From: Clint O'Dell (clintodell@hotmail.com)
Date: Tue Oct 05 1999 - 14:50:28 MDT
Philosophy, like mathematics, is a discription of the world as we see it.
And like mathematics we can manipulate philosphy to look at the world in new
ways and solve for unknowns. A problem I've noticed among philosophers,
professional or not, is many of them forget to keep their philosophy in
check with reality. A great example is a conversation a close friend of
mine and I had about a week ago. My friend, Shawn, argued that philosphy
was not to be trusted because it gets trapped in its own world. I
disagreed, stating that it only happens to philosophers who don't keep their
logic in check with reality.
Shawn argues, "To get to a door from where I was in the room I had to first
get half way there. To get half way there I had to get half that distance,
and to get half that distance I had to travel again half that distance, and
continue to travel half the distance to infinity. Thus I couldn't get to
the door because I had to travel the half distances to get there, which I
would have to travel for ever since to get to the first half distance is
infinity. But because I do reach the door and the philosphy of half
distance is logical, philosophy reaches a point of being illogical and can
not be trusted."
I reply, "Because I do reach the door your logic is falliceous. As you do
travel a half distance to get to a destination, either distances cannot be
divided to an infinate smallness (hence there is a point when a distance is
as small as it can get) or I cannot move through an infinate space (hence a
ruler measures 3 inches and I move 4 inches at a time). Regardles on the
position we continue to argue about movement or distance this logic explains
how we can reach a door by traveling half distances without contradicting
itself. Because I kept my logic in check with reality I can explain
reality."
Recommended reading.
Just about everything you read uses logic. I recommend dissecting every
piece of logic you recognize and test it for fallacies (errors in thinking).
Then you will develop a logical understanding of your own. It will also
bring out the critic in you.
-Clint O'Dell
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