Philosophical Ramblings 2002-07-18

So I was talking with a friend of mine the other day, and he asks me, �How would you define skepticism?�

Interesting question, considering he asked how I would define it, and not what the actual definition is. To me a skeptic is someone who has trouble believing what anyone else tells him. So I reply, �Skepticism is the blind man�s way of acting foolish,� in a rather mean attempt at sounding wise. Surprisingly enough, I suppose, he bought it.

So my friend asks me, �What do you consider optimism to be then?�

Rather wittingly, I shoot back, �Optimism is the foolish man�s way of acting blind.� I was beginning to realize that I wasn�t being as funny as I thought I was, and was speaking more Truth than I had intended.

My friend apparently thought so too, because then he asked what I thought pessimism was. So I told him that the pessimist finds himself in a tub of shit, and then resigns himself to live there, since it�s apparently the best he can do.

So my friend asks what a cynic was. And so I told him that a cynic was someone who uses a tub of shit as a metaphor for life.

And then I lit a cigarette and changed subjects.