Happy birthday to #philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) who, amongst other things speculated about a teapot orbiting in space.
This lino block print of Russell's Teapot is part of my series of Imaginary Friends of Science of charismatic thought experiments. In this case, the alledged china teapot, in orbit between Earth and Mars is an analogy….
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#linocut #printmaking #SciArt #RussellsTeapot #CelestialTeapot #teapot #space #planets #philosophy #skepticism #Imaginary #MastoArt
by philosopher Bertrand Russell to make the case that the philosophic burden of proof lies upon a person making unfalsifiable claims, rather than shifting the burden of disproof to others. ⠀
Russel used the teapot in arguments against religion but it could be used against any dubious, outrageous claim, offered without proof.
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He wrote, "nobody can prove that there is not between the Earth and Mars a china teapot revolving in an elliptical orbit, but nobody thinks this sufficiently likely to be taken into account in practice."⠀
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Other prints in my Imaginary Friends of Sciene include;⠀
Maxwell's Demon, Descartes' Demon, Laplace's Demon, Schroedinger's Cat, The Spherical Cow, Occam's Razor, Lyell’s Amphibious Beast, and Turtles, all the way down.⠀
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/919881895/russells-teapot-lino-block-print
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@drj Ha! Excellent! I hadn’t heard that one and am always looking for more for this series. Would go well with my spherical cow. Thanks!
https://www.etsy.com/listing/474286317/spherical-cow-print-imaginary-friends-of
Of course Russell had no way of predicting @gongplanet
Ele Willoughby, PhD
David JONES
teledyn 𓂀