A skyhook is a "hook" used to lift an object on a long cable hanging from the sky, without readily apparent support. In the mid-20th century it was common in the
Boy Scouts
Boy Scouts may refer to:
* Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement.
* Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement.
* An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...
and occupations such as oil drilling to send new recruits on a
futile search for such an imaginary object, as a
practical joke
A practical joke, or prank, is a mischievous trick played on someone, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort.Marsh, Moira. 2015. ''Practically Joking''. Logan: Utah State University Press. ...
. The term has subsequently lent its name to some real mechanisms that use an airborne hook or hoist, and to other products or ideas that allude to the concept. The American philosopher
Richard Rorty
Richard McKay Rorty (October 4, 1931 – June 8, 2007) was an American philosopher. Educated at the University of Chicago and Yale University, he had strong interests and training in both the history of philosophy and in contemporary analytic phi ...
uses the term to refer to a hypothetical metaphysical system that leads to a universal perspective.
In his book ''
Darwin's Dangerous Idea
''Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life'' is a 1995 book by the philosopher Daniel Dennett, in which the author looks at some of the repercussions of Darwinian theory. The crux of the argument is that, whether or not Darwin ...
'',
Daniel Dennett
Daniel Clement Dennett III (born March 28, 1942) is an American philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relat ...
furthers this usage of the term, claiming that evolutionary biologists who are not strict Darwinians hold out hope for some sort of metaphysical "skyhook" to explain the existence of things like human consciousness. In construction, when material or equipment arrives onsite before the foundations are designed or built, the common remark voiced, "The home office wants us to use skyhooks!"
References
Practical jokes
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