May 2009
“I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I...”
– Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (via allthatglittersispink) (via letsplaywithalice)
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: Meaning,...
W asserts that in order for language to be meaningful, language must be clear. More specifically, in order for the constituent parts of language, i.e. signs, to be clear, they must refer to observables; they must be reduced to observables. Therefore, clarity only comes by means of scientific propositions. This means that there is a direct correspondence between language and the world of facts. W...
“What we’ve become is contrary to what we want…take a bow.”
– Matthew Bellamy
Thales & Anaximander
The father of philosophy, Thales of Miletus, and his successor, Anaximander, were two Ionian Pre-Socratics who concentrated their efforts on cosmology. In particular, they were interested in both the principles (i.e. primacy of truths) and metaphysical “stuff” (i.e. substance) of the universe. Questions like, “What unites the universe together?” and “What are the fundamental principles of the...
“Your folks are like God because you want to know they’re out there and you want...”
– Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters (via holycrapsandra)
Dark Energy/Matter →
“More is unknown than known.”
Considering the polar spectrum of the electromagnetic scale, empiricism accounts for less than 5% of what we know. The other roughly estimated 95% is divided between dark energy and dark matter: I’m sure this is why the doctrines of mysticism and skepticism are present in our vocabulary. It’s amazing to me to think that our generation is...
Epigenetics: 100 reasons to change the way we...
maybememe:
http://www.physorg.com/news161864762.html ……. There are four known mechanisms for epigenetic inheritance. According to Jablonka and Raz, the best understood of these is “DNA methylation.” Methyls, small chemical groups within cells, latch on to certain areas along the DNA strand. The methyls serve as a kind of switch that renders genes active or inactive.
By turning genes on and...
Theory of Demonstrative Science
Unlike Plato who believed that in order to obtain knowledge you have to focus on the transcendental world, Aristotle rejected the theory of Forms and taught that knowledge is derived from focusing on the natural world. The natural world is what we see in front of us—the world of experience. All knowledge begins here.
Since human nature asks why things occur the way they do, Aristotle taught that...
Elenchus
Also referred to as “the Socratic Method,” or “cross-examination,” Elenchus was used by Socrates to pose questions to his fellow interlocutors. The method began when he asked someone about what the essence of a particular thing was (e.g. justice, beauty, etc.). When an answer was given to him, he would begin to critically examine it, and through the course of cross-examination revealed...
Differentia
Is what distinguishes one species from another under the broader category of genus. Genus is a higher category than a species. Species fall under the umbrella of genus and can be classified from one another according to their distinguishing characteristics, i.e. their differentia. Succinctly put, a species is classified by its genus and differentia, i.e. its quintessential essence. For instance,...
Categories
Are the ontological enumerations of all the different ways in which something can either be a subject or predicate of a proposition. The term comes from Aristotle, who posited the existence of ten categories altogether, some which include: substance, quality, quantity, location, action, etc.. Each category has a limitation, e.g. questions concerning the categorical quality of a thing cannot be...
Epistemology
Is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature, range and limitations of knowledge. Specifically, it concerns itself with asking the following questions: What do we know? How do we know it? What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for knowledge? Aristotle posited that to possess knowledge is to know what something is, why it is the case, what is the case, and what good does it serve to...
Metaphysics
Is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of reality as a whole. Reality can be broken into many categories of special sciences. Each science seeks to provide explanations of universal phenomena. Each explanation can be reduced back to basic principles. Principles are propositions we use to classify primacy, i.e. truths that come first. Self-evident truths known as axioms and assumed...
Doctrine of Recollection
Plato demarcated between knowledge, which is certain, and opinion, which is not certain. Knowledge is gained through the intellect by grasping the eternal Forms of the transcendental realm, while mere opinion is gained through the senses by wallowing in the illusionary, physical realm. Just as shadows depend upon the objects that make them, so too does the physical realm depend upon the...
Theory of the Forms: One Approach to Reconcile...
To understand Plato’s theory of the Forms, it is helpful to first understand two ideas that his theory sought to reconcile, namely, the ideas of Heraclitus and Parmenides. I will start by briefly introducing these ideas and then move to how Plato reconciled them in greater detail.
Heraclitus lived during the Pre-Socratic age and taught the doctrine of universal flux. He believed there was no...
Demarcations between the Mythological and...
While the ancient Greek world was entrenched in a rich mythic tradition using anthropomorphic gods and monsters to explain the origins of the cosmos, a new and unprecedented tradition emerged that divorced from supernatural explanations and took a more rational, scientific approach to understanding reality. Thus was the birth of philosophy and the eventual scientific world-view. At the heart of...
Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. What can be said...
The distinction between saying and showing is one of the most fundamental distinctions made in the Tractatus. W asserts that every philosophical problem is the result of failing to demarcate between these two in some crucial instance. When any philosophical doctrine fails to make this demarcation, confusion and error are likely to arise.
For instance, the philosophical doctrine of skepticism...
miianwilson:
Jefferson Airplane “White Rabbit”
...
“When it was over, all I could think about was how this entire notion of oneself,...”
– Quiet Woman at Restaurant
(Waking Life)
The Ladder of Love
~inspired by Plato~
We forgo the cave and its comfortable blankets to make the difficult ascent into the sunlight, leaving behind the shadows of yesteryears and worldly pleasures abstained from sight. We do this because we are all lovers.
To be a lover is to be without that which would make one happy, for love lacks what love does not possess. In order for the lover to be happy, he or she is to...
“I can’t keep waiting for things to happen for me. I need to start making them...”
– Pelicansss
The Crisis of Mathematics Part II: In Conjunction...
To provide a brief caveat of W’s philosophical investigation into the nature of language, it is important to first understand the crisis W was trying to solve, namely, the crisis of mathematics. The crisis deals with whether or not mathematics can be reduced to a stable, reliable system that is conducive to truth.
W’s predecessor, Gotlobb Frege, had developed a Platonized system of mathematics in...
Watchoptimisto:
Magic trick
“So the philosopher, who consorts with what is divine and ordered, himself...”
– Plato 