What are some philosophical ideas that have had a profound impact on your life? Why?
- Buttrock as zen
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Re: What are some philosophical ideas that have had a profound impact on your life? Why?
Emergence perdurantism/endurantism
In the interest of my new name and not just typing pithy one liners in this nice new place, I’m gonna edit and expand this.
Emergence, to me, came from analog computing and pop science, but I liked the concept so much that I began to see it everywhere. Basically it means that a bunch of simple decisions lead to an unpredictable one, one which breaks determinism.
Perdurantism/ endurantism encompasses the debate as to wether something within us persists from moment to moment or if “we” change. It’s a weirder question than it appears at first blush, and it busted my brain so bad upon becoming middle aged that I have kept it around ever since.
In the interest of my new name and not just typing pithy one liners in this nice new place, I’m gonna edit and expand this.
Emergence, to me, came from analog computing and pop science, but I liked the concept so much that I began to see it everywhere. Basically it means that a bunch of simple decisions lead to an unpredictable one, one which breaks determinism.
Perdurantism/ endurantism encompasses the debate as to wether something within us persists from moment to moment or if “we” change. It’s a weirder question than it appears at first blush, and it busted my brain so bad upon becoming middle aged that I have kept it around ever since.
Re: What are some philosophical ideas that have had a profound impact on your life? Why?
I've always yapped about weak free will based on personal experience and said this was just a matter of personal faith for me, but my mate casually dropped an idea that was unexpected the other day related to breaking determinism.
Idea 1: The past, present, and future have already happened, i.e., time doesn't exist per se, at least in the common sense way we think about it. This is a by product of general relativity, specifically. Rietdijk–Putnam argument
This is one interpretation, not universally accepted, but it jives well with determinism.
Idea 2: The familiar Many-worlds interpretation which falls out of quantum mechanics.
Combining these you get a picture of an infinite number of timelines were everything that might possibly happened has happened in the entire set of timelines. Each fixed by the laws of general relativity, yet infinitely many by the laws of quantum mechanics. What if we had the power to hop between these timelines from moment to moment - and that is all that free will is?
I guess I'd call this 'timeline hopping free will' for lack of a better term. I find it appealing.
Idea 1: The past, present, and future have already happened, i.e., time doesn't exist per se, at least in the common sense way we think about it. This is a by product of general relativity, specifically. Rietdijk–Putnam argument
This is one interpretation, not universally accepted, but it jives well with determinism.
Idea 2: The familiar Many-worlds interpretation which falls out of quantum mechanics.
Combining these you get a picture of an infinite number of timelines were everything that might possibly happened has happened in the entire set of timelines. Each fixed by the laws of general relativity, yet infinitely many by the laws of quantum mechanics. What if we had the power to hop between these timelines from moment to moment - and that is all that free will is?
I guess I'd call this 'timeline hopping free will' for lack of a better term. I find it appealing.
Re: What are some philosophical ideas that have had a profound impact on your life? Why?
Like, say, the simple decision to doubt the truth of something everyone seems unwilling to question in adolescence can have a spiralling effect that shapes your entire worldview and the basic pattern and atypical trajectory of your adult life? Yes, that's quite something.Buttrock as zen wrote: ↑Fri Mar 05, 2021 10:35 pmEmergence, to me, came from analog computing and pop science, but I liked the concept so much that I began to see it everywhere. Basically it means that a bunch of simple decisions lead to an unpredictable one, one which breaks determinism.
While I've definitely changed and evolved, I'm surprised at how often long forgotten things and patterns can resurface. Certain things always seem to be there, buried beneath the surface. So yes, I very much think there is continuity.Perdurantism/ endurantism encompasses the debate as to wether something within us persists from moment to moment or if “we” change. It’s a weirder question than it appears at first blush, and it busted my brain so bad upon becoming middle aged that I have kept it around ever since.
Re: What are some philosophical ideas that have had a profound impact on your life? Why?
I guess I have never really been all that much into much of philosophy because I was drafted early on into a sort of pragmatic and mathematical world view, so it's hard for rid myself of the label "not even wrong" for most of philosophy, though that is probably precisely the point of philosophy.
I do like it when philosophy and mathematics/science blur together though, like in the case of determinism, but also in the case of the foundations of maths, logic, theoretic physics, and formal knowledge representation.
I like paradoxes and paradoxical results in particular, like the Banach--Tarski paradox. I'm not sure that they've had a profound impact on my life, other than to suggest that at the core of things lies something far weirder than we can mathematically grasp (but something that we can only ever hope to grasp mathematically).
Re: What are some philosophical ideas that have had a profound impact on your life? Why?
Existence precedes essence.
This idea has freed me from the shackles of conformity. That I am not defined by my sex, my class and orientation but the choices I make. These choices determine how I live my life and impact others.
And while I give life its own meaning, I am not starting with zero. Understanding what cards nature has given me, the privileges and opportunities that come with it [or lack] are things I can acquire or discard. My existence is a journey.
This idea has freed me from the shackles of conformity. That I am not defined by my sex, my class and orientation but the choices I make. These choices determine how I live my life and impact others.
And while I give life its own meaning, I am not starting with zero. Understanding what cards nature has given me, the privileges and opportunities that come with it [or lack] are things I can acquire or discard. My existence is a journey.
Re: What are some philosophical ideas that have had a profound impact on your life? Why?
This is very Sartrean.Lilith wrote: ↑Sun Mar 14, 2021 1:22 pmExistence precedes essence.
This idea has freed me from the shackles of conformity. That I am not defined by my sex, my class and orientation but the choices I make. These choices determine how I live my life and impact others.
And while I give life its own meaning, I am not starting with zero. Understanding what cards nature has given me, the privileges and opportunities that come with it [or lack] are things I can acquire or discard. My existence is a journey.
Re: What are some philosophical ideas that have had a profound impact on your life? Why?
I'm making my way through a survey of existentialism right now, after reading this thread and realizing how much of a gap in my knowledge there actually is.
Ferrus would like Kierkegaard.
Ferrus would like Kierkegaard.
Re: What are some philosophical ideas that have had a profound impact on your life? Why?
Yes, though de Beauvoir influenced my views more and is why I am an advocate of womanism in real life. A cause I seldom discuss online.Madrigal wrote: ↑Sun Mar 14, 2021 3:38 pmThis is very Sartrean.Lilith wrote: ↑Sun Mar 14, 2021 1:22 pmExistence precedes essence.
This idea has freed me from the shackles of conformity. That I am not defined by my sex, my class and orientation but the choices I make. These choices determine how I live my life and impact others.
And while I give life its own meaning, I am not starting with zero. Understanding what cards nature has given me, the privileges and opportunities that come with it [or lack] are things I can acquire or discard. My existence is a journey.
Re: What are some philosophical ideas that have had a profound impact on your life? Why?
Well, damn, I read almost everything by her by the time I was 20. I do kinda wonder sometimes what she would make of some of the newer debates in feminism.
Re: What are some philosophical ideas that have had a profound impact on your life? Why?
I read Fear and Trembling several years ago for a philosophy club in London, during the phase when I was trying to be less socially isolated. Needless to say most of the attendees had a butchered and superficial understanding of what they had just read.
Ex falso, quodlibet