Patrick Pidgeon was my Philosophy Professor at San Diego Mesa College in 1987. It was a great class and still ranks among my favorite in-class learning experiences. Pidgeon had a way of dissecting philosophical material, and especially language in a way that was challenging and engaging. It was such a good experience for me that I recommended my Mom take his class. She did, and she very much enjoyed it. In fact, in the year since Leah and I have been back in Roanoke, my Mom probably mentioned Pidgeon and his class half a dozen times.

I have no idea what “tomocracy” is in this drawing.

“Tomocracy” I think would be “governance by drinking” — I’m thinking that the word I missed was actually “autocracy” maybe. And here’s what looks like notes on Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave:”

And here’s a cartoon of what was one of Pidgeon’s explorations of the origins of words and how they apply to meanings now, ruler as a measuring device, ruler as the “standard:”