Toward a Philosophy of Romance

Toward a Philosophy of Romance

What do they mean when they say
You can't put a value on human life?
The bear that is chasing you through the woods
Certainly does put a value on your life.

How humiliating that situation is
When a person's flesh is of higher value
Than that which the flesh sustains

The soldier marching into the meat grinder
The prostitute standing on the corner
Both understand their flesh value
They understand the material and economic necessity
Which has placed them in their situations

But while you are running from that bear
Who is chasing you through the woods
Consider what it is that is compelling you onward
Away from the bear that is time
And the surety that he will run you down

Its this sentimentality which inspires all action
And on which all value is based

2.

What is wrong with 2 + 2 = 5?
The terms are well defined
There can be no confusion
In this sense it is just as good as 2 + 2 = 4

But 2 + 2 = 5 is an incongruity
And that's really what we don't like about it
Its falsehood

We prefer our mathematical statements to be congruous
Our judgment against 2 + 2 = 5 is an aesthetic one
This aesthetic is seemingly universal
It is easily taught and well understood by children
Perhaps the study and practice of mathematics
Would be impossible without it

The undertaking of science would be a fraud
Without an aesthetic preference for the truth