02 MAR 2019 by ideonexus
Logic as Magical Thinking
These battles over definition are not taking place in the same universe as the one in which men throw around these terms online. But for the Logic Guys, the purpose of using these words — the sacred, magic words like “logic,” “objectivity,” “reason,” “rationality,” “fact” — is not to invoke the actual concepts themselves. It’s more a kind of incantation, whereby declaring your argument the single “logical” and “rational” one magically makes it so — and by extension, makes you both smart and c... 1 
notes
notes03 JUN 2016 by ideonexus
Liberal Arts Majors in Technical Professions
While we’ve hired many computer-science majors that have been critical team members, It’s noncomputer science degree holders who can see the forest through the trees. For example, our chief operating officer is a brilliant, self-taught engineer with a degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago. He has risen above the code to lead a team that is competitive globally. His determination and critical-thinking skills empower him to leverage the power of technology without getting bogged ...
1 Reminds me of my own career graduating with an English Degree and going into Computer Programming.
25 MAY 2016 by ideonexus
Political Pragmatism
A reasonable and logical way of doing things or of thinking about problems that is based on dealing with specific situations instead of on ideas and theories. An approach to philosophy, primarily held by American philosophers, which holds that the truth or meaning of a statement is to be measured by its practical (i.e., pragmatic) consequences. William James and John Dewey were pragmatists.
Pragmatism in common usage may mean simply a practical approach to problems and affairs. But it’s also...Folksonomies: politics political philosophy
Folksonomies: politics political philosophy
19 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
Transhumanism and the Boundaries of the Self
Transhumanists’ commitment to technologically mediated transformation naturally generates great interest in the nature and limits of the self. The high level of interest in philosophy and neuroscience among transhumanists has led to a wide acknowledgment that the simple Cartesian view of the mind or self as a unitary, indivisible, and transparent entity is unsupportable. As we store more of our memories externally and create avatars, it is also becoming increasingly apparent that the boundari... 1 notes
notesBy Max Moore.
03 MAR 2014 by ideonexus
Postmodernism is the Buddhist "Beginner's Mind"
Ancient Taoist and Zen masters wrote about something called, "beginner's mind," or translated, the Japanese word shosin. In contemporary counseling the revolution taking place is finally catching onto their ancient message. Until around the 1990's a therapist was considered expert, authority, and guide until diverse voices challenged that position, including feminist thought, multiculturalism, person-centered thought, and an emerging preventive and wellness paradigm in healthcare. These chall... 1 notes
notesIt's a philosophy that pushes people to see things as if they were new.
22 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
We Must Learn the Language of Nature
Philosophy is written in that great book which ever lies before our gaze—I mean the universe—but we cannot understand if we do not first learn the language and grasp the symbols in which it is written. The book is written in the mathematical language, and the symbols are triangles, circles and Other geometrical figures, without the help of which it is impossible to conceive a single word of it, and without which one wanders in vain through a dark labyrinth. It is mathematical, geometrical, and we must learn its symbols to understand it.
30 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Lord Bacon's Apology for Atheism
Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation: all which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, though religion were not; but superstition dismounts all these, and createth an absolute monarchy in the minds of men: therefore Atheism did never perturb states; for it makes men wary of themselves, as looking no farther, and we see the times inclined to Atheism (as the time of Augustus Cæsar) were civil times: but superstition hath been the confusion of...Folksonomies: atheism spirituality
Folksonomies: atheism spirituality
1 notes
notesHe makes the case that the source of Atheists' inspiration informs their virtues and moral conduct.
24 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
We Must Study the Hard Things So Our Children Can Enjoy t...
I must study politics and war, that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, and naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.Folksonomies: knowledge generations
Folksonomies: knowledge generations
1 notes
notesAn eloquent quote from John Adams in a letter to his wife.
19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Bacon, Galileo, Descartes
The transition from the epoch we have been considering to that which follows, has been distinguished by three extraordinary personages, Bacon, Galileo, and Descartes. Bacon has revealed the true method of studying nature, by employing the three instruments with which she has furnished us for the discovery of her secrets, observation, experiment and calculation. He was desirous that the philosopher, placed in the midst of the universe, should, as a first and necessary step in his career, renou... 1 notes
notesCondorcet considers the last the most important of the era.
19 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Christianity's Contempt for the Sciences
Contempt for human sciences was one of the first features of Christianity. It had to avenge itself of the outrages of philosophy; it feared that spirit of investigation and doubt, that confidence of man in his own reason, the pest alike of all religious creeds. The light of the natural sciences was even odious to it, and was regarded with a suspicious eye, as being a dangerous enemy to the success of miracles: and there is no religion that does not oblige its sectaries to swallow some physica... 1 notes
notesIt was a threat to it's authority, and if printing existed at the time, science may have survived, but instead it was abolished.
