22 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Concepts Represent the Complex of Our Experiences
The only justification for our concepts is that they serve to represent thc complex of our experiences; beyond this they have no legitimacy. I am convinced that the philosophers had a harmful effect upon the progress of scientific thinking in removing certain fundamental concepts from the domain of empiricism, where they are under control, to the intangible heights of the a priori—the universe of ideas is just as little independent of the nature of our experiences as clothes are of the form... 1 
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notesJust as clothes represent the form of the human body.
22 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
Descartes Rules
I thought the following four [rules] would be enough, provided that I made a firm and constant resolution not to fail even once in the observance of them.
The first was never to accept anything as true if I had not evident knowledge of its being so; that is, carefully to avoid precipitancy and prejudice, and to embrace in my judgment only what presented itself to my mind SO cleariy and distinctly that I had no occasion to doubt it. The second, to divide each problem I examined into as many ... 1 notes
notesThe basis for empiricism, even if he abandons them in his own arguments.
08 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
Definition of a Naturalist
If people ask me about my worldview, I say that I am a naturalist. When most people hear that word, they think of someone who spends a lot of time outdoors watching birds and admiring landscapes—and I suppose that description applies to me. But I think of naturalism as a philosophy rather than a lifestyle. F a philosophical perspective, naturalists believe that the physical universe is the universe. In other words, there are no supernatural entities or forces acting on nature, because there... 1 notes
notesIt is a philosophical state of mind, grounded in empiricism, in addition to being one who appreciates nature.
26 AUG 2012 by ideonexus
Empiricism in Buddhist Spirituality
Both Buddhism and neuroscience converge on a similar point of view: The way it feels isn’t how it is. There is no permanent, constant soul in the background. Even our language about ourselves is to be distrusted (requiring the tortured negation of anatta). In the broadest strokes then, neuroscience and Buddhism agree.
How did Buddhism get so much right? I speak here as an outsider, but it seems to me that Buddhism started with a bit of empiricism. Perhaps the founders of Buddhism were pre-... 1 notes
notesBuddhists recognize the impermanence of human existence, that we are perpetually changing. They discovered this truth, shared with neuroscience, because they gave up the ego of the self.
30 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Philosophy Without Empiricism is Nonsense
Logic is not concerned with human behavior in the same sense that physiology, psychology, and social sciences are concerned with it. These sciences formulate laws or universal statements which have as their subject matter human activities as processes in time. Logic, on the contrary, is concerned with relations between factual sentences (or thoughts). If logic ever discusses the truth of factual sentences it does so only conditionally, somewhat as follows: if such-and-such a sentence is true,...Folksonomies: empiricism
Folksonomies: empiricism
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notesEmpirical science is the only thing capable of determining if a sentence is true.
01 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Myth VS Science
The difference between myth and science is the difference between divine inspiration of 'unaided reason' (as Bertrand Russell put it) on the one hand and theories developed in observational contact with the real world on the other. It is the difference between the belief in prophets and critical thinking, between Credo quia absurdum (I believe because it is absurd–Tertullian) and De omnibus est dubitandum (Everything should be questioned–Descartes). To try to write a grand cosmical drama ...
1 A great quote by Hannes Alfvén on the lines between empiricism and intuitive reasoning.
