THE VOICE

Thomas's parting comment about Sense reflected the sorry state of official wisdom seeking in that domain. Although a tumble with Sense racked up more points for an academic fast-tracker than a pit stop with Phlogiston or Fido-Fido, the contribution to a solution of the enigma of Sense of a century's worth of tumbling had been vanishingly small. Indeed, the sum total of what any wisdom seeker might stand and knowingly deliver about Sense, despite a bloat of sclerotic monographs, journal articles and lecture notes on that and related topics, was epitomized in Thomas's parting words to Mephisto: "A sense is whatever it is about 'a' and 'b' that makes 'a = a'and 'a = b' differ in cognitive value."

Why the sorry state of Sense? Was there no more to Sense than the self-indulgent and pretentious set-theoretic ersatzism with which Thomas and his Frege worshipping colleagues sought to stave off the downfall of the regnant ontology? Was there no more to Sense than the accumulatory zeal of investors in Frege Futures over at the Oxford and Cambridge presses? For somebody with no interest in the sociology of knowledge, was Sense anything more than dead meat?

THOMAS

DEAD MEAT?

THE VOICE

Philosophically speaking.

THOMAS petulant

How would YOU know?

THE VOICE

Here. Take a whiff!

Thomas holds nose.

VOICE

Now look!

Retching sound

THOMAS muffled

THAT kind of dead is a matter for philosophical reflection...(louder) Worms propose, wisdom-lovers dispose...(out of control) Pull the plug on THE VOICE!

THOMAS shudders

Ferchrissake, did you see those fucking WORMS? ¹⁴

Appendix One: Modus Ponens, Modus Tollens

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