|
|
|
Love is in the air-Science too!
Ah… love! What a wonderful thing. The meaning of life itself, isn’t it? Artists, poets and play writers have made the greatest progress in humanity’s understanding of love. So what’s love doing in a science column? Well lately scientists have...
Near Death Experiences -- Is There A Logical Explanation?
Near Death Experiences -- Is there a logical explanation? by Lady Camelot In the August edition of Reader's Digest, I stumbled upon a compelling article, "After Life," by Anita Bartholomew. The article takes an intricate look into the...
Scientists Declaration about The Holy Quran and Islam-Dr. Maurice Bucaille
He is the author of a best-seller, "The Bible, The Qur'ân and Science" (1976). His classical studies of the scriptural languages, including Arabic, in association with his knowledge of hieroglyphics, have allowed him to hold a multidisciplinary...
The How TO of Pyramids
GEOPOLYMERIZATION: I just watched a show dealing with the Incan Andean cosmology that said they believed in 'As Above, So Below'. This is one of the three laws of the Magi and the Dictum of Hermes that our secret agent of British Intelligence has...
The Piercing Star
Allah the Creator, makes oath (swears) by cosmic events “By the sky And the Night Visitant (The rein);- And what will explain to thee What the Night visitant is? (It is) the star of piercing brightness”. In another verse He says “By the star When it...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Function of Philosophy
The Function of Philosophy
All rights reserved
This s a self-contained section to the Epilogue of my book titled The Mystery of Mind
Copyrighted and published in the United States.
========================================================================
In the simplest of terms, human knowledge comes in two forms: description of facts, and theories about them. Description tells us what happened, theories explain how or why they happened. More importantly, they also purport to tell us what will probably happen. In other words, the purpose of explaining is to make intelligible sense of occurrences that description alone is not able to provide. This is usually done by generalizing and projecting on the basis of what is known. It is to guess and conceptualize as to what may exist in the unknown. This explanatory procedure is true of religion as it is of science. Religion conceptualizes the existence of souls and other spiritual beings such as ghosts, deities, devils, angels, if not also fairies and so on to account for experiences that are either too boring or difficult to understand. Science conceptualizes the existence of ether, atoms, material forces, laws of nature, space-time, force-fields, dark-matter, anti-matter, black holes, strange attractors and so on for purpose of understanding the observed workings of the physical world.
In the very basic sense of the word, to philosophize is also to explain. By the light of its founding practitioners, the basic business of philosophy is to determine what exist and the relation between the natures of such existents. These two core enterprises are traditionally known as ontology and metaphysics. Thus, as other kinds of theories, a philosophical theory must also depend on conceptualizations in order to explain. Such conceptualizations are usually erected on the basis of two things: presuppositions and basic concepts or categories as they are professionally called. To believe that anything material must be cognitively inert is a fundamental presupposition of dualism. That everyone must take a soul to have a mind is another. These are in contradistinction to the materialist and scientific presupposition that the physical causal system is closed, and that material power and agency is all there are. Of basic concepts, these include such notions as existence (or being) and nothingness, facts and possibility, matter and mind, body and soul, act and object, substance and form, actuality and possibility, attribute and substance, accident and essence, function and structure, and so on and so forth. Between presuppositions and basic concepts, they provide various ways of mapping and relating many of the diverse features of what is known as human reality. However, across the span of centuries, different philosophers have found different ways of conceptualization to be intelligible, resulting in the proliferation of different philosophical styles and perspectives. In this sense, it can be said that every philosophical theory is in the ultimate analysis a consequence of the presuppositions and categories that its owner intends to grind.
For this reason, many philosophical controversies are about differences in conceptualization rather than disagreements about facts. They are, in the final analysis, controversies about the explanatory efficacy of certain concepts and presuppositions upon which the same set of phenomena or facts and events are to be explained. Many times, the gut source of these disagreements are so ingrained that no arguments
on the basis of facts are able to settle. This is also why no one philosophical perspective is acceptable to all. Having said that, it must also be pointed out that even in the realm of science, explanation is also a matter of degree, and major disagreements also exist. Besides, the diversity and complexity of phenomena in any knowledge area that has to be tackled is simply too complicated for any one theory to satisfy on a permanent basis. For this reason, theories are often not valued in terms of being true or false. They could only be described as adequate or inadequate, probable or improbable, in the light of what is already known.
There are two general requirements that any adequate theory must attempt to meet. They are comprehensiveness and coherence. Comprehensiveness requires that all known facts must be taken into account. Coherence requires that such accounts should be systematically consistent. But given the progressive character of human knowledge, these are tall orders that no theory is likely to fulfill on a permanent basis. What is considered adequate is always relative to the knowledge context and intellectual climate of the time. Any theory that falls short in any of these respects will sooner rather than later be relegated. The history of thought is littered with many once considered the most comprehensive and coherent of explanations. This is true of philosophy as it is of science. History has shown that in the shifting sand of knowledge and interpretation, even a relatively adequate theory of human reality is difficult to come by. This is why there have not been many who are able to dictate the course of theoretical thought for hundreds of years. And if history is any guide, even these must in the end also come to grief.
