I Think, Therefore I...
Have always been interested in philosophy and logic. Not that I'm that logical mind you. But, nevertheless, its of interest to me. Why? Well, see, right there, that is a query into the nature of the reason of the prior statement. And when you boil everything down, as in dividing matter into its subatomic components, a human brain still gets lost in the quanta of life, and the meaning to it all. Watching "The Matrix" trilogy a couple weeks ago, along with some friendly bantering of ying and yang at TSG, reminded me of just how much this subject is so amazing. Yet, I can likewise recall that when in High School and college both, the manner in which logic and philosophy was taught was so durn boring, and dry. However, in anycase, now, have discovered at least a taste of the richness herein. Maybe it has something to do with growing up, experencing more of life, seeing more of the world, meeting a variety of other people, having a family, seeing others changing, while swearing that you are still the same little boy inside, inside a body that features a noggin with a spot of increasing baldness.
What ever becomes of the fleeting hair upon my head, the brain within it still desires to know more. And one of the basic philosophical themes that is inherent in my nature is a healthy dose of skepticism - specifically, philosophical skepticism that questions the very nature of reality, and whether we can ever actually "know" anything at all, of any subject. Humours me when "experts" claim that such and such, when a few years earlier other just as esteemed authourities said the polar opposite, and then of course other people in the future seem to then either contradict both previous camps, or they side with one or the other. Yes, there are simple basic facts. However, sometimes we allow our knowledge and understanding of these "simple basic facts" to then to mislead in some degree our findings. Since of course, the majority of what is thought is fact is actually nothing more than opinion, tainted with a tad amount of facts, plus a wee dose of knowledge, and then topped off with personal experiences.
Anyhow, and especially to a person with a curious mind, philosophy can lead a person into so many other diverse subjects, be it religion, biology, physics, or vast number of other fields. Amazing that in so many ways, us so called modern humans are really not that much more advanced in our knowledge than those that have preceeded us by hundreds, if not thousands of years. Using The Matrix as the subject matter here again, in so many ways there is so much similarity to the premise found within this modern movie to that found within Descarte's jar of brains. True, the movie brings us special effects on a silver-plated disc that is read by lasers, but heck... Plato's cave had images projected via shadows, which are also cast by light. In the end, I think that no matter how deep we delve into the rabbit hole with Alice, the final question of what is real will always elude us. Just as physics brings us smaller and smaller particles, via Leucippus and Democritus ponderings [read "On the Nature of the Universe" by Lucretius for his take of this - written over 2000 years ago!], philosophy might also keep bringing us to larger and larger "realities", analogous to that shown in the movie "The 13 Floor".
Then again, maybe this post doesn't really exist.
Neither does this computer.
Nor this writer.
I'm gone.
What ever becomes of the fleeting hair upon my head, the brain within it still desires to know more. And one of the basic philosophical themes that is inherent in my nature is a healthy dose of skepticism - specifically, philosophical skepticism that questions the very nature of reality, and whether we can ever actually "know" anything at all, of any subject. Humours me when "experts" claim that such and such, when a few years earlier other just as esteemed authourities said the polar opposite, and then of course other people in the future seem to then either contradict both previous camps, or they side with one or the other. Yes, there are simple basic facts. However, sometimes we allow our knowledge and understanding of these "simple basic facts" to then to mislead in some degree our findings. Since of course, the majority of what is thought is fact is actually nothing more than opinion, tainted with a tad amount of facts, plus a wee dose of knowledge, and then topped off with personal experiences.
Anyhow, and especially to a person with a curious mind, philosophy can lead a person into so many other diverse subjects, be it religion, biology, physics, or vast number of other fields. Amazing that in so many ways, us so called modern humans are really not that much more advanced in our knowledge than those that have preceeded us by hundreds, if not thousands of years. Using The Matrix as the subject matter here again, in so many ways there is so much similarity to the premise found within this modern movie to that found within Descarte's jar of brains. True, the movie brings us special effects on a silver-plated disc that is read by lasers, but heck... Plato's cave had images projected via shadows, which are also cast by light. In the end, I think that no matter how deep we delve into the rabbit hole with Alice, the final question of what is real will always elude us. Just as physics brings us smaller and smaller particles, via Leucippus and Democritus ponderings [read "On the Nature of the Universe" by Lucretius for his take of this - written over 2000 years ago!], philosophy might also keep bringing us to larger and larger "realities", analogous to that shown in the movie "The 13 Floor".
Then again, maybe this post doesn't really exist.
Neither does this computer.
Nor this writer.
I'm gone.
posted by Hobbes at
9:05 PM
3 Comments
