Day 3870, a case.

A case for uncertainty and playing that we are certain.

Part 1

Descartes once asked himself what we can know for certain. He thought it was the thinking we do, and though that makes some sense, it also raises the question of who or what that “we” is that does the thinking. But “I think, therefore I am” is a useful starting point, because without thinking there would be little reflection and mostly awareness.

But I don’t want to debate Descartes’ philosophy; others are much better at that. I just like the idea of starting your philosophy from something you think is self-evident.

I always wondered how people can be so sure of themselves, or at least pretend to be. I still remember that when I was around 13 or 14, we were sometimes visited by young churchgoers who came to tell us that we did not come from monkeys but that God made us. I did not believe in God*, but that was not because I thought deeply about it, it was just not enforced on me. I do remember wondering how they could be so certain, while I and a lot of other kids in the class were not, or at least not bothered me about it.

I don’t talk to many religious people who take the word of their God seriously, but you don’t have to look far to see that many do. These people also know that there are thousands of different religions, and they must know that many who are as thorough as they are also believe firmly that they are right. You might assume that such knowledge would put some doubt in someone’s mind, but it is clear that it doesn’t.

We humans seem to have a hard time questioning our own beliefs. Is it even possible?

*You can replace the word with another, like your political taste, the football club you support, or your opinion about your neighbor.

Day 3869, posons.

Daily picture, Quotes

Friedrich Nietzsche

Human. All Too Human II

Mixed Opinions and Maxims

41 Enjoying and not enjoying poisons. -The only argument that has been decisive at all times in preventing humans from drinking a poison is not that it would kill them, but that it would taste bad.

Day 3868, let it touch.

Daily picture, pictures

I see the deepness
not where it starts

do I dare
to go in
to let it touch
myself

can I reach
and get out

Day 3867, better in a way.

Daily picture, Poetry

You might shout your name
to hide the ugliness

but I’d rather have you leave
and leave the ugliness

Day 3866, I rest.

Daily picture, Poetry

If you take big steps in life
you are allowed to rest
comfortably

but if you take small steps
you have to keep on going
and rest uncomfortable

Day 3865, we just passed.

Daily picture, Poetry

Our destiny is not calling us
we are calling it

it is the point we just passed
and see it only looking
backwards

Day 3864, of where I.

Daily picture, Poetry

I see the walls falling
and with it
the reflection
of where I live

Day 3863,

Daily picture, Poetry

It is so interesting 
that most people will 
not understand 
what is written in these 
books
and its not only 
the language

Day 3862, Spinoza and me.

Daily picture, My thoughts

For many years now, I have had a big book by Spinoza called Ethics. It is written in a complicated way, with propositions, axioms, and definitions. It is philosophy in the form of an equation, you might say. I thought it might be interesting to feed some of my notes into a chatbot and have it present them using what is called the geometrical method, the way Spinoza writes in his book.

So you can read my thoughts, but in a form I could never produce myself at the moment. At the very least, it gives me hope that I can follow the way the book is structured, but it is still a lot of work.

Read his work here on Gutenberg.org

On Thought, Truth and Human Nature

An exercise in the geometrical method

Definitions

Definition I. By one’s own thought, I understand the way a person thinks, rather than the individual thoughts that occur to him.

Definition II. By common thought, I understand the ideas, values and conventions that a person inherits from the society in which he lives.

Definition III. By truth of one’s own, I understand a conviction that a person experiences as true, without this experience establishing its universal truth.

Axioms

Axiom I. No person chooses the circumstances into which he is born.

Axiom II. A person cannot think without being influenced by the world in which he lives.

Axiom III. The certainty with which something is believed does not determine whether it is true.

Axiom IV. Understanding a force that acts upon us does not necessarily free us from that force.

Axiom V. What humanity has created, humanity can, under different circumstances, create differently.

Proposition I

What a person considers his own thought necessarily contains common thought.

Demonstration.

By Axiom II, no person thinks independently of the world in which he lives. The language, knowledge and values through which he understands himself are already present before he begins to question them. Therefore, even what he experiences as his own way of thinking contains what he has inherited from others.

Scholium.

We may recognize this in other people more easily than in ourselves. Someone can understand why others think as they do and still believe that his own thinking is independent. Even the recognition of this contradiction does not free him from it.

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