At one time there lived a king whose kingdom had grown cold towards him. His pride told him that he was unjustly treated; but being a good man deep down he decided to take a tour of the countryside to begin again with his followers. The king took a year and then returned to his castle, feeling little benefit from his efforts. Unused to such journeys, the king also found that he had lost three of his crown jewels. His pride told him that such an error would be better left where it lay; but being a good man deep down he decided to post a ransom to anyone who could safely return even one crown jewel. “NOTICE,” it read, “Whoever shall return even one crown jewel to the king shall receive one wish and a county all his own.”
And the search was on. One crown jewel was found by a poor man. He, and his unruly retinue of relatives, made their way to the castle. “Look, king,” said the man, “I have brought back your precious jewel.” “I am grateful, son. What is now your wish?” The man asked, “I wish to receive a living whereby I may be provided for in my housing, food, and clothes for the rest of my life.” The wish was granted. The once poor man returned to his county with his crowd of cousins. The man grew fat, who seeing no need saw no responsibility. He became the source for borrowers and his house a center of idleness. His county began to deteriorate as those who stretched at a chance to gain without labor migrated there. The benevolence of the king was not wholly frustrated however since all those in the county, whether of pure heart or not, always took up the king’s cause at need.
Another crown jewel was found by an ascetic man. This man took a lonely path to the castle. “Look, king,” said the man, “You have regained what is your due.” “I am pleased, son. What is now your wish?” The man asked, “I wish not to receive anything from your hand, neither a county.” The wish was granted. The ascetic returned the way he came, which was no small feat, as word of his appearance at court spread. The talk of the kingdom was of how and why the man could be so noble. He was set in the worst struggle of his life, who felt satisfaction in his recognition and also dissatisfaction at any hint of popularity. The benevolence of the king was not wholly frustrated however since the extremity of the man brought about the temperance of many who otherwise would never have sought it.
The last crown jewel was found by a suffering addict. This man called on his closest friends to take him to the castle. “Look, king,” said the man, and here the man paused. His mind had not stopped fantasizing about his wish since he had happened upon the crown jewel. His flesh told him that this was his chance to satisfy himself; but being a good man deep down, he broke in the presence of the king and his friends. “Look, king,” said the man, “I freely give you back your crown jewel.” “I am humbled, son. What is now your wish?” “I wish that the authority of my county be given over to my friends and me, to take stewardship of it as we report to you alone.” The wish was granted. The former addict returned to his county and let the burden of responsibility replace that of want. As each friend could not take full credit for their position, neither could one place full blame at the feet of any of his peers. This county prospered for many, many generations and increased the wealth of its king a thousand-fold.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Extemporaneous, anyone?
'To the point, loquaciousness never quite percieves any certain telos, so to say, but rather directs volleys where it well,' said Phil. 'Please don't continue,' said I, 'you are preaching to the choir, or perpetrating friendly fire, however you want to express it.' 'Well, all I meant to say, or express, as you so aptly put it, was that the common herd most inclined to talk are least inclined to communicate anything of substance, whereas those who might retain any amount of meaning within their craniums have to be chased down and wrung of their ideas; true, there are two types of idea retainers: taciturn, and just plain cryptic. I, on the other hand, would rather be talkative and clear.' 'Yes,' says I, 'but talking about talking, well, is not quite as good as maybe being slow to speak something worth while. There's something to be said for filtering out the gold dust, if you will, before dispersing it rather than having to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again.' 'Quite true,' said the other, 'if patience is your virtue; on the other hand, some of us would much rather make a search of it, a game of sorts.' 'But the search is not an end in itself, to me,' I replied, 'besides, there's game enough without home rules.'
*Just write whatever comes to mind*
*Just write whatever comes to mind*
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Football a la Aquinas
Is the end of American football to win?
It would seem that it is not:
Winning is not an absolute end.
1. Winning can in no way be certain. If winning can not be certain, then aiming for it will also be an uncertain pursuit. Winning belongs to the genus of objects which can not be reached by grasping for them, such as honor can not be reached by grasping for it. One must pursue virtue if one is to gain honor. Similarly, winning is secured not by the pursuit of it, an uncertain target, but must be secured by the pursuit of something else.
2. A team may win against a team one week and lose to the same team another week. Thus, winning seems a useless thing to keep track of.
3. There will always be a team that loses. Winning can not be the end for both teams or else the matter has moved beyond logic.
On the contrary:
Winning seems to be the end because all of the statistics of American football have to do with scoring, and the team that scores the most, wins. Winning seems to be the end because all practice and training deal with doing a better job of scoring, whether preventing the opposing team from scoring or helping one’s own team in scoring. Teams move into the playoffs and get to play more games because of winning. Players are recognized for their ability to help their team win. Winning keeps the coaches in a job and losing often gets coaches fired. The team who has won the least gets first pick in the draft, obviously to help that team improve its chances of winning by getting the best players available.
Response:
It should be said that playing to the best of one’s ability is the end of football. It is an absolute end, one that can be pursued indefinitely though it might never be perfectly attained. Regardless of winning or losing, playing to the best of one’s ability can always be pursued. In fact, it is in the pursuit of this that one is able to thereby achieve winning. But even if one is unable to win but instead loses, the goal remains the same. In fact, losing is viewed in the right way if playing to the best of one’s ability is the end of American football: first, because in the event that one loses because one did not play to the best of one’s ability, the blame is correctly placed and further motivation is gained to attain more closely to the end; second, in the event that one loses in spite of playing to the best of one’s ability, the player can be satisfied that the end was reached and the other team’s pursuit of the end caused them to win. Each player, coach, and team has unique abilities and can only be expected to manifest them in the best way possible. After that, winning will go to those who are better at winning though not necessarily better in their pursuit of the end. It is fair that some are better at winning than others because each player, coach, and team will have unique abilities and will not be equal. Winning is sought by pursuing the end, to play to the best of one’s abilities. Thus, the best team may be the one most capable of winning by the pursuit of the end, but a team will be deemed good insofar as it is able to pursue the end well.
