laodan's favorite philosophy web sites

Online nowLaodan: laodan is a 56 year old guy from Wisconsin, USA.; Likes 1,587 pages, 24 videos, 8 photos • 227 fans • Received 64 reviews; Member since Aug 08, 2005

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Truth (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy): Apr 21, 8:06am 3 reviews philosophy, religion, reality, worldviews
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/truth/; Truth via the NYT / Stanley Fish, in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy by Michael Glanzberg
Truth is one of the central subjects in philosophy. It is also one of the largest. Truth has been a topic of discussion in its own right for thousands of years. Moreover, a huge variety of issues in philosophy relate to truth, either by relying on theses about truth, or implying theses about truth. It would be impossible to survey all there is to say about truth in any coherent way. Instead, this essay will concentrate on the main themes in the study of truth in the contemporary philosophical literature. It will attempt to survey the key problems and theories of current interest, and show how they relate to one-another. A number of other entries investigate many of these topics in greater depth. Generally, discussion of the principal arguments is left to them. The goal of this essay is only to provide an overview of the current theories. Truth French Theory in America Many theories about what truth is all about. But all those theories only present hypotheses about what it is and those hypotheses leave us as hungry as ever before for its true meaning. We are able to say the truth about facts happening within our close environment but when we speak about "the truth" in its philosophical sense it relates to something a lot vaster that our environment. Truth relates to our understanding of the global reality in which we are such tiny particles. But we don't understand what is this "whole". We could even add that there is a structural impossibility for a particle to reason its way through the whole and even if such a feat was feasible it would still be a "view" from within or better a "view" seen through the lense of an inside observer. The "truth" about reality, or to say this otherwise, about the "whole in which we are such tiny particles" is conceivable only from the viewpoint of an outside observer one who could relate this "whole in which we are such tiny particles" to its own environment. In other words if we could per any chance induce or deduce that this "whole in which we are such tiny particles" were a pink elephant how would we ever be able to know something about the family of this pink elephant? What I mean to say is that there is a systemic impossibility for us particles to ever reach the truth about this "whole in which we are such tiny particles". What we can reach is an understanding of how we particles relate to the environment within the realm of what is observable to us (in our Island-Universe as per Villenkin). This kind of understanding has a functional value for us but it does in no way qualify as truth about reality. We intuitively understand that our "functional understanding" does not account for the impact on our Island-Universe of all that lays outside of it. But we most often brush away that thought, for, life continues and we know no better. In conclusion our grasp of reality is physically flawed by our impossibility to see further than the boundary of our Island-Universe and it is furthermore systemically flawed by our insider observation. What is presented as truth, by philosophers, logicians, religious thinkers and others, is thus no more than a viewpoint about something that is unattainable. When the men of knowledge of the day share such a viewpoint among themselves it will then be shared further down in a simplified form with all the citizens in their societies. That's when the viewpoint becomes a worldview. The history of man witnessed 3 classes of worldviews: the animist, the religious and the modern. From all possible accounts we are presently witnessing the slowl transitioning from late modernity into early post-modernity. That means that the men of knowledge of our days are debating the contours of a new viewpoint. Once this debate settles a new worldview will eventually be shared globally by all. But patience this takes time...

Ovi Magazine : Levinas Challenge to the Modern European Identity: Part 1 by Eman…: May 29, 2007 5:55pm 1 review philosophy, worldviews
http://ovimagazine.com/art/1691; Levinas' Challenge to the Modern European Identity in OviMagazine by Emanuel L. Paparella
"I am quite sure that the European crisis has its roots in a mistaken rationalism" (Edmund Husserl, University of Prague, 1935) ... Levinas' philosophy in two succinct words, they would be "being human." This philosophy insists throughout that an extreme, unbalanced rationality devoid of imagination, feelings, senses and spirit, unconcerned with the ethical dimensions of life, is the equivalent to a refusal to be human, to allowing oneself to become a monster. Levinas is saying nothing short of this: the knowing ego does not exhaust what it means to be human. ... if it is true that the ego does the conceptual work of philosophy by announcing what there really is in the world, how can this ego then acknowledge the essentially ethical "self" which lives within itself? In attempting this operation, Levinas will proffer statements such as: ethics is "older" than philosophy, it is "first philosophy," on the scene before the arrival of rational philosophical thinking; something ingrained in being human. Levinas' Challenge to the Modern European Identity

