There Are NO RIGHT ANSWERS, Only Less Wrong Ones

A possible new feature, indecipherable multiple choice analogies questions.

Those bastards at Princeton Review don't put analogies on the SAT anymore, but that doesn't stop Conan from using them for a bit, and according to an emailer to Ken Jennings, that doesn't stop AAA from using them on job applications. Read his post, then you'll understand my inspiration for this feature

I'll give you one to start, and I'll provide the non-answers in inviso-text, cause I can't get enough of inviso-texting.

1) Kobe Bryant:Jeremy Bentham :: David Beckham:
a) Edmund Burke
b) John Locke
c) Adam Smith
d) Baruch Spinoza

The correct answer, of course is all the above (it's an off the menu choice). If one were to consider Kobe Bryant's recent actions with regards to his demands on his team as an example of Utilitarianism (I'm being very generous to Kobe to suggest so), than to unlock this analogy one would have to figure out which philosophical system is best exemplified by David Beckham's pending move to play football in the United States represents.

"a" is the right answer since Beckham in the States is a manifestation of classical liberalism. Beckham is free to choose his course, unbound by national commitments, and his choosing to come to the USA specifically seems pretty Burkean in my book.

"b" is the right answer since Beckham in the USA is Lockean in that he's pursuing self motivated interests despite the hits in public opinion he'll take in his homeland. He's intrigued by using his (diminishing) skills to broaden the appeal of the sport he loves, he sees soccer in the USA as a tabula rasa, and he hopes to be the brand that widens his sports acceptance in an important market

"c" is the right answer since Beckham in the USA is a perfect manifestation of Adam Smith's dead hand. Beckham is acting purely out of motivated self-interest and nothing else. The potential endorsement income he could expect if he succeeds in building soccer in the United States is massive. He's taking a huge risk, spending a great deal of his own capital of good will back home, but he sees the potential rewards worth the massive risks. That sounds pretty Smith-y to me.

"d" is the right answer cause Beckham's attempt to bring soccer to the masses in the USA represents a perfect encapsulation of Spinoza's concern with upsetting "received authority". If Beckham accepted the authoritative view of his sport in the United States, then he knows this project is doomed to failure, but using Spinoza's philosophical methods, Beckham has come to the realization that given the infinite nature of the natural world, to suggest that soccer is destined to fail in the United States is folly. If all possibilities are possible, then Beckham endeavors to be the agent of change and bring the possibility of soccer sweeping the United States to fruition.


That's the first one done, if you disagree with my answer, tough. Let's see you do better. Next up . . . . . ,

Transformers the Movie:Moby Dick :: (to be continued)