Addendum:
Ad.1. It should be said that stats are kept only during the game. The game is a test of the abilities of each team to win, not an inclusive record of the team’s ability to pursue the end. Thus, the game is a test to see which team is better at winning by pursuing the end.
Ad.2. It should be said that practice and training deal with equipping one in order to play to the best of one’s abilities. One trains to be the best he can at winning, but one does not train to be the best at winning. Winning can not be reached by training as has been shown and with this further evidence: if a bigger, stronger, faster player tries to the ultimate of his abilities, he will win against the smaller, weaker, slower player, even if he tries to the ultimate of his abilities. The better player thus must not adjust his standard to the worse player, or he will become worse. The worse player must not adjust to the better player’s standard because it is beyond him. He must be satisfied to pursue the best of his abilities. There is, however, so many variables within a game as regarding the team, the strategies, the coach, the weather, ad infinitum that the worse player has good reason to still hope for a win in his pursuit of his ultimate abilities.
Ad.3. It should be said that teams that are the best at winning get to play more games in the playoffs because the purpose of games is to see who is the best at winning. If there are two teams who are better than most teams because their pursuit of the end can better attain winning, then a contest between the two will be a more worthwhile affair because of each team’s proficiency at pursuing its end. If both teams can pursue playing to the best of their abilities perfectly, then the game will be a demonstration of which perfection is better at winning. In this case, with the differences between players, coaches, and teams, there is no one way to be perfect at playing to the best of one’s ability. The only way to be perfect at winning is to never lose and there are perhaps an infinite amount of ways to be even that.
It would seem that it is not:
Winning is not an absolute end.
1. Winning can in no way be certain. If winning can not be certain, then aiming for it will also be an uncertain pursuit. Winning belongs to the genus of objects which can not be reached by grasping for them, such as honor can not be reached by grasping for it. One must pursue virtue if one is to gain honor. Similarly, winning is secured not by the pursuit of it, an uncertain target, but must be secured by the pursuit of something else.
2. A team may win against a team one week and lose to the same team another week. Thus, winning seems a useless thing to keep track of.
3. There will always be a team that loses. Winning can not be the end for both teams or else the matter has moved beyond logic.
On the contrary:
Winning seems to be the end because all of the statistics of American football have to do with scoring, and the team that scores the most, wins. Winning seems to be the end because all practice and training deal with doing a better job of scoring, whether preventing the opposing team from scoring or helping one’s own team in scoring. Teams move into the playoffs and get to play more games because of winning. Players are recognized for their ability to help their team win. Winning keeps the coaches in a job and losing often gets coaches fired. The team who has won the least gets first pick in the draft, obviously to help that team improve its chances of winning by getting the best players available.
Response:
It should be said that playing to the best of one’s ability is the end of football. It is an absolute end, one that can be pursued indefinitely though it might never be perfectly attained. Regardless of winning or losing, playing to the best of one’s ability can always be pursued. In fact, it is in the pursuit of this that one is able to thereby achieve winning. But even if one is unable to win but instead loses, the goal remains the same. In fact, losing is viewed in the right way if playing to the best of one’s ability is the end of American football: first, because in the event that one loses because one did not play to the best of one’s ability, the blame is correctly placed and further motivation is gained to attain more closely to the end; second, in the event that one loses in spite of playing to the best of one’s ability, the player can be satisfied that the end was reached and the other team’s pursuit of the end caused them to win. Each player, coach, and team has unique abilities and can only be expected to manifest them in the best way possible. After that, winning will go to those who are better at winning though not necessarily better in their pursuit of the end. It is fair that some are better at winning than others because each player, coach, and team will have unique abilities and will not be equal. Winning is sought by pursuing the end, to play to the best of one’s abilities. Thus, the best team may be the one most capable of winning by the pursuit of the end, but a team will be deemed good insofar as it is able to pursue the end well.
Addendum:
Ad.1. It should be said that stats are kept only during the game. The game is a test of the abilities of each team to win, not an inclusive record of the team’s ability to pursue the end. Thus, the game is a test to see which team is better at winning by pursuing the end.
Ad.2. It should be said that practice and training deal with equipping one in order to play to the best of one’s abilities. One trains to be the best he can at winning, but one does not train to be the best at winning. Winning can not be reached by training as has been shown and with this further evidence: if a bigger, stronger, faster player tries to the ultimate of his abilities, he will win against the smaller, weaker, slower player, even if he tries to the ultimate of his abilities. The better player thus must not adjust his standard to the worse player, or he will become worse. The worse player must not adjust to the better player’s standard because it is beyond him. He must be satisfied to pursue the best of his abilities. There is, however, so many variables within a game as regarding the team, the strategies, the coach, the weather, ad infinitum that the worse player has good reason to still hope for a win in his pursuit of his ultimate abilities.
Ad.3. It should be said that teams that are the best at winning get to play more games in the playoffs because the purpose of games is to see who is the best at winning. If there are two teams who are better than most teams because their pursuit of the end can better attain winning, then a contest between the two will be a more worthwhile affair because of each team’s proficiency at pursuing its end. If both teams can pursue playing to the best of their abilities perfectly, then the game will be a demonstration of which perfection is better at winning. In this case, with the differences between players, coaches, and teams, there is no one way to be perfect at playing to the best of one’s ability. The only way to be perfect at winning is to never lose and there are perhaps an infinite amount of ways to be even that.
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