AboutJ.M.J. West Expertise I am versed in formal logic and the predicate calculus; Modern Philosophy, Anglo-American Philosophy, Contemporary Philosophy, And Christian/Catholic Philosophy. I can answer questions on - but not limited to - The Pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, The Stoics, the Early Church Era, St. Justin Martyr, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Ockham, Moore, Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, Russell, G. E. Moore, Quine, Rorty, Plantinga, etc.
I also have experience with Philosophy of Religion, Epistemology and other areas.
Experience I have a BA in Philosophy and History, and am continuing my education in both areas while discerning grad school.
Education/Credentials Bachelors Degrees in Philosophy and History, (political science emphasis)
Awards and Honors Cum laude, 1st Annual Harold Parker Award for Excellence in History, Benedictine College.
Question Hello, how are you? I would like to talk about a particular situation. I'm sure you have
heard of the phrase " You can never step into the same river twice". To me, this
basically means that a person's experience compared with another experience(s) can
never be exactly the same, even if the general experience is of the same nature. But
what happens if suddenly stepping into the river day after day gets boring and
stressful? Is there something wrong with the river or with the person stepping into it?
Is the person doing something wrong, approaching it in the wrong way, or is there
some psychological component to this? (Let's say the person is doing the best he/she
can, and trying to stay positive.) What does the river stand for metaphorically
anyway? (Sometimes the river seem hard to comprehend and just seem hard to grasp
mentally). Sometimes the river seems random and hard to control. What are your
thoughts on this? Thank you for your time.
Answer Heraclitus said this famous phrase, and it wasn't in reference to a metaphorical river, but to an actual river. Early philosophy was concerned with explaining change and what it meant to our very ability to persist through time. When he said that you cannot step into the same river twice, he meant quite literally that the river you step in is very different each time you step in it (from a purely molecular level, this is true, as water which was upstream is now down stream, and none of the water molecules are where they were when you first stepped into it).
As for the discrepancy of perceptions (ie. "a person's experience compared with another experience(s) can never be exactly the same, even if the general experience is of the same nature"), a number of philosophers have noted this, and it leaves one either accepting an Aristotelian theory of forms in knowledge (i.e. the overarching form of the thing experienced remains the same, so all knowers know the same thing by knowing its form, or else a radical skepticism a la Quine and the other moderns who think you can know nothing.).
