're reading this, you're either a friend or facebook acquaintance, lover of beer, or lover of philosophy. Being a lover of beer is fairly self explanatory. Plenty of people like beer. They understand the purpose of beer: to taste good and provide alcoholic inebriation. That is what beer is. The essence of beer. That which is what beer is and will be as some rather obtuse meta-physicist might put. Beer of course has a very real definition related to hop, malt, and grain content; specific range for percent alcoholic content, and of course the brewing process. This all helps define beer physically, but its purpose is left to the general public, not the law. The very thought-processes can help define other physical objects. A classic exercise is to define a chair. What is a chair? Does it necessarily have four legs and a back? Or is it rather defined by its purpose, to hold and individual up at an elevated height when he is in a seated position? What about floor cushions? Stools? Rather large rocks?

What happens when a "chair" has less than the usual four legs? Does it loose any of its "chair-ness" when a leg is subtracted? And if the "chair's" leg is broken, no longer able to support weight. Can it no longer be called a chair? Is it now a lump of material in some form resembling a chair? When is a "chair" really a work of art?

We all have past experiences that deal with chairs, so we all have an idea of what constitutes "chair-ness" (unless you grew up in some chair-depraved commune). The problem arises when we try and compare our own ideas of what "chair-ness" really is. We can't agree!

This ties in neatly with the beer I'm currently sampling. The #9 is difficult to define. Magic Hat claims the beer was brewed in the style of a pale ale, but not quite. It's a round beer, with prominent mouth-feel. An envelope of flavors that begin in the nose transition neatly into a mid-taste climax, then a thoughtful after-taste. Apricots all the way down. And cream. Plently of wheaty-sweetness as well. This is not a pale ale. Not a lager. Not an amber. 5.1% ABV is almost a non-factor in the taste. Lots of sweetness, but you're eased into it. Another great summer night companion, and actually the one I prefer over last week's Summerfest!

Now what about philosophy? How is philosophy like a chair? For starters, that brief exercise we had at attempting to define "chair-ness" is an example of applied philosophy. Personally, philosophy is the very same as meta-cognition. Analyzing how humanity analyzes. Thinking about thought. Exploring the conceptual and learning new ways about interpreting the meta-physical universe (not the physical one, that's called science). Of course, there are many different conflicting definitions and interpretations as to just what philosophy is. Probably a different subtle interpretation of that word as there are humans on the planet! But we can get a general idea of just what philosophy is for.

Philosophy helps give us the reason why. Why what? Why anything. Why "science" is based upon observation, experimentation, interpretation, and explanation. The scientific method was developed out of philosophy. Greek philosophers Thalus, Socrates, and Aristotle are often credited with laying the foundation of and then helping define methods of discovering new universal truths via induction. Various forms of empiricism can be found in ancient Egyptian astronomy and Islamic physics. Of course ancient syllogism was replaced by more formalized logic systems (for homework look up Francis Bacon) but still Bacon can be thought of as a philosopher of science. He wanted to know how best to interpret the data the universe was providing and so devised a logic system.

Philosophy is not just navel-gazing tripe of "who are we," and "why are we here," but a useful tool in improving everyday lives. Modern forms of capitalism are in part derived from the works of philosophers of economics: David Hume, Adam Smith, and Karl Marx among them. They helped to define what economics is. What a market is. What money is. Ethics is another very important branch of philosophy as it helps to define what is right and good. I'll probably address some ethical systems later in this blog so I won't go too in depth now.

I guess then, when you boil everything down, philosophy can be a rather difficult, bothersome, and head-aching means to define. To really make sure what you're sitting on isn't just a form of metal, plastic and fabric, but a chair.