Comments on: A royal petition

By: AFREETHAI

AFREETHAI — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:12:46 +0000

Me too in Thailand and closely observed politics on daily basis.
And the fact is that i was unhappy to see our former leader had did to medias and people who criticised him. In term of leadership in the democratic style…totally not impressive.

By: Srithanonchai

Srithanonchai — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 09:22:22 +0000

Please note that many who post comments on this board actually live in Thailand,and closely observe politics on a daily basis.

By: AFREETHAI

AFREETHAI — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 06:38:09 +0000

Certainly, for me in Thailand, it would be very regrettable if we saw no move from ’seniors’ amid the nation-wide conflict while the political leader could not manage anything but instigating + provoking ‘violence’ among factions. You people outside Thailand should go to library and read old papers on the events before sept 19. (If you still have belief in news fact or photos fact.).

By: Srithanonchai

Srithanonchai — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 04:27:27 +0000

Sawarin: I don’t really see that much of a principal difference in fields of knowledge. But as I said in a previous post, I am not a mathematician. So, I guess, I am not presupposed fully to understand you.

P.S.: I would not see theory “as an attempt to explain ‘truth’”, but rather as an attempt to present a description, or what others call an “explanation.” On the operational side, theory serves to order data.

By: Sawarin

Sawarin — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 21:12:23 +0000

Srithanonchai: You have not been depended on your dentist’s ‘imagination’. Your dentist has some elements of ‘fact’ of your teeth, and there is a form of ‘learning by doing’ which comes ‘close’ to a definition of ‘theory’ in the practices of your dentist. Theory is an attempt to explain ‘truth’. Mathematicians now debate whether or not there is such thing as mathematical truth. I don’t have to explain how this finding gives implications to soft sciences and science-wannabe. In fact, people working in these fields should drop the term ‘theory’ entirely. As in history, historians are fully aware of their practice (archive, emplotment, imagination, trope?). They realise how close or far their studies can get to truth. But what truth in history? Personally, I don’t think there is any (and I’m not even a Wittgensteinian or Derridian). To claim of ‘fact’ is very often beyond historian’s means. Go visit the debate on the name of Siam/Thailand and you’ll grin. Far outside the game of politics, better stop here.

By: Lleij Samuel Schwartz

Lleij Samuel Schwartz — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 12:28:21 +0000

Bystander: Are you talking about Western Chess, Chinese Chess, or Thai Chess? If you’re talking about Western Chess, then the Queen is the most powerful piece, by far.
Since, in Thai Chess the Queen can only move diagonally one space, I’d say the Boat (rua) is the most powerful piece. If you’re talking about Chinese Chess, then it’s the Chariot.

I don’t know what this all means in terms of political metaphor…I’m just a board game geek.

By: Srithanonchai

Srithanonchai — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 09:50:56 +0000

Sawarin:

But how do we deal with modern society if we are to depend on our own experience? As Luhmann said in the first sentence of his book “The Reality of Mass Media”: “Whatever we know about our society, or indeed about the world in which we live, we know through the mass media.”

In other words, we depend on the “imaginations” of other people. And, by and larged, I am happy to do so. For example, when one of my teeth needs a root canal treatment, I am happy to depend on the professional imaginations of my dentist.

I might have no philosophy of history, but I do have a theory of society.

Apologies for the “debate.”

By: Sawarin

Sawarin — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 08:08:20 +0000

Srithanonchai: I’m glad that there’s no philosopher of history within you (as I really dislike long wordings).

Bystander: Which piece can you bring the game to ‘check mate’? The chess remains a ‘definite’ game, and it will have to end eventually. Although fragmented in their views, the ‘Saturday People’ are cool. They really know how to ‘play politics’. Political pundits have to learn from them. However, things are not looking so good…

By: Srithanonchai

Srithanonchai — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 04:59:37 +0000

Sawarin: No debate on non-debateable statements!

By: Bystander

Bystander — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 20:22:51 +0000

I don’t know anything for a fact. It’s all hearsay. Well, I imagine anyone who have first hand experience, or are players in this struggle are not going to be in the mood to tell you much of what’s going on on-line in real time. I can only encourage these people to keep a careful note of events, so that maybe decades from now, posterity can learn something about all this.

Here’s a riddle: In a game of chess, which piece is the most powerful?