¯Philosophy, oh, she got no bailiwick.                           

 

House of Pheepher

   G. Randolph Mayes

            Department of Philosophy

            Sacramento State University

            Mendocino Hall 3028

 

    Contact  Courses  CPPE  SHV   Scribble   T-shirts   Juggling   Roll   Wikis   Because  Tauts       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi, my name is Randy Mayes.  I'm an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Sacramento State University.  You can contact me in any of the following ways:

E-mail:  mayesgr@csus.edu

Google Talk: grandolphmayes

AIM: grandolphmayes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Randy's Courses

Critical Thinking

Ethics and Social Issues

Infinity

Introduction to Philosophy

Philosophy of Science

Naturalism

Symbolic Logic I

Symbolic Logic II

Theory of Knowledge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Randy's Scribble

This is a selection of some things I've written. 

Please don't quote the drafts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current Wikis

 

Philosophy 180 Wiki

CT Wiki

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Randy's ΦT's

The shirt to the right is a portal to a philosophy t-shirt store. The designs come mainly from the signs I hang on my office door at school.  The price on the shirt reflects no markup;  spreadshirt.com gets all your money. If you like one of the designs but would prefer a different color or t-shirt style, feel free to make it yourself.  If you want me to do it for you, tell me what style and color you want and I'll put it in the store.  The featured shirt is made of organic cotton and 2 dollars goes to support the Nature Conservancy.

(Note: If you failed to detect a contradiction in the paragraph above you may not be qualified  to purchase  one of these shirts.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roll Call Questions

(a selection of some favorites)

A perfect stranger sits down next to you on a park bench on a hot summer day, opens a cooler, and offers you 1000 dollars to drink a cold bottle of Evian water.

A perfect stranger hands you a gun and offers you 1000 dollars to put it to your head and pull the trigger.  You may check to see whether it is loaded.

A perfect stranger offers you a million dollars cash in exchange for your soul.  You must sign a document transferring ownership.

Would you agree to 24 hours of incredibly painful torture in exchange for 10,000 dollars if you were assured that it would do no physical damage and that you would remember it (falsely) as an amazing sexual experience?

What do you mean _____?

Would you participate in a scientific experiment about the efficacy of prayer in which you are required to pray earnestly everyday for  a month that someone you don't know will die?  You will be paid 1000 dollars.

I'd give _____years of my  life for 1 million dollars.

Would you spit on a perfect stranger for 500 dollars?  Assume s/he could not retaliate.  Alternatively, assume that it is an old lady.

Just because I'm _____ doesn't mean I'm  _____.

What is the least amount of money that you would accept to break an inconsequential promise to a close friend?

You won't believe this but  _____.

Would you rather believe a beautiful lie or know the terrible truth?

I always lie about  _____.

Somewhere over the rainbow is my _____.

The meanest thing I ever did as a kid is _____.

I felt really stupid the time I _____.

Should you respect the wishes of dead people?

If I were a  condiment  I'd be _____.

If I were a tool I'd be _______.

I can't shake the feeling that ______.

What I really want to know is _____.

I'd give a month of my life to spend a day with  _____.  (Any person dead or alive.)

Would you mow your teacher's lawn to improve your grade from a D to an A?

Would you play Russian Roulette for a billion dollars? (Assume it involves drinking one of six cups filled with a tasty beverage, one of which contains a poison that will kill you instantly and painlessly.)

A bad dream in one sentence or less.

Last time I really messed things up was when _____.

Good childhood experience in a sentence.

I'm not a _____.

You just don't ______.

Something I like that most people don't is _____.

I'd like to have a snack with _____.

Would you rather belong to a world of all men or all women? ('All' includes you.)

I'd rather not have to choose between ____ and _____.

It's bad manners to ______.

My least favorite body part is _____.

Name of your least favorite elementary school teacher.

I was never so mad as when _____.

There ought to be a law against  _____.

It's really awkward when _____.

If I could be invisible for a day, I would _____.

Is it wrong or merely rude  to take something out of a person's shopping cart before s/he has paid for it?

What name would you give yourself after your sex change operation?

I wish I didn't care so much about ___.

Would you rather be fabulously rich and loved by no one or dirt poor and loved my many?

Would you rather have a spouse who is warm, faithful, loving, and butt ugly, or one who is faithful, cold, indifferent and incredibly beautiful?

Is it ok  to spy on people in intimate situations as long as they never find out?

What's the funniest way you ever got hurt?

What people sometimes don't get about me is ______.

If I were a man (woman) I would be attracted to _______.

I take a peculiar pleasure in ________.

I tend to exaggerate my  ______ .

When I get old I hope I don't  ______.

You can't ____ a _____.

I'll give you evidence of irrationality:  ________.

It kind of took me by surprise when ______.

Tried and true or something new?

Would you trade all the days you are likely to be sick during your life for a life shorter by that many days?

If happiness and stupidity were inversely proportional, what proportions would you choose?


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tautologies

( with a few contradictions sprinkled in)

  •  

  •  

  • There's nothing you can do that can't be done.

  • You can't get out of your own way.

  • You can't drill a square hole.

  • You can't milk a bird.

  • I haven’t had a drink since my  last one.

  • It was working right up to the time it broke.

  • East is East and West is West.

  • What’s right is right.

  • Enough is enough.

  • It’s best not to overdo it.

  • Pubic hair doesn't grow out of your ears.

  • No means no.

  • You ought to do the right thing.

  • You’ve got one life to live.

  • You’re not me.

  • I am what I am.

  • I’ve gotta be me.

  • A man's got to do what a man's got to do.

  • I believe what I believe.

  • I know what I know.

  • I’m right here.

  • You’ve got to start somewhere.

  • First things first.

  • You play the hand you’re dealt.

  • It is what it is.

  • It ain’t over till it’s over.

  • If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

  • Don't cross the bridge till you come to it.

  • A win is a win.

  • You’ve got to die of something.

  • What’s done is done.

  • Whatever will be will be.

  • There are no records of the future.

  • You can't predict the past.

  • Nothing is harder to forecast than the future.

  • When you’re dead you’re dead.

  • You can’t choose your parents.

  • You can’t remember what didn’t happen.

  • Whatever happens happens.

  • You can’t finish what you don’t start.

  • You can’t be denied if you never ask permission.

  • You can’t fail if you never try.

  • You can’t be rejected if you never apply.

  • You can't hit a five run homer.

  • Whoever scores the most points wins.

  • If you win the first game, you won't be swept.

  • Wherever you go, there you are.

  • What comes around goes around.

  • Boys will be boys.

  • You don’t know what you don’t know.

  • You go to war with the army you’ve got.

  • The law is the law.

  • If you can you can, if you can't you can't.

  • You don't prove your assumptions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ouch! 

What the hell is the matter with you?