The subject of modern philosophers who lived interesting lives came up in conversation the other day, and it's just really hard to beat this anecdote about A.J. Ayer:
One of the last of the many legendary contests won by the British philosopher A. J. Ayer was his encounter with Mike Tyson in 1987. As related by Ben Rogers in ''A. J. Ayer: A Life,'' Ayer -- small, frail, slight as a sparrow and then 77 years old -- was entertaining a group of models at a New York party when a girl ran in screaming that her friend was being assaulted in a bedroom. The parties involved turned out to be Tyson and Naomi Campbell. ''Do you know who . . . I am?'' Tyson asked in disbelief when Ayer urged him to desist: ''I'm the heavyweight champion of the world.'' ''And I am the former Wykeham professor of logic,'' Ayer answered politely. ''We are both pre-eminent in our field. I suggest that we talk about this like rational men.''
Meanwhile, I'm reading Samuel Freeman's Rawls which is excellent, but sorely lacking in that sort of thing.
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Heads in the Sand
Well, Ayer was a notorious hound.
One has to wonder how that conversation might have gone. I like to imagine Tyson pointing out that the Principle of Verification is itself meaningless by its own criterion, and Ayer responding by knocking Tyson out with a right cross and then taking the dazzled Campbell back to his hotel room for some late-night verification of a more practical variety.
Posted by live | January 27, 2008 9:20 PM