My Philosophy
March 13th, 2024
I just went on a long glamping trip. It was nice. I had some time to think over my general philosophy.
I have three books that have greatly influenced me; in no particular order they are:
- Sun and Steel by Yukio Mishima
- Impro by Keith Johnstone
- Philosophical Investigations by Ludwig Wittgenstein
Trees
Why do we call them trees? Not the audible sound we make when we see trees, that is arbitrary by language and is as much common sense, but I mean the word "trees" as in why do we organize the space together that way?
Why not group the dirt in with the roots of the tree, and call that portion of space the tree as well? Are they not as welded together as the roots are to the trunk? Why are the roots of the tree part of the tree, but not the dirt that grounds the tree to the world, which serve a great purpose equal to the roots themselves?
Why is the sky not part of the tree? The air around the tree, which gives it carbon dioxide, is it not the same system as the tree? Does it not belong to the tree until it enters the chlorophyll of each leafs' cells?
Why do we organize the space of the world so arbitrarily? And, why is it so universal across all languages? That, all languages on earth, has a word for trees, and organizes the space under the word "tree" the same way?
Apes
Plato stated that man was a featherless biped, and Digonese rebuked him by handing him a plucked chicken.
I suppose Marcus Aurelius would state that man's gifts are their virtues, that is what separates them from the other creatures. But, I've seen too many ape videos of them showing acts of justice, fairness, and altruism for me to believe that it is man's gift alone.
Value
Language works in a funny way. Imagine two organisms. One wants to warn the other of danger, but cannot physically touch the other one. So it vibrates the air around them in hopes the other one understands.
What if the other one doesn't understand? Then it dies. But imagine it is equipped with the ability to detect these vibrations. But what does it know what to do with these vibrations?
The second organism must imagine what the first organism meant. It must proactively guess the first organism's intentions. It must understand the context they share with the first organism, and then attribute a value to the vibrations of air.
Many animals, like dogs, can bark and growl. But how many can interpret?
Status
To deny there is an idea of status is crazy. It is obvious after a cursory read of Impro. But the question is, do I want to frame it that way?
All models are wrong, some are useful.
Words are dangerous
There is nothing more real than the senses, and we can twist them each and everyway.
We can choose what happens with the words we speak. We can choose what happens with the words we hear.
Sure, we cannot choose our feelings. But we can choose what to believe and what not to believe.
Words... are very, very dangerous. Proceed with caution. Extreme caution.