Looking back, it must be said that failure notwithstanding, the dominant philosophy of an era is representative of the metaphysical mentality of its time. It incorporates what the era deems to be matters of fact as well as what it does not really know. For this reason, evaluation of the past should always be accompanied by an appreciation for its knowledge and conceptual constraints. No generation should fall prey to the illusion that it has theorized or philosophized any better than its predecessors. Criticism from the benefit of hindsight alone is cheap. It is important to know where others were right and why they were right. It is just as important to understand where others had erred and why they had erred. What was it that made people reasoned the way they did? Given what they then knew and the conceptual bias they had, could they have thought otherwise? How could their theories be improved upon in the light of what we now know? To answer such questions is the basic function of philosophy. As understood by its ancient founders, philosophy means the love of wisdom. It is not only the desire to understand what is the case and how it is the case. It is also the desire to understand what is not the case, and why it could not possibly be the case. The former leads to knowledge, the latter to wisdom. A non-reflective life, as Socrates once said, is not worth living.
Author: Peter M.K. Chan
http://www.geocities.com/themysteryofmind
The strange neighborhood of truth is always less comfortable than the familiar circles of falsehood – PMKC.
========================================================================
About the Author
Author of book titled The Mystery of Mind - a systematic and critical introduction to the philosophy of mind.
|
|
|
|
|
| Science/AAAS | Scientific research, news and career information |
| International weekly science journal, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). |
| www.sciencemag.org |
|
| Science/AAAS | Table of Contents: 1 December 2006; 314 (5804) |
| This Week in Science: Editor summaries of this week's papers. Science 1 December 2006: 1349. ... 2006 American Association for the Advancement of Science. ... |
| www.sciencemag.org |
|
| Science.gov : FirstGov for Science - Government Science Portal |
| Science.gov is a gateway to government science information provided by US Government science agencies, including research and development results. |
| www.science.gov |
|
| ScienceDaily: Your source for the latest research news and science ... |
| ScienceDaily -- the Internet's premier online science magazine and science news web site -- brings you the latest discoveries in science, health & medicine, ... |
| www.sciencedaily.com |
|
| Science News - New York Times |
| Find breaking news, science news & multimedia on biology, space, the environment, health, NASA, weather, drugs, heart disease, cancer, AIDS, mental health ... |
| www.nytimes.com |
|
| Science News Online |
| Weekly magazine offers featured articles from the current issue along with special online-only features. Includes photo collection, archives, ... |
| www.sciencenews.org |
|
| Science in the Yahoo! Directory |
| Explore the fields of astronomy, biology, geology, mathematics, and physics and all of their related disciplines with resources designed for professionals, ... |
| dir.yahoo.com |
|
| Open Directory - Science |
| Agriculture (2454); Anomalies and Alternative Science (525); Astronomy (4208); Biology (20593); Chemistry (4852); Computer Science@ (2358) ... |
| dmoz.org |
|
| BBC - Science & Nature |
| The best of BBC Science and Nature, from TV and radio, to the web and beyond. Take a tour from the smallest atoms, to the largest whales and the most ... |
| www.bbc.co.uk |
|
| Science - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Sciences versus Science: the plural of the term is often used but is difficult to ... Science education is also a very vibrant field of study and research. ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Popular Science |
| Monthly magazine about current science and technology. |
| www.popsci.com |
|
| Science/AAAS | ScienceNOW: The Latest News Headlines from the ... |
| AAAS web magazine. Some free sample stories, subscription required for full text. |
| sciencenow.sciencemag.org |
|
| ScienceCareers.org | Science Jobs, Funding, Meetings, and Advice ... |
| Searchable database of jobs, sorted by field specialty. Can post resume and curriculum vitae. Includes tips for improving the workplace for employers and ... |
| sciencecareers.sciencemag.org |
|
| American Association for the Advancement of Science |
| Research news, issue papers. Educational programs, science policy (US and international). |
| www.aaas.org |
|
| NASA - Science@NASA |
| News and features about NASA research, aimed at the general public. Includes sections on astronomy, space science, beyond rocketry, living in space, ... |
| science.nasa.gov |
|
| Science NetLinks: Resources for Teaching Science |
| Resources for K-12 science educators. |
| www.sciencenetlinks.com |
|
| Cool Science for Curious Kids |
| Fun and interactive site to help kids appreciate science. Why are snakes like lizards, and monkeys like moose? Find out here. |
| www.hhmi.org |
|
| Welcome to the Science Museum |
| London museum and library of science. Exhibitions cover all areas of science and technology. Includes online exhibits and a learning area. |
| www.sciencemuseum.org.uk |
|
| New Scientist - International News, Ideas, Innovation |
| Weekly science and technology news magazine, considered by some to be the world's best, with diverse subject matter. Articles from current issue and ... |
| www.newscientist.com |
|
| CNN.com - Science and Space |
| Offers news stories related environmental issues, archeology, astronomy, technology, geology and other science topics. |
| www.cnn.com |
|
|