The A.J. Ayer vs. Mike Tyson story may not be news to a lot of philosophers. It seems to come up often whenever philosophers go out for drinks. In fact, it came up tonight after Kris McDaniel’s talk.
But I was thinking it would be cool if, somehow, the page from his biography that recaps the story just happened to be one of the pages that shows up in the Google Books preview of the biography. Sure enough, it was. Here’s the link to the Google Book page so you can pass it on to EVERYONE.
And, if you just want to read the awesome paragraph that contains the story. Here it is.
At yet another party he had befriended Sanchez [Fernando Sanchez, a fashionable designer famous for women’s underclothes]. Ayer was now standing near the entrance to the great white living-room of Sanchez’s West 57th Street apartment, chatting to a group of young models and designers, when a woman rushed in saying that a friend was being assaulted in a bedroom. Ayer went to investigate and found Mike Tyson forcing himself on a young south London model called Naomi Campbell, then just beginning her career. Ayer warned Tyson to desist. Tyson: “Do you know who the fuck I am? I’m the heavyweight champion of the world.” Ayer stood his ground. “And I am the former Wykeham Professor of Logic. We are both pre-eminent in our field; I suggest that we talk about this like rational men.” Ayer and Tyson began to talk. Naomi Campbell slipped out.
What a great story! I’ve actually never heard that one – thanks for sharing!