literarydiscussions.myfreeforum.org

Sitaram · Site Admin Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Posts: 1079

"Man is the measure of all things!"

A statement by the ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras. It is
usually interpreted to mean that the individual human being, rather
than a god or an unchanging moral law, is the ultimate source of value
http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1363.htm

http://www.ditext.com/russell/rus15.html

from Bertrand Russel's "The Problems of Philosophy"

Bertrand Russel wrote: As soon as definite knowledge concerning any
subject becomes possible, this subject ceases to be called
philosophy, and becomes a separate science.

The uncertainty of philosophy is more apparent than real: those
questions which are already capable of definite answers are placed in
the sciences, while those only to which, at present, no definite
answer can be given, remain to form the residue which is called
philosophy.

Russel cites some key questions: Has the universe any unity of plan
or purpose, or is it a fortuitous concourse of atoms? Is
consciousness a permanent part of the universe, giving hope of
indefinite growth in wisdom, or is it a transitory accident on a
small planet on which life must ultimately become impossible? Are
good and evil of importance to the universe or only to man?

The value of philosophy is, in fact, to be sought largely in its very
uncertainty.

The man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life
imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the
habitual beliefs of his age or his nation, and from convictions which
have grown up in his mind without the co-operation or consent of his
deliberate reason.

To such a man the world tends to become definite, finite, obvious;
common objects rouse no questions, and unfamiliar possibilities are
contemptuously rejected.

As soon as we begin to philosophize, on the contrary, we find that
even the most everyday things lead to problems to which only very
incomplete answers can be given.

Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the true
answer to the doubts which it raises, is able to suggest many
possibilities which enlarge our thoughts and free them from the
tyranny of custom.

Thus, while diminishing our feeling of certainty as to what things
are, it greatly increases our knowledge as to what they may be; it
removes the somewhat arrogant dogmatism of those who have never
travelled into the region of liberating doubt, and it keeps alive our
sense of wonder by showing familiar things in an unfamiliar aspect.
Unless we can so enlarge our interests as to include the whole outer
world, we remain like a garrison in a beleagured fortress, knowing
that the enemy prevents escape and that ultimate surrender is
inevitable.

In such a life there is no peace, but a constant strife between the
insistence of desire and the powerlessness of will. In one way or
another, if our life is to be great and free, we must escape this
prison and this strife.

http://www.ditext.com/russell/rus15.html

Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers
to its questions since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known
to be true, but rather for the sake of the questions themselves;

because these questions enlarge our conception of what is possible,
enrich our intellectual imagination and diminish the dogmatic
assurance which closes the mind against speculation;

but above all because, through the greatness of the universe which
philosophy contemplates, the mind also is rendered great, and becomes
capable of that union with the universe which constitutes its highest
good

================================

Some people debate whether or not there is any objective reality
apart from our own subjective personal sensory experience.

One person in Philosopy chat commented that what other people tell us
has no bearing upon our personal subjective experience of
consciousness.

Sitaram disagrees and points out:

What Darwin observed in his "Origin of the Species", was certainly a
product of years of acute observation, it it certainly seemed to have
an impact on the entire world, as to how they interpreted
their "experience", ... the same might be said of Galileo who
suddenly understood the acceleration of gravity, yet people had
observed falling objects for millenia (oh, lets add Newton too)

Stalagtites and stalacmites in caves, deposits built up over many
centuries, are proof that there is some independent reality apart
from our observation, and even when we send robotic exploration to
Mars or the Moon or Venus, we see from the photos that events took
place before there were human beings to observe it...

SPELLING ERROR!

http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/errors/stalactites.html

Correction: I wrote Stalagtites and stalacmites, when I should have
written STALACTITES/STALAGMITES. There's an old joke that will help
you keep these straight. Remember "ants in the pants"; the mites go
up and the tights come down. ...

Get your own free IRC Chat room