The 21st Century Monads: November 2009

The (Original) Monads' Music

A Sad State of Affairs

1. The Skeptic Song* (M4A) (MP3)

2. Counterparts* (M4A) (MP3)

3. The Missing Shade of Blues (MP3)

4. You Are My Everything* (M4A) (MP3)

5. Slap Me Happy (I’m Temporally Gappy) (MP3)

6. Let the Trolley Ride on Through (MP3)

7. Modus Tollens (MP3)

8. Meinongian Babe* (M4A) (MP3)

9. Meditations on Berkeley (MP3)

10. Problem of the Many (MP3)

11. I Need Your Love* (M4A) (MP3)

12. I Am The Fusion* (M4A) (MP3)

13. We Are The Monads (MP3)

The Monads are Shawn Larsen-Bright and Kris McDaniel (and Justin Klocksiem on tracks 3 and 11). All songs written and performed by The Monads. Copyright 1999 © Monadic Properties. The songs marked with ‘*’ have been remastered in 2009 by Kris McDaniel. Copyright © 2009 Monadic Properties.

The G. E. Moore Shift

“The G.E. Moore Shift”
Music by Kris McDaniel/Ben Bradley.
Lyrics by Kris McDaniel/Carrie Jenkins.

Carrie Jenkins — vocals
Ben Bradley — electric guitar
Kris McDaniel — synthesizer, electric guitar

Carrie Jenkins’s vocals were recorded by Carrie in Nottingham.
Kris and Ben’s parts were recorded by Kris and Ben in Syracuse.
Song engineered by Kris McDaniel.

Lyrics
There’s something wrong with this argument,
But I don’t know what it is.
The denial of the conclusion is more plausible
Than the conjunction of the premises.
There must be something here to reject;
Something’s gotta give.
I’m gonna do the G.E. Moore shift.
I wanna do the G.E. Moore shift.
Come on the G.E. Moore shift.
I wanna do the G.E. Moore shift.

I can’t believe you think that that’s true.
How can you accept the consequence of that view?
I can’t believe you think that that’s true.
How can you accept the consequence of that view?

There’s nothing great about validity;
It depends on where you start.
Don’t even try to modus ponens me;
I’m gonna tollens you so hard.
It’s obvious something here ain’t right;
Use a little common sense
And do the G.E. Moore shift.
I wanna do the G.E. Moore shift.
Come on the G.E. Moore shift.
I wanna do the G.E. Moore shift.

I can’t believe you think that that’s true.
How can you accept the consequence of that view?
I can’t believe you think that that’s true.
How can you accept the consequence of that view?

It’s obvious something here ain’t right;
Something’s gotta go.
We’ve gotta do the G.E. Moore shift.
I wanna do the G.E. Moore shift.
Come on the G.E. Moore shift.
I wanna do the G.E. Moore shift.

When Does Composition Occur?

Music by Kris McDaniel, vocal harmonies by Carrie Jenkins.
Lyrics by Kris McDaniel and Carrie Jenkins.

Carrie Jenkins — vocals
Kris McDaniel — vocals, classical guitar, electric guitar, keyboards

Carrie Jenkins’ parts were recorded by Carrie in Nottingham.
Kris and Ben’s parts were recorded by Kris and Ben in Syracuse.
Song engineered by Kris McDaniel.

Lyrics
We wanted to make
One out of two
But we didn’t know
What we needed to do

What’s the correct
Description of the act?
Would it suffice
To make perfect contact?

So tell me, when does composition occur?

What would happen were we to kiss?
What if I were to touch you like this?
What if you held me and wouldn’t let go?
Would an intuition still tell us no?

So tell me, when does composition occur?

I was tempted by a serpent
Coiled into a net
He told me composition
Hadn’t happened yet
And all our work would be in vain
Of no ontological worth
For all we’d do is rearrange
The furniture of the earth

So tell me, when does composition occur?

It can’t be automatic
We are mereologically variable
But is a life together
The answer that we’ve been searching for?

A Priori

“A Priori”
Music and lyrics by Carrie Jenkins.

Carrie Jenkins — vocals, piano, synthesizers

Carrie Jenkins’ parts were recorded by Carrie in Nottingham.
Song engineered by Carrie Jenkins.

Lyrics
You could say I’m quite experienced;
Yeah I’ve perceived a thing or two.
But tonight I wanna get conceptual.
I wanna start by analyzing you.

You know I love when you surprise me —
Those crazy claims you sometimes make.
But there’s nothing synthetic about you.
Kant think who’d make that mistake.

It’s only Humean to feel sceptical:
No-one’s entitled to be Wright.
But I’d give up Millians just to be with you.
Let’s trust our intuitions tonight.

