Only Truth Matters
0%

Review of My View

Posted on Edited on In , ,

1. Intro

I am trying to make the world a better place, by “better” I mean a world more like my ideal living condition. First I need to know what’s my view of the world.

I plan to list some important philosophy question and then reflect my personal view on them.

What is the nature of reality? (Metaphysics)

  • This question is arguably the most foundational, as it underlies all of philosophical inquiry into existence and the universe.

How do we come to know what we know? (Epistemology)

  • Central to understanding all knowledge, this question impacts how we interpret and validate every other philosophical and scientific inquiry.

What does it mean to live a good life? (Ethics)

  • This is fundamental to personal and societal decisions, addressing moral values and how individuals should act.

What is consciousness? (Philosophy of Mind)

  • Critical for understanding human experience, intelligence, and the potential for artificial minds, making it a cornerstone of modern philosophical debate.

What constitutes valid reasoning? (Logic and Reasoning)

  • Essential for constructing coherent and sound arguments in philosophy and is the backbone of logical discourse.

What is the best form of government? (Political Philosophy)

  • Vital for considering how societies should be structured and governed, directly influencing laws, rights, and justice.

What is the role of science in society? (Philosophy of Science)

  • Addresses the impact of scientific methods and findings on our worldview and societal progress.

What is beauty? (Aesthetics)

  • Though more specific, this question underpins discussions of art, culture, and perceptions of the aesthetic in daily life.

What is the meaning of life? (Existentialism)

  • While not always considered as foundational as metaphysics or epistemology, this question deeply influences personal philosophy and existential inquiry.

2. Metaphysics

  1. I believe the objects and world around me exist independently of my perception.
  2. I think human mind, consciousness is a amazing form of physical world. Our movement and idea is just from brain, neuron etc that can be further analyzed as electric, physics. I think everything that exist can be explained through physical processes though the ultimate physical might could never be learned by human. I don’t believe human experience transcend physical
  3. I don’t think our language and social practices shape the real physical world, it just changes the way how we see the world. If the reality in the context means the physical world, I think its objective and external, we only change the placement and order of things
  4. I slightly tend to believe there should be a single fundamental substance or entity constitute reality

Materialism, idealism, realism, anti-realism, phenomenalism, pluralism, monism, dualism, existentialism,

3. Epistemology

The Gettier Problem: someone could believe some truth but actually not knowing the truth

  1. I believe some of knowledge is innate, that’s the brain structure that lead us, like we know how to get milk, how to cry etc. As for moral principle, I think part of it is also pre-programed in brain. As for math, I don’t think people have a natural understanding
  2. I can trust scientific fact even if this is derivated from formula. But with direct sensory experience, I can better understand it
  3. I think through logic and reasoning law, we can arrive at certain truths without needing empirical evidence. This is based on two assumption: 1. We know enough about the basic law and facts. 2. The world is still under the same law. But I am morality is kind of different, it more about human, and we don’t know human well yet
  4. I rely pretty much on information given by experts that has a good reputation. I think that’s the only way normal people get quality information. When I need to know something but don’t understand the underlying evidence, I think it’s the best way to accept fact and theory from reputed source
  5. I don’t think memory a reliable source of knowledge. Since I have experience that my memory is somewhat altered by my brain. Especially that memory is from long time ago. I don’t think memory is an accurate representation of what actually happened

Rationalism, empiricism, social epistemology, skepticism about memory

4. Ethics

  1. Virtue ethics
    1. I believe the good character is subjective, good is defined by culture and education in one’s life. But to living a good life, one need to align their acts with things they believe.
    2. I think about my ultimate life meaning and goal and try to achieve that. I don’t really believe I need to have certain qualities
  2. Utilitarianism
    1. Yes, when making a decision, I hope it would help achieve my ultimate goal, that’s the overall happiness and well-being of myself
    2. I believe the rightness of an action is determined by its ability to produce the most good
  3. Deontological ethics
    1. I don’t believe there are certain duties or rules that must be followed. All the rules and duties are defined by some people that try to stabilize the community
    2. When faced with moral dilemma, I think it depends on the situation, generally speaking, its important to do right things according to moral principle since the best outcome is more vague that are too complicated to consider
  4. Existentialism
    1. I think individual freedom and making authentic choices are good to living a good life but not a must, since “good life” is social defined, people can be programmed and tend to believe they live a good life even they don’t have freedom and authentic choices
    2. I often reflect on my personal freedom to make choices and insist on defining my own path, even if it goes against societal norms

