Sunday, January 25, 2009

Chicken Joints

I took a philosophy course years ago, so I could beome "smart". The one thing I remember about the course was when the professor said a purpose of philosophy was to allow you to "divide life by the joints"-- separate life's pieces and then put them back together again, so to understand. His example was the joints of a chicken. A drumstick, thigh, wing, breast, and so on. They are all identifable, basically the same, right? I mean, a thigh doesn't become a breast, or a wing become a neck, does it? This is just something you can count on.

Now, let's rotate the planet 180 degrees, and plant you or me in Asia. Aah, now something is different here. One thing you notice is there are no-- absolutely zero "chicken joints". They just "chop-chop" the chicken, until you have no idea which "piece" is which. If you are looking for a "drumstick", you're out of luck. How in the world can this be? How do they live? Is life divided by the joints in Asia?

I guess one could say, in Asia, it's all good. We, in the West, miss something by limiting ourselves to just "drumsticks", "thighs", "wings", and so on.

Latte time!

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