10 OCT 2025 by ideonexus
How Scientific Experimentation is Superior to Rationality...
Now that we have looked at the differences between the experimental type of thinking and the other types we have discussed, we can see that it is superior to any of the others. Experimental thinking does, to be sure, emphasize systematization and classification, but as means, not as ends in themselves. And, along with rationalism, it emphasizes general principles and laws, but again, not as ends in themselves, but as convenient guides for making our inferences.
Neither observation nor infere...10 OCT 2025 by ideonexus
The Scientific Method Produces General Principles by Whic...
Just as the first means by which science reduces the danger of error is the continual comparison of ideas and concepts, the second is the formulation of general principles by means of which we can understand cause-and-effect or sequential relationships among events. The function of a general principle or scientific law is twofold; to organize discrete objects and events in systematic order so that we can deal with them more effectively and exercise greater control over them; and to provide a ...10 OCT 2025 by ideonexus
The Scientific Process Encompasses Numerous Viewpoints
We can get rid of outdated ways of looking at things, of fixed experience, of ingrained intellectual habits, only by constantly expanding our experience and continually comparing one idea with another in order to select the better one. Because systematic science is the result of constant comparison of innumerable materials and experiences, it cannot be produced by individual effort; it is a social product. Science has no nationality; it admits no prejudices. Scientific discoveries made in one...10 OCT 2025 by ideonexus
The Scientific Method is a Process for Knowing that is Su...
Since mere observation cannot provide the solution to a problem, no matter how accurately it is conducted the necessary next step is inference the process which leads from the present to the future, from the known to the unknown. Every inference is a sort of adventure. Another difference between the scientific method and ordinary common sense is that the former controls the adventure more carefully, and thus reduces the danger involved. The more rigorous the method the less the danger. Safegu...10 OCT 2025 by ideonexus
Observation Provides Data on Problems, but Cannot Solve Them
A good illustration of the scientific method, in which observations are made for the purpose of identifying difficulties and analyzing situations, is the procedure followed by a physician when he makes a diagnosis. A doctor does not write a prescription solely on the basis of what his patient tells him; he uses instruments to take the patient’s temperature to examine his feces, and to analyze his urine. It is only after he has made these examinations that he writes his prescription; without...08 OCT 2025 by ideonexus
Race in Tolkien is Reality Rather Than Socially Constructed
In Middle Earth, unlike reality, race is objectively real rather than socially constructed. There are species (elves, men, dwarves, etc.), but within those species there are races that conform to 19th-century race theory, in that their physical attributes (hair color, etc.) are associated with non-physical attributes that are both personal and cultural. There is also an explicit racial hierarchy which is, again, real in the world of the story. Middle Earth is literally a racist’s fantasy la...08 OCT 2025 by ideonexus
How to Prevent Others from Making You Angry
Peace doesn't come by stiffening against
life, but by realizing there's no one to
stiffen. The waves rise and fall and the
ocean never minds. In the same way,
anger, irritation, frustration, they
come and go, but they are not you. To be
unbothered is not to build a wall around
yourself, but to see that there was
never a separate self to defend in the
first place. You see, when something
happens,
a disrespecting word, a sudden
disappointment, a rude interruption,
there's a tiny instant before ...08 OCT 2025 by ideonexus
Tolkien's World Makes Race Scientific Rather Than Legalistic
The core of the problem is that Tolkien conflates race, culture, and ability. Hobbits, he says, are a race, and based upon a combination their hereditary traits and cultural practices, are better at being stealthy than other races.
Tolkien does this throughout his novels, outlining the “racial” characteristics of men, of dwarves, of elves, of orcs, and those few of mixed ancestry (like Aragorn or the Uruk-Hai). As Helen Young, author of Race and Popular Fantasy Literature put it in a re...Race is a legal concept, but Tolkien's fantasy novels turn it into a scientific fact of his world.
07 OCT 2025 by ideonexus
Meditation Strengthens Focus
This practice of meditation itself sharpens your mind and improves your memory, qualities that are certainly useful beyond spiritual practice, whether in business, engineering, raising a family, or being a teacher, doctor, or lawyer. This practice also helps on a daily basis with anger. When you get irritated, you can concentrate on the nature of the anger itself and thereby undermine its force.
Another benefit of such mental training emerges from the close connection between body and mind. ...Folksonomies: meditation mindfulness
Folksonomies: meditation mindfulness
07 OCT 2025 by ideonexus