Week 3

Beyond Empiricism

"Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them"
Albert Einstein (Physicist, 1879-1955)

  John Locke was based primarily on experience to criticize the Innatism. According to Locke, we come into the world without any idea of things. Our minds would be similar to a blank slate or tabula rasa, and everything we learn throughout our lives we get it through the experience that previously passes through the senses, denying the possibility of spontaneous ideas.

  The main idea of the tabula rasa is that we are basically sensitive to an experience that is self contained and provides something that it would not exist without it. But knowledge would not be possible if there is not a whole cognitive system that makes possible an identity in the form of experience. Knowledge is not acquired from the senses, it has to come from somewhere else, there must be something innate to organize and interpret experiences. The understanding of the experiences is what creates the knowledge; therefore the most important ideas must be innate, such as the idea of infinity, the substance, the idea of God or mathematical ideas in general.  Descartes talked about God and a primigenial science as the knowledge itself. The modernity of Descartes should be viewed in light of rationality. The reason replaces God. The logic of God is replaced by man’s rational faculty.

  The famous linguist Noam Chomsky argues that language comes before thinking. For Chomsky, language is a kind of computer that operates automatically, like the processes of association before thinking. Chomsky sets out that the child has a genetic programming for learning their mother tongue and the proof of this is that phonemes are limited to a few and they are not infinite as we may believe. For empiricists, thinking comes before language, arguing that the ability to think affects the language. They are convinced that the child learns to talk because they imitate adults- especially their mother- and because they have to express their needs and desires. According to the empiricists, the child learns the language in the same way that other physical and mental abilities are learned. That is, through the so-called "operant behavior" determined by the influence of external factors and not by innate or genetic factors.

  The problem with the empirical sciences is that they are not objective like formal sciences, because they are born from the ways of seeing the reality of each one.  If we imagine a future where human civilization has undergone a biological evolution totally different from any known species, these beings will have a vision of reality quite different. They could have a wider viewing range, more senses or less, and most importantly, a completely different structure of their brain, so their interpretation of reality will not be the same than ours. In this case, the empirical sciences and the entire understanding of the reality of these people will be different. However, 2 +2 will be 4 also for them, and the sum of the angles of a triangle will be also 180 degrees.

Week 2

Methodological Skepticism

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"

Carl Sagan (Scientist and Skeptic, 1934-1996)

  The skepticism comes from the Greek word "Skeptikoi" which means "seekers" or "inquirers".  It is commonly believed that the skeptics do not have beliefs, but this belief about skeptics is false, because without belief of some kind we would not survive.  Beliefs are the sources of action. Anyone who believes in nothing does nothing, and therefore she or he will live even worse and less than dogmatic people.

  In skepticism as a philosophical doctrine, there are, at least, two different approaches: the philosophical skepticism which deny the possibility of knowledge and is in clear opposition to dogmatism, and the methodological skepticism (or Cartesian doubt) associated with the methodology of Descartes, which is an approach that subjects all knowledge claims to examination in order to separate true from false statements, that is, to apply the reasonable doubt as a tool for knowledge. Methodological skepticism does not deny dogmatically;  it denies claims with no evidence.

  Many religious practitioners and charlatans with a degree (chiropractors, acupuncturists, homeopaths, parapsychologists...) or those who invented it (ufologists, astrologers, advisors in Feng Shui, aromatherapy, tarot readers...) take advantage of credulous people.  Millions of people lose their time, money, health and even their lives because they are gullible in methodological aspects that seem inconceivably ridiculous to skeptics like me. But I know that "methodological skepticism" is not a vaccine against credulity. There are charlatans out there who are much smarter and they use the logic, their charm and persuasion to sell something that you will end up buying it. Fortunately, those are the least. Most of charlatans- including the priests in the area- have the charm of a toothache. However, they are able to persuade and deceive many people with their tricks.

