For Whom the Question Begs Scott F. Parker I like philosophy as much as the next guy But sometimes—when Zen asks Who am I? or Descartes concludes I think therefore I am or Nagel wonders what it’s like to be a bat or Let’s not even get into Heidegger or You can probably summon other examples Of philosophy’s invitations to recursivity That you accept at the price of paralysis Whirlpools sucking you into oblivion, When that happens, as it happens— I try to remember what Wittgenstein said About showing the fly out of the fly bottle But what in the world is a fly bottle? And would Wittgenstein agree that Whatever the self is or is not, sometimes When the coffeepot gurgles, it gurgles for me?
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