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need some perspective on today?
Here is Today will have you teaming with perspective on how insignificant the day is, in relation to time, reality, and the universe around us. Just keep clicking. (Thanks, NativeLDN!)
We’re so insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Better make the most of it!
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A Liberal Decalogue: Bertrand Russell's 10 Commandments of Teaching | Brain Pickings
Perhaps the essence of the Liberal outlook could be summed up in a new decalogue, not intended to replace the old one, but only to supplement it. The Ten Commandments that, as a teacher, I should wish to promulgate, might be set forth as follows:
- Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
- Do not think it worthwhile to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
- Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.
- When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
- Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found. [Grace: This is not to be confused with not respecting people in general. BE KIND.]
- Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do, the opinions will suppress you.
- Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
- Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
- Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
- Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.
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The Dream Of Life - Alan Watts (by Tragedyand Hope)
“Everybody is fundamentally, the ultimate reality. Not god in the political kingly sense, but god in the sense of being the self — the deep down basic whatever there is. And you’re all that… only you’re pretending you’re not.”
- Alan WattsA good way to bolster your spirits if the grind’s getting you down.
(via David Airey)
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No, you're not entitled to your opinion
[…] I say something like this: “I’m sure you’ve heard the expression ‘everyone is entitled to their opinion.’ Perhaps you’ve even said it yourself, maybe to head off an argument or bring one to a close. Well, as soon as you walk into this room, it’s no longer true. You are not entitled to your opinion. You are only entitled to what you can argue for.”
A bit harsh? Perhaps, but philosophy teachers owe it to our students to teach them how to construct and defend an argument – and to recognize when a belief has become indefensible.
I love this article on so many levels.
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"To be independent of public opinion is the first formal condition of achieving anything great."
- Happy birthday, Hegel! Quote from Elements of the Philosophy of Right, 1820. More than a century later, Jack Kerouac echoed the sentiment. (via explore-blog)(Source: , via explore-blog)
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High ResolutionOMG. LIFE MADE.
(Source: funniest-stuff, via callmehats)
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High ResolutionFuck yeah, philosophy!
(via Maxistentialism)
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"
If the parts of the brain we think of as being fundamentally human – not just intelligence, but self-awareness – are emergent properties of the brain, rather than functional ones, as seems likely, the computational theory of mind gets even weaker. Think of consciousness and will as something that emerges from the activity of billions of neural connections, similar to how a national economy emerges from billions of different business transactions. It’s not a perfect analogy, but that should give you an idea of the complexity. In many ways, the structure of a national economy is much simpler than that of the brain, and despite that fact that it’s a much more strictly mathematical proposition, it’s incredibly difficult to model with any kind of precision.
The mind is best understood, not as software, but rather as an emergent property of the physical brain. So building an artificial intelligence with the same level of complexity as that of a human intelligence isn’t a matter of just finding the right algorithms and putting it together. The brain is much more complicated than that, and is very likely simply not amenable to that kind of mathematical reductionism, any more than economic systems are.
"-On the difference between mind and brain and why neither is a computer – a fascinating addition to the ongoing discussion of what is consciousness and what it means to be human.
(Source: , via explore-blog)
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swissmiss | The Ten Commandments of Teaching
1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
2. Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
3. Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
6. Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
7. Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
8. Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
9. Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.
Russell is my homeboy.
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High ResolutionNietzsche knew a thing or two about the filter bubble…
Lovely philosophy posters by Max Temkin embody in bold typography and astute insight what philosophy is.
Get your own by backing the Kickstarter project.
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"The only valid form of any sort of censorship of ideas in art is the right of people not to listen."
- Ricky Gervais (via Vulture) -
"Science teaches the value of rational thought as well as the importance of freedom of thought; the positive results that come from doubting that the lessons are all true."
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"Philosophers’ Syndrome: mistaking a failure of the imagination for an insight into necessity."
-Daniel Dennett, Consciousness Explained, making some hyuck-hyucks about philosophy.
(via Brain Pickings)
Favorite Things
Twenty-something.
Atlanta.
Hedonist.
The views expressed here are my own and do not represent the views of my employers. No one should be held responsible for my stupid thoughts.
