Natural philosophy includes dividing ideas into empirical, rational, and irrational as well as understanding their philosophical context. Philosophical context includes understanding the timing of discoveries and rediscoveries as well as the philosophers behind them and their publications.
30 Phil, Chapter 27: In this new look at Hume’s idea of impressions and its relation to innate knowledge, I position instincts as innate knowledge with three types: basic, developmental, and situational.
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It takes work, but OVM structures disagreement so that clarity replaces tribalismm, and calibrated dialogue replaces dogmatic assertion.
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Good common knowledge is the Grand Rational Framework. It is our common-floor public belief, and it evolves knowledge anchored to the material world, where only evidence-grounded reasoning reshapes what we collectively treat as true.
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30 Phil, Chapter 22: In this new look at Descartes thought experiment, we first take a look at his hyperbolic doubt, and then run his thought experiment a second time using rational doubt transforming his thought experiment from the irrational to the rational.
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30 Phil, Chapter 18: Part of the Idea of Ideas, the Idea Theory Framework allows you to follow an idea, a thought, from speculative through the scientific process all the way to established theory with the formulas and their associated logically true statements automatically being elevated to scientific law. While it’s unlikely this new look
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30 Phil, Chapter 18: In this new look at universals and the problem of universals, we use the traditional framing of realism, nominalism and Abelard’s middle ground of conceptualism. The role is science is used to update this exploration and introduce the idea that things like color don’t actually exist at all.
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30 Phil, Chapter 17: The Time Trail game is a way to engage in spacetime reflection of your life. Time Trail is a new look at chronoception. It explores spacetime, your inner voice, and prelinguistic thoughts and challenges your intellect, senses, perception, and the very nature of reality. There are two versions: one that focuses on
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Our five part new look at his thought experiment explores non-dualism and dualism including self-awareness and consciousness as inherent to the self. Some use this experiment as proof you have a soul, but that’s not necessarily what Avicenna intended. For those that use it that way, they usually have a predetermined conclusion that we do
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30 Phil, Chapter 14: The newly coined Holistic Eudaimonia is a new look that extends Aristotle’s thoughts on eudaimonia and living a virtuous life to legacy and ripples into the future. This more holistic approach includes the effects of actions on you, others, and the future. In the “good intent-good results” debate, it not only focuses on
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30 Phil, Chapter 14: At the start of part 2 titled “The Rise of Belief Systems,” we take a new look at the old debate of whether it was a “dark” time or not. The position we take is that the Middle Ages were “intellectually dark” due to the adoption of a single story. Philosophically
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30 Phil, Chapter 13: The Stoic Virtue Framework is a new look at ancient tools presented in a 1-2-3-4 structure. One goal, virtue, the Dichotomy of Control, the three disciplines, and the four cardinal virtues.
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Marcus Aurelius reminds us that you can explore the cosmos without claiming to own it — and still live with strength, fairness, and honor inside it.
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30 Phil, Chapter 11: The new look at the Epicurean Happiness Toolkit refines Epicurean tools into a clear 1-2-3-4 structure: one goal (pleasure), two types of pleasures, three categories of desires, and the Four-part Remedy (Tetrapharmakos). This presentation emphasizes pleasure as the ultimate aim, specifically ataraxia (peace of mind) and aponia (absence of pain), while replacing
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30 Phil, Chapter 9: Contrary to the traditional view that casts Plato and Aristotle as proponents of differing philosophies, this fresh perspective suggests they were actually quite close.
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Discovered in 1853 by British archaeologist Austen Henry Layard, the Epic of Gilgamesh’s flood story had been lost for millennia. Layard uncovered a library of clay tablets in the ruins of Nineveh, in modern-day Iraq. This story predates the earliest written version of the biblical flood story by at least 400 years and likely by
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30 Phil, Chapter 1: The Great Flood Myths. An examination of the Great Flood myths, comparing the flood stories in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible. Discovered in 1853, the Epic of Gilgamesh’s flood story was lost for millennia and it predates the earliest written version of the biblical story by at least 400 years
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Heidegger’s existentialism centers on the concept of “being-there” (Dasein), which refers to the unique way humans exist and relate to the world. Heidegger explores the nature of being and emphasizes the importance of understanding one’s own existence within the context of time and space. His philosophy delves into the idea of being authentic by confronting
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Sartre’s existentialism emphasizes individual freedom, choice, and responsibility. It posits that existence precedes essence, meaning that individuals are not defined by any preexisting essence but instead create their own essence through actions and decisions. Sartre’s philosophy focuses on the concept of “bad faith,” where people deny their freedom by conforming to societal expectations, and encourages
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30 Phil, Chapter 31, Sartre, Touchstone 80: Bad Faith. Bad faith is the idea of living a lie; it is the act of denying your inherent freedom and responsibility associated with self-awareness. When you go along to get along, you are not yourself, you are being a rock, you are a “being-in-itself.” To live for
30 Phil, Chapter 31, Sartre, Touchstone 79: Consciousness. Consciousness is a continuous, self-aware state of existence, an incessant ebb and flow of perceptions, ideas, and emotions. Consciousness is part of your worldview with two basic states: awake and asleep. It’s a complex spectrum of levels while awake, and stages while asleep.
