Philosophy of desire

In philosophy, desire has been identified as a philosophical problem since Antiquity. In Plato's The Republic, Socrates argues that individual desires must be postponed in the name of the higher ideal.

Within the teachings of Buddhism, craving is thought to be the cause of all suffering. By eliminating craving, a person can attain ultimate happiness, or Nirvana. While on the path to liberation, a practitioner is advised to "generate desire" for skillful ends.

History

Ancient Greece

In Aristotle's De Anima the soul is seen to be involved in motion, because animals desire things and in their desire, they acquire locomotion. Aristotle argued that desire is implicated in animal interactions and the propensity of animals to motion. But Aristotle acknowledges that desire cannot account for all purposive movement towards a goal. He brackets the problem by positing that perhaps reason, in conjunction with desire and by way of the imagination, makes it possible for one to apprehend an object of desire, to see it as desirable. In this way reason and desire work together to determine what is a good object of desire. This resonates with desire in the chariots of Plato's Phaedrus, for in the Phaedrus the soul is guided by two horses, a dark horse of passion and a white horse of reason. Here passion and reason, as in Aristotle, are also together. Socrates does not suggest the dark horse be done away with, since its passions make possible a movement towards the objects of desire, but he qualifies desire and places it in a relation to reason so that the object of desire can be discerned correctly, so that we may have the right desire. Aristotle distinguishes desire into appetition and volition.

Désiré (baritone)

Désiré (29 December 1823 – September 1873) was a French baritone, who is particularly remembered for creating many comic roles in the works of the French operetta composer Jacques Offenbach. Désiré was a stage name; the artist's real name was Amable Courtecuisse, but for most of his life he was generally known as Désiré.

Life and career

He was born in Lille, or a nearby village, and studied bassoon, singing, and declamation at the Lille Conservatory. His first appearances were at small theatres in Belgium and northern France beginning in 1845.

In 1847, he arrived at the Théâtre Montmartre in Paris where he met Hervé. He asked Hervé to provide him with a musical sketch (drawn from Cervantes' novel Don Quixote), in which the tall and thin Hervé as the Don was pitted against the short and plump Désiré as Sancho Pança. The sketch inspired what was later dubbed the first French operetta, Hervé's Don Quichotte et Sancho Pança, which premiered in 1848 at Adolphe Adam's Théâtre National at the Cirque Olympique, but with Joseph Kelm, instead of Désiré, as Sancho Pança.

Desire (Tom Scott album)

Desire is an album by jazz musician Tom Scott.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Tom Scott; except where indicated

Personnel

Lambda (olive oil)

Lambda (stylized λ /lambda/) is an award winning Greek luxury olive oil brand, produced by Speiron company, founded in 2007 by Greek entrepreneur Giorgos Kolliopoulos. It has been called the first luxury olive oil in the world. Its brand name originates from the Greek word λάδι (ladi) which means oil in Greek.

Description

Lambda has been noted for its stylized packaging. Its marketing is targeted at affluent consumers. It is sold online, in Singapore, Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi and UK department store Harrod's.

In October 2010, the company announced the launch of the Bespoke Lambda, which is the first personalized olive oil in the world, being also the most expensive globally.

In December 2014, λ /lambda/ olive oil was included in the most expensive Christmas hamper that broke the Guinness World Record for a hamper.

Anonymous function

In computer programming, an anonymous function (also function literal or lambda abstraction) is a function definition that is not bound to an identifier. Anonymous functions are often:

If the function is only used once, or a limited number of times, an anonymous function may be syntactically lighter than using a named function. Anonymous functions are ubiquitous in functional programming languages and other languages with first-class functions, where they fulfill the same role for the function type as literals do for other data types.

Anonymous functions originate in the work of Alonzo Church in his invention of the lambda calculus in 1936 (prior to electronic computers), in which all functions are anonymous. In several programming languages, anonymous functions are introduced using the keyword lambda, and anonymous functions are often referred to as lambdas or lambda abstractions. Anonymous functions have been a feature of programming languages since Lisp in 1958 and an increasing number of modern programming languages support anonymous functions.

Lambda 8300

The Lambda 8300 was a Sinclair ZX81 clone from Lambda Electronics Limited of Hong Kong. It was not an exact clone as it had a modified ZX81 ROM, but could be fitted with a ZX81 compatible ROM. It came with 2K RAM (expandable to 16 or 32 K), and a sound and joystick port. Specifically, it used a Z80A at 3.25 MHz. It was identical to the DEF 3000, PC 2000, Marathon 32K, IQ 8300, PC 8300, Power 3000, Unisonic 8300, Futura 8300, Basic 2000 and Basic 3000.

Unisonic distributed it as the Futura 8300 in the US. The computer was somewhat successful in Europe, and today enthusiasts still develop new hardware.

References

External links