Individualistic ethics, strong utilitarian, context-dependent ethics, value individual freedom

Blend of utilitarianism and existentialism

5. Philosophy of Mind

  1. I think everything about the mind can ultimately be explained in terms of physical process in the brain
  2. I think my own subjective experiences are byproducts of brain activity
  3. I think a machine built by human and running complex algorithm could theoretically have similar consciousness but never the same. Since brain and such a machine functions differently fundamentally. If all the machine do is to mimic the human brain including the chemical and physical properties, it might have similar consciousness. In essence, I think consciousness is just too complex for current human scientific level
  4. I think it depends on how we define consciousness. If we define the reflection or reaction to environment, I believe everything in the universe might possess some level of consciousness.

Strong physicalist view, emergentism, functionalism with physicalist tendency, panpsychism

6. Logic and Reasoning

  1. When presented with a new theory or idea, I typically evaluate it by checking if the idea is supported by empirical evidence or real-world data
  2. When I argue with someone, my argument are logically consistent and backed by facts are more important to me
  3. Its important to have beliefs that give my life meaning, even if they aren’t perfectly logical

Empiricist, rationalism, existentialism, pragmatism

7. Political Philosophy

  1. I believe a government should be led by highly educated and morally virtuous leaders who are selected based on their wisdom and knowledge. Because in this way, the overall happiness and wealth level of everyone would be considered and improved rather than resources wasted on maintaining order
  2. I prefer a government where power is distributed among many people, in this way, no one could control the whole thing without others consent. Even if a decision is not the best, at least it can represent most people’s thoughts
  3. For law part, I think the law of a government should primarily focusing on establish the minimum standard, ensure everyone’s right (including freedom) is protected, placing some limits on individual freedom is fine, but government should try to reduce this kind of limits
  4. I think it’s better for decisions to be made by all citizens. But it’s important to ensure most of citizen is well informed about the decision and consequence. It’s very resource consuming, so I think it probably only apply to important decisions. For daily, less important issue, different level of representative should be able to act on behalf of the people

Platonic idealism (philosopher king), Aristotelian polity, Lockean constitutionalism, Rousseau’s direct democracy

8. Science

  1. When I think about scientific advancement, I feel both excited about the possibilities and concerned about the potential risk and ethical dilemmas. But feel the excitement more
  2. I believe scientific research should be purely objective. But the application of research result should be aligned with societal values and ethical norms
  3. I think it’s very important that policymakers use scientific findings to inform their decision. In such way, we can have a objective standard and quantitative scale to measure the policy
  4. I think science education is very important, every citizen should have a basic understanding of science. In such way, people can make more wised decision

Optimistic realism, pragmatic objectivism, scientific policy advocacy, democratic scientific literacy

9. Aesthetics

  1. I found things I considered beautiful are usually have either bright and vivid color, or appear in balanced shape, composition. The balance and order makes thing beautiful to me
  2. I think cultural related education and environment shaped my perception of beauty. I think my idea of beauty is from all the artwork I have seen, and cultural thing definitely plays an important role here. I am Chinese and raised in mainland China, so the historical building, traditional education shaped my idea of beauty a lot
  3. I think beauty is completely dependent on individual observer’s feelings and experiences. The objectivity would be the common preference of human that preprogrammed in brain, like as for the beauty of human, a general and common accepted standard is heath.

Appreciate beauty of visual harmony, cultural influence of beauty, subjective experience

10. Meaning of Life

  1. I believe meaning in life is something that each individual must create for themselves through their actions and decisions
  2. I think suffering plays indicator role in understanding the meaning of life, it could be used as a wrong answer that we could avoid in the future to create a happy life.
  3. I think people are important, the overall happiness level is important to me. But my relationship with other people would not define my life meaning. They are more of a pleasant but not essential part of life
  4. I think the pursuit of personal happiness is the ultimate goal, fulfillment with any responsibilities or duties are just one of way to the personal happiness

Existentialist, humanistic approach

11. Reading

On liberty from Mill

Russell’s “The Conquest of Happiness”

Jean-Paul Sartre

Karl Popper

John Rawls

Peter Singer