30 Phil, Chapter 9, Aristotle, Touchstone 22: Syllogisms. While deductive reasoning existed informally before Aristotle, he formalized it in his work “Prior Analytics” by introducing the Syllogism. It structures arguments into two key premises leading to a conclusion and remains widely used today. Aristotle knew that syllogisms can both analyze and validate derived truths, by logically […]
30 Phil, Chapter 8, Plato, Touchstone 21: Ignorance is Bliss. The concept of “Ignorance is bliss” says being uninformed or unaware of certain truths can lead to greater happiness. Take, for example, germophobes—people who are excessively concerned about germs. Constant awareness and meticulous research about germs and contamination could elevate their levels of stress, affecting
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30 Phil, Chapter 8, Plato, Touchstone 20: Reflective Inquiry. Reflective inquiry is the act of exploring and examining one’s own thoughts, beliefs, and assumptions to clear the illusions of life. It encourages a constant state of self-assessment, providing a foundation for intellectual growth based on a more authentic life. For example, with the Socratic Method,
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30 Phil, Chapter 7, Heraclitus, Touchstone 17: Identity. Identity is the personal mosaic of attributes that set you apart as an individual. Your identity is shaped by the worldview you embrace and mold. It encompasses the world you were born into — encompassing aspects like gender, ethnicity, and nationality — and extends to your personal
30 Phil, Chapter 7, Heraclitus, Touchstone 17: Worldview. A worldview is your current knowledge, perspectives, beliefs, and values, which evolves with experience and influences your interpretation of reality and self. Your worldview is comprised of all the frameworks you’ve embraced, and a good place to start your exploration is with the three major ones: language, religion,
30 Phil, Chapter 7, Heraclitus, Touchstone 17: Impermanence and Flux. Impermanence as Flux is the idea of an ever-changing nature of life and the interconnectedness of all things. It is summed up as: “Everything is in flux.” Like the idea a “river,” everything flows. The only constant is change, and to resist it is to resist
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30 Phil, Chapter 6, Buddhism, Touchstone 16: Nondualism-Dualism. Nondualism and dualism help to explore the many variations and nuances within the overarching discussion of our nature, whether we have a soul, what happens to it, etc. Dualism says the mind and the body are distinct entities from each other and from the universe. How they interact
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30 Phil, Chapter 6, Buddhism, Touchstone 15: Illusion: Self and Non-self. The Buddhist terms of Atman and Anatman relate to the idea of “Self,” or “Atman,” your eternal soul and the Buddhist doctrine of “Non-Self,” or “Anātman.” To understand non-self, you have to understand the concept of “emptiness,” which refers to the idea that nothing lasts
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30 Phil, Chapter 5, Confucius, Touchstone 13: Normalcy. Normalcy refers to the standards or patterns established through repeated experiences and societal norms, serving as a baseline for judging deviations. Our concept of “normal” influences how we label and react to the world, shaping our perceptions of what is good, bad, or different. These norms are
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30 Phil, Chapter 5, Confucius, Touchstone 14: Schemas. A schema is a mental structure we employ to organize and interpret information. We classify things into schemas, which we can then modify by adding or removing elements. Schemas help us simplify life. Once things are categorized as normal or abnormal, we utilize our cognitive processes, such as
30 Phil, Chapter 4, Laozi, Touchstone 12: Unknowable Dao. The “unknowable Dao” is the skeptical belief that the true nature of reality is unknowable. The Unknowable Dao is a mysterious universal reality that transcends both language and thought; it encapsulates the ultimate reality and its inherent natural order. It’s the idea that the Dao cannot
30 Phil, Chapter 4, Laozi, Touchstone 10: Authenticity. Ziran is often translates to “of its own.” Living in accordance with Ziran means you embrace naturalness. You welcome the spontaneous aspects of existence. With Ziran, you flow with nature while embracing your true self and innate tendencies, your authentic self. Living in accordance with Ziran is you
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30 Phil, Chapter 4, Laozi, Touchstone 9: Wu-wei or “non-action” The term wu-wei is often translated as “non-action.” It is a general concept. It is the idea that the universe has a flow, and it is better to ride that flow than to fight it. Wu-wei is non-action, effortless action, or inaction, but does not mean
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Although protozoa evolved from eukaryotes about 2 billion years ago, it was 1674 that humanity saw them for the first time. That’s when Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, using his meticulously crafted microscopes, discovered protozoa—the first microscopic observation of single-celled organisms. His detailed observations and descriptions of what he called “animalcules” in a drop of pond water
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In 1906, Reginald Fessenden achieved the first analog transmission of sound over radio waves on Christmas Eve. An analog transmission is like a flowing river that continuously changes its speed and depth to carry things along its path. In analog communication, sounds or images are directly transformed into continuous signals that mimic the original. For
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James Clerk Maxwell predicted electromagnetic waves, but he did not perform experiments to prove their existence. His prediction was based on his work on the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which unified electricity, magnetism, and light as different manifestations of the same phenomenon. Maxwell’s equations for electromagnetism predicted the existence of waves of oscillating electric
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“By 350,000 years ago, early humans crafted javelin-quality spears.” This revelation about ancient spears is profoundly enlightening as it demonstrates the advanced cognitive abilities and social cooperation among early humans. Crafting spears of this quality involves not only selecting the right materials and understanding the physics of balancing and sharpening but also strategic planning for
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“By 1.76 million years ago, early humans began to create hand axes.” This seemingly simple statement about hand axes is mind-opening and philosophically significant for a few reasons. It highlights the ingenuity of early humans. Crafting tools from stone requires planning, foresight, and understanding of cause and effect. It also represents a critical leap in
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Rationally predicted, unconfirmed: The Oort Cloud is a theoretical vast sphere of icy objects believed to surround our solar system at distances ranging from about 2,000 to 100,000 astronomical units from the Sun. Conceived by the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort in 1950, this distant cloud is thought to be the source of long-period comets that
While black holes were first proposed in the 18th century, they were not seriously proposed until 1916 with Albert Einstein’s General Relativity. The concept of a “black hole” has its roots in the 18th century when John Michell and Pierre-Simon Laplace independently speculated about the existence of “dark stars” — celestial bodies whose gravity is
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