In some of my last comments I ranted on rationalism (Clueless, We Want Solutions!). Here is an article that elaborates on the idea that rationalism does not take into account the human. I should add that rationalism does not integrate the principle of life. Rationality says Levinas finds "...its root in the Cartesian ego, an autonomous center of consciousness which in modern philosophy has assumed the function of a paradigm for thinking about human beings". I posit that philosophic rationalism has its roots in over 500 years of economic practice during which time merchants, bankers and all those involved in trade learned to respect the reason of capital. In "Clueless" I wrote: "That axiom of rationality is rooted in the "long haul" playing the game of capital over many centuries by Western Europeans... In other words the reason of capital transferred as a certainty in the brains of those who have been playing its game over the centuries and, in turn, they imposed the belief in it to all around them in their societies." Centuries passing this certainty of the truth revealed by the reason of capital was unquestioned and it developed as a system of thought, a philosophy, that spread to all corners of modern society thus transforming into the ideology of modernism. "...ethics is "older" than philosophy, it is "first philosophy," on the scene before the arrival of rational philosophical thinking; something ingrained in being human". I also feel there is something deeper than rationalism. Is it ethics? I'm not sure. I guess it's more to do with the long haul observation of the rhythms of nature and the universe that gave animism its profoundly life-tested philosophic axioms that are pole apart from rationalism.

Pearls Of Wisdom : Inspirational Wisdom Quotes and Sayings for Personal and Spir…: Oct 5, 2006 8:28pm 6 reviews philosophy, worldviews
http://www.sapphyr.net/; Pearls of wisdom via berrypicker's SU pages, in Pearls of wisdom Online. Home of inspirational wisdom quotes, sayings, stories, prayers & affirmations to uplift, heal and feed the soul on our journey toward self growth, inner peace and global peace. Covering diverse philosophies, including Native American and Buddhist Wisdom, to help awaken our consciousness and reveal our true inner power, empowering women (and men) to be the best we can be, for ourselves and others. Improving our health & the environment with Alternative Health & eco-friendly shopping. Awakening to global humanitarian, peace & environment issues, and what we can do about it. URL: Pearls of wisdom

Great pages. I particularly liked the quote on berrypicker's pages: ""Until mankind can extend the circle of his compassion to include all living things, he will never, himself, know peace." ~ Albert Schweitzer ~ (Theologian and Nobel Prize recipient, 1950)"

Front page | An Artsense project: May 21, 2006 9:32pm 0 review philosophy, books, art, society
http://laodan.einabems.com/

Asia Times Online :: Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs: May 3, 2006 8:42am 1 review philosophy, politics, ideas
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HE04Ak01.html; A new weapon in the "war of ideas". in AsiaTimes by Ehsan Ahrari """ A global war of ideas is set to begin and Anglo-American dominance of international TV news about to end. With Al-Jazeera about to launch English international news coverage, and a global Islamic channel likely to follow, the US and Britain will have to compete hard to promote their version of reality and truth. """" URL: A new weapon in the "war of ideas".

