Evolution June 2, 2007
Posted by sumaletera in Philosophy, world view.add a comment
I have long been fascinated by the process and the need to interface new scientific findings in to day-to-day thinking. I am of course saying this at the oddest moment in human history where in, majority of men believe that coming down from the tress was a bad idea.
My belief is of course 21st century mainstream scientific paradigm. If however, we are to talk about the process of mankind’s intellectual evolution, we should recognize that it often takes 50 years or more for Nobel price theoretical ideas to become incorporated into the thinking of the greater intellectual community. The view point of quantum mechanics, for example, put forward in the late1920s, has still not had its full impact on humanistic thought. The material is that hard to digest. Yet there are few philosophers of science who doubt that. However I for my part, have no doubt that this theory in the long run will exert a deep effect on our views of man and nature and in essence affect our private and public policy. But for the time being saving the world shall be “a white man’s burden!”
I suppose 50 years knowledge conductance value is totally unacceptable, when much of humanity is in disarray and despair. I think somebody should do something about it, may be even tell it to the white man!
Albert Einstein unequivocally said it, “The whole of science is nothing but the refinement of every-day thinking.” Science should in effect refine our thinking, confront our beliefs, give us a clearer view and in essence uplift us from our intellectual ponds. Amen!
Existential crisis November 23, 2006
Posted by sumaletera in Philosophy.add a comment
Perhaps it may not be prudent to elaborate on such an illusive subject “Existential crisis” in contemporary society, at a time like the present, where almost all fellow human beings face a much more urgent and practical economic crisis. The situation worsens even when we realize that science has failed us. Exactly where is science when one is ponders the eternal riddles? Such as, how did the universe originate? How long has it been around? Did matter begin with an explosion or by the word of God? What do we mean when we say that man is mortal? Obviously it’s not a Compliment!
Put in its simplest form, the problem is How is it possible to find meaning in an infinite world?
When individuals in contemporary society are confronted by such “big” questions, the majority are left exposed to religious predators while a tiny minority that have gone through the machinery of higher education and personal metamorphosis through the torment of experience are trapped in their own definition of reality, a personal philosophy or that of their intellectual guardians (personal hero’s and heroines) a philosophy seemingly scientific, but highly likely to be infested by logical fallacies, which mostly stem from stereotypes, cultural biases and what have you?
Even the ones that exceptionally get it right have to finally give up their courageous purist, for reality by its sheer complexity and boundlessness surpasses any model a finite being can bear. It seems paralysis of analysis is almost always inescapable in the pursuit for the truth. However, our salvation depends on it! And lurking behind those down-to-earth economic questions lay the “big” questions demanding to be answered more than ever before!
