"Ah, yes, good eats tonight," he said unknowingly.
His wife, far more philosophically up-to-date than her hapless husband, stirred the sauce while turning to correct him. "Of what 'eats' do you speak? Do you not know that there are no such things as 'eats' in themselves. That, my dear, is an abstraction."
Puzzled, her husband sat down at the kitchen table and asked, "what do you mean? I was referring to the delicious smelling dinner you are preparing! It seems to me tonight we will enjoy some good eats!"
Ever patient, Carol, Jack's wife of fifteen years, sat across from the table to explain. "Honey, don't you know that 'eats' are in their 'eating'? That sauce and those hot Italian sausages do not have some independent, self-contained existence. There are no 'eats', no food, apart from or prior to their being eaten."
Jack, having dabbled in a little philosophy in college, seemed to have a light go on upstairs. "Oh, you mean their existence must precede their essence?"
Carol was encouraging, "exactly!"
"So, what am I smelling," Jack asked with a smirk.
Carol paused, made a thoughtful facial expression, and replied, "that is simply the imposition of the categories of your mind on the data of the phenomenal realm. But the food won't be actualized until you begin the eating process."
By this time the sauce was bubbling over the pan on the stove. Carol leaped to her feet and lowered the temperature on the stove.
"You see," she explained, "food by its very nature is meant to act, to produce energy in the process of eating. Food which is not eaten is not actualized and thus does not exist as food. To say otherwise is an abstraction. The food becomes a mere abstract concept part from and prior to the act of consumption."
Now Jack was going to have some fun. "OK, what I smell does not exist, then. Boy, I have to say, that smells great for a non-existent entity! Can you make that non-stuff every night? I've gotta tell ya, if that non-being tastes as good as it smells, then just call me 'nothingness'!"
Carol, rolling her eyes, turned from the stove to shoot off one more salvo, "well, that is what I would expect from an old fashioned, unsophisticated, believer in a traditional metaphysic! You and your Greek-dualistic ontology can sleep on the couch tonight!"
Jack let out a roar of a laugh as he sat down at the table ready to eat his eats. Carol, fighting back a cracking smile, lit the candles as the two enjoyed a fine dinner over less philosophical conversation.
Post a Comment