Awesome people: Prof. Sidney Morgenbesser

From his wikipedia entry: Sidney Morgenbesser (September 22, 1921 – August 1, 2004) was a Columbia University philosopher. He was known particularly for his sharp witticisms and humor, which often penetrated to the heart of the philosophical issue at hand. He published little, and established no school, but was revered for his extraordinary intelligence and moral seriousness. He was a famously influential teacher. Morgenbesser's areas of expertise included the philosophy of social science, political philosophy, epistemology, and the history of American Pragmatism.

I'll take a leap of faith and just believe everything wikipedia tells me about this man, particularly his quotes, because I want to think that he actually came up with all of them and used them to impart knowledge. It makes the world a better place.

-During a lecture the Oxford linguistic philosopher J. L. Austin made the claim that although a double negative in English implies a positive meaning, there is no language in which a double positive implies a negative. To which Morgenbesser responded in a dismissive tone, "Yeah, right."

-On the independence of irrelevant alternatives: After finishing dinner, Sidney Morgenbesser decides to order dessert. The waitress tells him he has two choices: apple pie and blueberry pie. Sidney orders the apple pie. After a few minutes the waitress returns and says that they also have cherry pie at which point Morgenbesser says "In that case I'll have the blueberry pie."

-Interrogated by a student whether he agreed with Chairman Mao’s view that a statement can be both true and false at the same time, Morgenbesser replied “Well, I do and I don’t.”

-"The only problem with pragmatism is that it's completely useless."

-In response to Heidegger's ontological query "Why is there something rather than nothing?" Morgenbesser answered "If there were nothing you'd still be complaining!"

-At a conference on cognitive psychology and philosophy of mind, one scholar was presenting what was at the time a popular line on how "madness" had no real referent and was merely a product of power-laden "othering." His response: "You mean to tell me that it's all in my head?"

-A few weeks before his death, he asked another Columbia philosopher, David Albert, about God. "Why is God making me suffer so much?" he asked. "Just because I don't believe in him?"

He would have had one hilarious twitter account. Philosophic one-liners delivered with a marxist kind of humour. Groucho's, that is.

I would have never missed a single one of his lectures. Nothing better that a teacher who understands that humour is a great exercise for the mind. That if we are laughing, it's because we are understanding.

Also, Morgenbesser once set this as an exam question in an introductory philosophy class: “It is often said that Marx and Freud went too far. How far would you go?”

Toughest question ever.