In life we often seek to solve problems and do the best we can. Often we, others and the media couch a discussion as a need to do our best, solving problems and achieving success. We think of solutions as panaceas for the problems that confront us. But is this approach realistic or make any … Continue reading Best or Least Worse 1
Author: stevemale
Intuition: Its Pros and Cons
It is a common human failing that we assume we have knowledge of facts that we can't possibly have. We often describe this is as our intuition. Sometimes we leap to a conclusion and when we look for evidence we find there is ample, well-founded sources to support this leap. In this way we could … Continue reading Intuition: Its Pros and Cons
Ockam’s Razor
Ockam's Razor is normally stated: "Among competing hypotheses, the hypothesis with the fewest assumptions should be preferred." Also known by the Latin "lex parsimoniae" the heuristic is attributed to William of Ockham (also Occam) who was a Franciscan friar (1287–1347) and an influential medieval philosopher (see first link below). However, the form of words attributed … Continue reading Ockam’s Razor
How Can We Gain Knowledge
How can we ever know the truth or validity of any claim? How can we gain knowledge? There would appear to be three potential sources to affirm the truth ofd any claim: Supporting evidence. Divine inspiration/revelation. Majority Opinion I know of no other ways to affirm the truth of claims, but if you can please … Continue reading How Can We Gain Knowledge
Truth: A Figment of Our Imagination?
In daily life we act and assume that the truth is accessible and in many cases, we know it. We base our law enforcement and courts on the premise that the truth of any matter can be determined in court. Our politicians trade in truth, claiming they are bastions of truth whereas their opposition are … Continue reading Truth: A Figment of Our Imagination?
Falsifiability
We can categorise ideas and statements into two types: Those that are falsifiable. Those that are not falsifiable. A falsifiable statement is one that it is possible, in principle, to be wrong. We may not be able to prove it right, but we can prove it wrong. For example, if I say "I have a … Continue reading Falsifiability
What Am I?
In the overall scheme of the Universe what am I? Why should we think any of us are significant, much less important? The raw numbers are quite mind-boggling and the implications undeniably disturbing. Each of us is but one person out of circa 7.7 billion human beings residing on earth in April 2019 [i]. This … Continue reading What Am I?
The Three Questions
When I first started reading philosophy of life it came as a shock to realise the ancient and medieval philosophers, more-or-less, made it all up. They typically had little or no empirical evidence much less method and they did precious little research. All they had were their personal observations and reasoning as would be expected … Continue reading The Three Questions
