Wolf Hall

Let me recommend this BBC-PBS series about Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII. It’s not all pomp, pageantry, and patriotism; it’s about fear, power, and pettiness. Mark Rylance plays Cromwell with wonderful economy, inner life flashing behind still eyes. He is all intelligence and self-control, trying to manage a childish impetuous king, always in peril of death himself. The execution of Anne Boleyn in the sixth episode was truly excruciating, without ever showing the actual beheading: the barbarity, formality, ceremony, spectacle-as a young woman has her head cut off for allegedly cuckolding the king. We have come a long way since then–haven’t we?

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5 replies
  1. Kyle Foley
    Kyle Foley says:

    Sorry to be off topic but this is a philosophy blog.

    1. Going north entails not going west.
    2. Being in Miami entails being in Florida.
    3. If I’m in Miami, then I’m not in the Southern Hemisphere.

    4. Going north entails being in Africa.
    5. If I’m in Japan, then I’m a rectangle.
    6. This is a rectangle, therefore this is a square.

    Are 1-3 true and 4-6 false? If so, why?

    Reply
      • Kyle Foley
        Kyle Foley says:

        Here, we’ll make it so that we have one set with the word ‘entail’ and one set without and those without are true.

        4. Going north entails being in Africa.
        5. Being in Florida entails being in Miami.
        6. Being an Earthling entails being British.

        4a. I’m going north and I’m in Africa.
        5a. I’m in Florida and I’m in Miami.
        6a. I’m an Earthling and I’m British.

        I agree that 4-6 are not facts but why is that when we replace ‘entail’ with ‘and’ and make a few grammatical changes that 4a-6a become true.

        Reply

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