[Peace-discuss] Keywords 030720

[Szoke, Ron]

A review of some terms useful in political analysis & polemics

simple-minded, metaphysics, fatuous

sim·ple-mind·ed or sim·ple·mind·ed (sĭm′pəl-mīn′dĭd)  adj.
1. Lacking in subtlety or sophistication; artless or naive: a simple-minded horror movie; simple-minded generalizations.
2. Stupid or silly; foolish.
3. Offensive Intellectually disabled.

1. lacking in mental acuteness or sense.
2. artless or unsophisticated.  [1735–45]

metaphysics
	My simple-minded, nontechnical definition:
all talk about things (objects, entities) that are invisible & intangible (cannot be seen or touched):  abstractions such as thoughts, beliefs, motives, intentions, meanings, numbers, souls, spirits, gods, essences, truth, reality, tendencies, causes, patterns, structures, potentialities, etc.  
// Literally, “beyond the Physics,” the title given to Aristotle’s treatise on his theory of Nature.  
> 	Note that I only suggest appropriate caution in dealing with these elusive abstract entities & do not mean complete disapproval or rejection.  It seems impossible for people to think or reason effectively without them.  ~ RSz. 
— metaphysical  (adjective)
Beyond measurement ; transcendent; supersensible.
Those who rail against it do so for the most practical reason: They have not mastered its use.  They strive for metaphysical formulations to justify their hidden little secret (sloth and fear).  
— William F. Buckley Jr., The Lexicon (Harcourt, 1996), p. 97.  

>  Now do you see how contemptible you are, according to the late Mr. Buckley, if you “rail against” anything metaphysical? Is that your shameful, hidden little secret?  Have you done that lately?  Confess! ~ RSz. 

fat·u·ous  (făch′o͞o-əs)  adj.
Foolish or silly, especially in a smug or self-satisfied way: "an era of delicious, fatuous optimism shaped by the belief that enough good will on the part of people like ourselves could repair anything" (Shirley Abbott). See Synonyms at foolish.  [From Latin fatuus.]
//   adj  complacently or inanely foolish
[C17: from Latin fatuus; related to fatiscere to gape]

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