50 cent Philosophies 2/2

Anticipatory arousal activates the positive affect parts of the brain more than goal achievement. Motivation is better than alleviation!

How do we go about achieving a rich philosophy?

Descartes started by discussing what things could we know fundamentally and figured out that the only thing he could be sure of was that he was. Skipping ahead a few centuries in epistemology we find ourselves in an existential loop trying to find meaning within ourselves. Regardless of whether you are an unrelenting realist or a pragmatist, we must accept that what we perceive is the starting point of all interpretations of reality. If we are willing to forgo the dizzying logical loops of solipsism, we accept that there is a real world outside of ourselves and it is impacted by things outside ourselves. "This is the world we live in" (Alcazar) and we must (re)act to it.

Therefore, our philosophy should properly describe reality and prescribe a standard of behavior in this reality. Without accuracy in our description of reality our behavior is without context. Without a standard of behavior our reality is without meaning. Meaning is subsumed by all manner of inquiry by the question, is meaning important? In pure mathematics, meaning is mutually exclusive from the formula, however consciousness begs for meaning. It is ubiquitous to the human experience.

This short discourse is meant to resolve the problem of a poor philosophy, but not to recommend any solutions.

50 Cent Philosophies 1/2

"It's never too late to unkink your karma"

"Don't ever think you shouldn't feel something."

"Judging others is where I draw the line (in context of what they didn't abide with in others)."

There are a lot of poor philosophies floating around amongst fairly intelligent people these days. I wonder if a poor philosopher does a poor philosophy make. Analyzing this question, I know a hypocritical philosopher can come up with a good maxim and a good philosophy can be fallen upon by a bad philosopher. However, there are individuals who are quite happy to march through life to the beat of an arrhythmic routine; to recite words from an unplanned play.

I would say everyone I have encountered has sinned against pure logic. Has bowed before the idol of confirmation bias. Has given way to an emotional appeal. How are we to safeguard against the corruption of cognitive dissonance? What must we enact to have a stolid react? We must have a rich philosophy of life. We require a consistent worldview.

Our worldview should make sense of reality. It should explain possibilities and impossibilities. It is fundamental in our thinking. From it, we draw our variables of life to formulate algorithms for decision making. We interpret morality, epistemology, and reality through our worldview. Our worldview is revealed in our actions and our inactions.

This worldview should have at least thought about cosmology, ontology, and eschatology. Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where will it end? These are the questions that have the most value in life, because from these answers, like a good story, we understand everything between and among.