No need to play the Field no more, babe:
I see you’re a factual enterprise.
Can’t hold you come what may, but that’s OK.
Tonight there’s nothing to revise.

But what I feel don’t really matter;
You got me thinking really good.
I should believe in you tonight babe,
And that’s an epistemic ‘should’.

It’s only Humean to feel sceptical:
No-one’s entitled to be Wright.
But I’d give up Millians just to be with you.
Let’s trust our intuitions tonight.

Don’t need no late-night lab work.
Don’t need no Bunsen burner.
Don’t need no fucking survey.
Don’t need no off-line reasoning.
Don’t need no Canberra two-step.
Just need my basic concepts.
Just need a little grounding.
Just need the a priori.
Just need the a priori.
Just need the a priori.
Just need the a priori.

My Paper Was Rejected Again

“My Paper Was Rejected Again”
Music and lyrics by Kris McDaniel.

Kris McDaniel — vocals, electric guitar, synthesizers

Kris’ parts were recorded by Kris in Syracuse.
Song engineered by Kris McDaniel.

Lyrics
To the editor, please consider
My paper for review
The manuscript has been prepared
So my identity can’t be deduced

Your website says the turnaround time’s four months
But you’ll be four months overdue
And I’ll be feeling so blue.

And then my paper will be rejected once again

The first round was so maddening
The comments were almost laughable
But that was better than the second round
In which I received no comments at all

I waited for eight months
But no explanation was given
Not a single word of
Constructive criticism

And then my paper was rejected once again

Help me through the night,
Tell me when will this process ever come to an end?
I think my paper’s got it right
But should I throw it into the garbage bin?

Revise and submit to another journal
This process sure feels like it is eternal
But I will resend
And then

My paper will be rejected once again

All I Want To Do

“All I Want to Do”
Music by Kris McDaniel/Ben Bradley, vocal harmonies by Carrie Jenkins.
Lyrics by Kris McDaniel.

Carrie Jenkins — vocals
Kris McDaniel — vocals, electric guitar, synthesizer
Ben Bradley — electric guitar, synthesizer

Carrie Jenkins’ parts were recorded by Carrie in Nottingham.
Kris and Ben’s parts were recorded by Kris and Ben in Syracuse.
Song engineered by Kris McDaniel.

Lyrics
All I want to do is instantiate some properties
Maybe stand in some relations
All I want to do is instantiate some properties
Maybe stand in some relations

My friends say don’t be so promiscuous
There are many kinds of properties
There are those that make for objective resemblance
And those that are as gerrymandered as you please

That some draw this distinction, I am aware
And maybe it’s conventional or really out there
But whatever it is, I really don’t care

’cause all I want to do is instantiate some properties
Maybe stand in some relations
All I want to do is instantiate some properties
Maybe stand in some relations

I don’t care if they’re monadic
Two-place, three-place, variably polyadic
I don’t even care if they’re tropes or universals
Don’t even care if they’re sets of individuals

There’s gotta be something to exemplify
Conjoin with in a fact sometime before I die
To be with the way I am, and there’s no reason why

’cause all I want to do is instantiate some properties
Maybe stand in some relations
All I want to do is instantiate some properties
Maybe stand in some relations

Willard Van Orman Quine: Are his intensions creatures of darkness?

“Willard van Orman Quine”
Music by Carrie Jenkins, Ben Bradley, Kris McDaniel
Lyrics by Carrie Jenkins

Carrie Jenkins — vocals, piano, electric piano
Ben Bradley — keyboards, cello, ukulele
Kris McDaniel — keyboards, vocals, electric guitar, hand percussion

Carrie Jenkins’ parts were recorded by Carrie in Nottingham.
Kris and Ben’s parts were recorded by Kris and Ben in Syracuse.
Song engineered by Kris McDaniel.

Lyrics
He’ll play upon
Your naturalistic intuitions
He’ll lure you in
With the promise of positions that you love
Like realism about numbers and sets
And the view that philosophy’s continuous with science.

And then you’re caught in the web
No support from the a priori
All aboard Neurath’s ship
It will all be fine
But you’re tied to the mast
It’s all a posteriori
Here on in; have a blast
With Willard Van Orman Quine.

He looks so good
Next to Carnap, Ayer and Chisholm
And there’s nothing wrong
With confirmational holism;
It’s quite nice as an account of how theories face the tribunal of
experience.
Mmm yeah.

But step away when he starts
Talking about the analytic.
Meaning’s not that strange in being tricky to define.
And it comes in small bits;
Not all holism’s terrific.
Keep your head; keep your wits
’Round Willard Van Orman Quine.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009