Is the Glass Half-Empty, or Half-Full?.....Why the

[Alex]

Many events in life are given false conclusions.

It's fun to spot the incorrect conclusions reached by society from everyday situations.

One of the dumbest philosophical conclusions I have ever heard of starts from the innocent enough question, "Is the glass half-empty or half-full?"

Whether you call the glass half-empty or half full, my first question is this...

...Why do so many accept the conclusion that if we find the glass half-empty, we are pessimists, but if we find the glass half-full, we are optimists?

It's the other way around!

Lets assume we like the fluid that resides in our cup....(by the way, that right there is an an optimistic thought, and a crucial aspect never even mentioned in the original philosophical question.)

If I like the drink, and I swallow that drink until only half-remains...(again, note the statement "half-remains"...a much more positive statement than saying half-empty or half-full)

....by taking note that the drink is half-empty, I can either fill or replenish my drink, or simply savor my drink until it no longer remains.......Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

But if I say the glass is half-full, I'm being flippant and in denial about the future state of the contents of my drink.

The drink is on a downward decent and can only be replenished if I take the first step, and admit the contents of my drink are vanishing.

Even the terms used in the Half-Empty, Half-Full question are incorrectly applied.

While pouring a drink into a cup, you would probably use the terms 1/4 full, 1/2 full, and 3/4 full to correctly describe the cup as it were being filled.

If I was pouring a drink into a cup, and instead said the cup is 3/4 empty, 1/2 empty, 1/4 empty as I filled it, that would be a correct assessment...but it would also be a pessimistic viewpoint.

If I then proceed to swallow my drink, and in between gulps say the glass is 3/4 full, 1/2 full, 1/4 full, that would also be pessimistic, because I have not acknowledged the real truth to my situation in relation to my drink.

When you drink, you are in fact emptying the liquid from your cup into your gullet.

So, describing the dwindling drink as 3/4 full, 1/2 empty, 3/4 empty, is the most accurate and truthful terminology...surely a more accurate and optomistic viewpoint than saying your drink is 3/4 full, 1/2 full, or 1/4 full.

If you believe that truth is more positive than spin...

...than you see the flaw reached in the in the long-standing "glass half-empty, half-full" philosophical question.

The denialists call us, the ones the who view the real state of the drink as being 1/2 empty, as being the negative ones for simply acknowledging that a drink's remains are emptying....

....while the self-proclaimed optimists believe identifying the glass as half-full is a positive statement.

Got Truth?

Why is any of this important?

The conclusion will always overshadow the event it attempts to describe.

Don't blindly believe conclusions others reach about any event that you don't know the details about....that's where most of the world ills come from....

....now, was the conclusion I just reached optomistic or pessimistic...?

You decide.

-Alex


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[This message has been edited by Alex (edited September 07, 2001).]

[soulfilms]

It's a cliche, it's always been a cliche and always will be one. It's with this sort of thing that Nabokov didn't like symbolism. It was supposed to 'stand for something' but by standing for something, it defined it and thereby limited it as to ONLY mean what it stood for.

Half full/Half empty is a device meant to trick us into supposedly revealing our natures. It shouldn't because like zero, half empty/full is a neutral without outside force. Of course you can put a plus on zero (+0) or a negative (-0) but it's still 0. The same can be said for the half glass. Empty or full doesn't change the glass' predicament. Yet common usage has it that we are revealing an intimate part of ourselves by saying half empty or otherwise.

I'm not sure I agree that half empty may even be seen as a optimistic thing but half full is certainly dellusional.

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[Alex]

Do you realize what you just did?

You mediated a gripe I have against people who believe in labeling someone's answer to this half-empty half-full scenario.

While I have fallen for the us versus them ploy of the question, you have not.

I think your perspective is right on.

Although I believe that it is more of a positive statement than a negative statement to say the glass is half-empty rather than half full....(the opposite to the general consensus)

Your point to not judge someone no matter how they answer the question is a very astute point.

Wow.

Now we have two new variations on one of the oldest and generally misunderstood philosophical questions.

Thanks for your input.

-Alex



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[soulfilms]

Thank you for your complement.

I'm actually one of the most critical people I know. I just have the ease of seeming to present a balanced, objective argument which means that I'm worse than critical, I'm manipulative.

Anyway, I really refuse to judge a person on whether they believe the glass is half full/empty because it is such an obvious 'Freudian slip' that many people are prepared for the answer. Instead when I'm trying to pry into someone's character, I make up little questions and sneaky observations (like how they pronounce their 'h' or something trivial) which give a better indication than the age old half glass.

This post has nothing to do with the previous post but I put it in just so you don't think I'm too cozy a person. I'm really quite mean and cynical and sinister and murdering and stalking and and...

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[Alex]

and the fact that you admit to all of those things may make you a benevolent bad guy, which in may in fact make you better person than a fake good guy.

Keep up the "bad" work.

-Alex

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[Hannibal]

Alex- in your first post, you assumed the glass was half empty because we drank half of it. Perhaps this was just condensation of sorts. No no, better yet rain water. We have no control over the fill, the objects which fill it, etc.. now that's much more scientific don't you think??
But I look at it this way, if it has been filled, meaning by rain, person, dog, whatever, it's half full. See, because you filled it, it's 1/2 full. Now if you started with a full glass and take away from it, be it by drinking, or pouring, or evaporation, then it would inevitably be 1/2 empty. *nods* take away, empty, put in, full.

*wanted to find a horribly old topic and bring it up*
*giggles horribly*



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As miserable as life may be I hold it pretty precious...

If I lose the light of the sun, I will write by candlelight, moonlight, no light. If I lose paper and ink, I wil write in blood on forgotten walls. I will write always, I will capture nights all over the world and bring them to you.
Word And Voice
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General Philosophy

[This message has been edited by Hannibal (edited October 27, 2001).]

[SHATOUSHKA]

wow! thanks hanny for bringing this thread back up. i don't recall seeing it before.
alex, your initial post was great! kudos.

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~~share some greased tea with me~~

General Philosophy

[Alex]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hannibal:
Alex- in your first post, you assumed the glass was half empty because we drank half of it. Perhaps this was just condensation of sorts. No no, better yet rain water. We have no control over the fill, the objects which fill it, etc.. now that's much more scientific don't you think??
But I look at it this way, if it has been filled, meaning by rain, person, dog, whatever, it's half full. See, because you filled it, it's 1/2 full. Now if you started with a full glass and take away from it, be it by drinking, or pouring, or evaporation, then it would inevitably be 1/2 empty. *nods* take away, empty, put in, full.

*wanted to find a horribly old topic and bring it up*
*giggles horribly*


<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If it's been filled, it's full...if it is emptying...it's half empty.

What about if the glass has been only emptied by one quarter....it seems that saying the glass is 1/4 empty would not be correct, cuz that would be like "filling" your gas tank when it is already 3/4 full.

3/4 full, see, it all works out.

If you wait for your glass to be filled by rainwater, you will have many empty nights.

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Alex

[Alex]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SHATOUSHKA:
wow! thanks hanny for bringing this thread back up. i don't recall seeing it before.
alex, your initial post was great! kudos.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

What shatzy is really thinking....hmmmm, not bad for a half-wit.

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Alex

[SHATOUSHKA]

alex--
don't be so hard on yourself. i was thinking no such thing. i really thought it was great. especially since many people don't think beyond the initial cliche. you posed a new deminsion to it. i can always appreciate that.

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~~share some greased tea with me~~

General Philosophy