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0.3.1 Key Learnings From Philosophy
Version 1.0 March 2013 Previous
Version How should we begin working out what to believe, or what values to hold? We begin by examining our most basic beliefs about what the truth is, what the world is like, whether god(s) exist, whether we have souls and where goodness and beauty come from. As we consider these issues we realise that we can't find any answers that we can “prove” are correct. Nor can anyone else “prove” our “answers” wrong. But we can justify our choices. We look at a dilemma we all face. On the one hand: ● It might be that all our thoughts, beliefs and values are caused by the laws of nature, OR it might be that God knows what we will decide even before we do ourselves. ● Yet again, perhaps some things, including our thoughts, beliefs and values, are not caused by anything. Some people think that if such things are NOT caused, then we must have free will, and somehow this makes it better. In fact what it means is that our thoughts, beliefs and values are just random – chaotic. Either way we don't know on what basis we choose any path – it still looks random. So everything that happens is either caused or chaotic! If fate or the gods control the outcome, is there any point trying to work out for ourselves what is true, good or beautiful? How will we know what is right? On
the other hand, we all act as though we can make real choices. We explain how we face this dilemma in philosophy (free will versus determinism), science (nature or nurture), history (inevitable trends or accidental outcomes) religion (karma, predestination and grace, or divine justice), and art (creativity or influence). ● This is not a scientific issue: we can't just appeal to reason and the evidence. There is no experiment we can do that will disprove any answers to these questions. ● Ultimately, we choose – we must choose – which path we will follow, in the most reasonable way we can. For many of us, the choice is obvious. Many of us do it unconsciously, unaware of any alternative. But many are confused by these choices. ● And when we choose, those choices reflect our core values. We end up coming to this summary of our conclusions. You may be able to phrase this better. In subsequent pages we expand out and justify each one of these points. 1: Philosophical Conclusions Version 1.1 March 2013 We all live with dilemmas: that we seek the truth about an objective reality, but our reasoning may be flawed, caused or chaotic, so we live with uncertainty; we can’t experience this reality directly and our experiences are sometimes wordless – mysterious and wondrous; and our understanding of reality doesn’t require any god(s), souls or spirits, but only the natural world; our conscious minds are almost illusory, but we ourselves can ascertain what is good, what is beautiful, and what is not. more
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