14 December 2009

The philosophy of apricots

These are not apricots

Are apricots real? What do we mean when we say, "Apricot"? How do we know what apricots are? What do we mean by “real”? Am I a brain in a vat?

They were delicious.

All content © 2009 Pete McGregor

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Love this. Really nice shot, really good chuckle.

Zhoen said...

The Philosophical Apricots.

P.E.A. said...

That Book is not good for you!

Barbara Butler McCoy said...

Plum of a post; peach of a photo ... the book is the cherry on top ...

pohanginapete said...

Ha! Thanks everyone — good to know you appreciate it ;^D

(P.E.A.: but is what's good good because it's loved by the gods, or do the gods love the good because it's good? (the reference is to Plato's Euthyphro.) And thanks — the book is brilliant (not just good)).

P.E.A. said...

I think you've just proved my point! Or has the point proved you?

Lesley said...

I had to turn my laptop upside down to read those of the hand-written words I couldn't read with the screen right-side up. I remember seeing that news item in The Press not long ago.

And my apricot tree blew down in a recent sou'wester, so I philosphically consigned the under-developed fruit that fell off in the process to the compost. Looking at these, my mouth waters and I don't feel at all philosophical any more. Maybe I'd better read the book. It will last longer than apricots, anyway (although probably harder to digest).

pohanginapete said...

P.E.A., point taken :^)

Lesley, I'm glad I don't have to choose between books and apricots. Moreover, that particular book is surprisingly easy to digest — it has its moments, but most contributors have clearly gone to some pains to make their entries comprehensible. (Thanks for the clippings — and the pin-up — too!)