  Every day, many religions "A la Carte" emerge as a replacement for traditional monotheistic ones which do not convince some people. These new religions are mixed through an eclecticism unthinkable in the past, Christianity and astrology, Christianities and reincarnations, "cosmic" consciences with "universal energy", Santeria with all kind of beliefs...

  In short, the need to believe in whatever as a compensation for the harsh reality faced by the human beings before the end of their existence, sets in motion the psychological mechanisms of consolation. Is it a matter of intelligence, of intellectual honesty, of nonsense? I do not know. The reality is that these beliefs are leaving to make room for others. The point is to always have a support to overcome the fears arising from the insignificance of man against the enigmatic forces of nature.  

  James Randi- a magician and professional skeptic- offers a one-million-dollar prize to anyone who can demonstrate evidence of supernatural or paranormal ability under proper scientific examination. After more than 40 years no one has won that money.

Week 1

The Allegory of the Cave

"The unexamined life is not worth living." (Apology 38a)

  

  The Allegory of the cave is a metaphorical explanation of the education of the soul toward knowledge. Plato explains us the existence of two worlds: the sensible world of appearances (known through the senses) and the supersensible world of ideas (only reachable through reason). There are also two levels of awareness: opinion and knowledge. Statements about the physical or visible world, including comments and propositions of science are just opinion. Some opinions are well founded, but none of them counts as genuine knowledge. The reason, used correctly, is the only way to discover and to understand the true reality.

  Plato describes a group of prisoners who have lived their entire live chained up facing the inside of an underground cave. They only can look to a wall of the cave and cannot escape. A burning fire behind them projects the shadows of the people and things outside the cave on the wall that the prisoners can see. The prisoners are not able to perceive the truth and think the shadows are real, unaware that they are blind from true reality.

  The cave is the place of the sensible world (things perceived with our five senses) and the situation in which people find themselves as prisoners in the cave represents the state in which human beings remain outside knowledge. They are shackled by their ignorance, which only allows them to see the shadows as the one and only reality misunderstanding its origin. The statues or objects are the change of men's mental state to reality, which involves pain and conversion of the soul and the fire refers to the reason, besides enables the projection of shadows of objects on the wall. These shadows are appearances, that is, what we grasp through the senses and think is real. Natural things, the world outside the cave, and the prisoners who cannot see, are the world of ideas.

  Only those who get rid of the chains that keep them confined in a world of appearances- the interior of the cave- and ascend gradually to the supersensible world, will be able to understand the nature of the reality.

Week 0

 "I am I plus my circumstances"

Ortega y Gasset (Spanish philosopher and humanist , 1883- 1955) 



  We live in troubled times where competitiveness, savage individualism and consumerism are values ​​that prevail in our world. It seems that we are losing humanity; the virus of indifference is inoculated in our blood, minds, souls and hearts. Sometimes we are like robots that don't feel or suffer, and because of the lack of humanity we lose our dignity.

 
  The culture of today’s society is mostly based on selfishness, from governments which are living a great corruption and a constant struggle for power without any concern for people's needs, to the big businessmen who only seek to increase their wealth earning high returns on their investments through the hard work of people who are exploited, underpaid or without benefits.

  In today’s society, Philosophy seems to be something that does not worth for absolutely nothing. However, it is an important aspect in building the personality.
       

  Philosophy, by etymology, definition, and essence, describes itself as love of wisdom. It aims to teach critical thinking and make reasoned judgments. It helps us to seek the truth. Most of the major issues (if not all) of concern to humanity have always been thought and addressed already by philosophers: each of them has given its response, has been challenged, supported or supplemented by another point of view, and this greatly helps us to develop our reasoning and to form our own ideas.

  People with a philosophical knowledge have a strong personality, their own criteria. They are not easily influenced by the opinions of the environment, by fashion, by lobbies or pressure groups. This people are not malleable, they have serious convictions; they are not changing their ideas with the wind that blows in every moment. Philosophy leads us in the pursuit of truth, honesty, integrity... concepts that seem to be in crisis nowadays.