"The Great Conservative Crackup" by Jacob Heilbrunn: May 3, 2006 8:02am 1 review philosophy, politics, ideas
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0605.heilbrunn.html; The great conservative crackup Extremes are followed by their demise. This is one of the general principles of the working of reality. The "crackup" of the neo-cons' ideology should thus not come as a surprise. But what is really intriguing is the absence of ideas and ideals on the other side... There is a Chinese proverb that says something like: "an extreme is always defeated by the rising of its opposite, that's how harmony is re-emerging as the middle-ground". Where is the opposite of the neo-cons? Absent it seems! Could it be that the neo-cons are not by any means the extreme of the right and that, as such, it still has to emerge? I hope I'm wrong on this one.... via arts&letters, in The Washington MOnthly by Jacob Heilbrunn """ This is all the more ironic since liberals have for several years been bemoaning their own lack of ideas and looking to the conservative movement's rise for inspiration. Who would have thought that, at the peak of the conservative movement's political success, its founding fathers would recoil from the Frankenstein's monster they created and end up as troubled heretics? """ URL: The great conservative crackup

How to Save the World: Apr 14, 2006 3:28pm 1 review philosophy, books, society
http://blogs.salon.com/0002007/2006/04/14.html; The reading list of "How to save the world" Dave Pollaerd's blog is one of my favorite daily readings. His reading list is well worth the look... in "How to save the world" by Dave Pollaerd """ 80 books and articles that have forever changed my worldview and my purpose for living. The fifteen most critical readings have a numbered triangle in front of them, with the numbers reflecting the order that, I would suggest, it makes most sense to read them in. """" URL: The reading list of "How to save the world"

Utopia Online Library: Apr 14, 2006 9:29am 12 reviews philosophy
http://www.deepleafproductions.com/utopialibrary/index.htm; Utopia Online Library An excellent collection of authors writings about real possibilities that most often are only present in their dreams and wishes. But let's remember that, at the bifurcation point out of chaos, it's such dreams that ultimately determine what road will be taken that leads to the future among the multiple possible roads that are present at that particular bifurcation point. As Prygogyne was saying the future is not determined... From the page: """ a collection of texts and interviews exploring possibilitesand boundaries of social evolution """ URL: Utopia Online Library

Bertrand Russell : In praise of idleness (1932): Apr 14, 2006 9:16am 27 reviews economics, philosophy, worldviews
http://www.panarchy.org/russell/idleness.1932.html; In praise of idleness Modernity and its ideology of rationalism have conditionned all of us in believing that we should be productive at all times leaving us with a bad feeling when idling... in panarchy by Bertrand Russell """ This is a very interesting essay on consumption and work, written a few years before Keynes produced his General Theory. If these ideas of Bertrand Russell had been properly examined, may be we would have been spared, if not the horror of the war, certainly most nonsense that was and is still presented as modern economic thought on work and employment. """ URL: In praise of idleness

berrypickers reviews: Apr 13, 2006 10:51am 1 review philosophy, worldviews, animism
http://berrypicker.stumbleupon.com/review/3848782/; Ancient voices berrypicker's posts are always a discovery. via Berrypicker, in Native American Poetry by Momfeather """ Did you listen today? What did your hear? The ancient ones call and we feel them around us, but we do not listen. We no longer hear the voices in the wind as the leaves and branches tell us stories. The moon brings us messages and we do not see them. We are to busy with the world created by man. Take your children back to the times when the voices were heard and the signs were given. Go back before the importance of Creation leaves us forever. The voices of the ancestors may have been silenced by the death call but they are only a whisper away. Their music may have faded from our ears but must we let the delicate sounds of our past go with them? Our children need the teachings that are leaving us forever. Sing the words in a lullaby, whisper to them so they hear, lead them and they will follow. Never let our traditions die. Respected and revered the old ones still walk with us. They hold our hand to help us see. They still lead us and we must follow. We need not let the dreams they had for the future depart this life. This is why they honored us with their wisdom. When they leave us one by one, they take the book with them, leaving a patchwork of dreams on the web of life. What we do with the patches will help us to grow in wisdom. The Earth Mother is bountiful enough for all her children. Working together we can bring back the unique and powerful voice of our past. Grasp the insights and perceptions in the wind. The future of our children depends on our actions today. Do not let the voices of the ancestors or the echoes of their songs fade away. """ URL: Berrypicker's SU pages