The double look on complex dimension
Teleology and pseudo-ontology Teleology is looking at things by their purpose. It is not the direct causal meaning, that is: the elements in relation are the origin and cause the result. In teleology the starting point is the result. The elements are only the intermediaries to achieve this. Inescapably. Teleology is characteristic of the mind. … Read more
Let’s approach morality here through 3 complementary dimensions: The human dimension, illustrated by a disabled parking card story. Morality is a matter of adjustment between individual and collective interest. ‘Good’ is etymologically the one who ennobles himself, who raises his mind above his egotistical condition. But achieving this is no longer a matter of personal … Read more
Whether or not to linger on the moment Is wisdom about making the moment the essential meaning of life, because it is the only reality, that everything else is only thought? Or is it madness, because precisely what exists only for a moment is not worth dwelling on? Look closely at the question: is it … Read more
The interest of simple habits? They form a unified, sober foundation, from which the mind appreciates the incredible diversity that surrounds it. Could it only see it, this diversity, without starting from simplicity? Probably not. It would be drowned in a complex world. Element of chaos among the others, quickly jaded of such an inconsistent … Read more
Through the ‘Microreflections’ Alexandre Lacroix’s excellent ‘Microreflections’ conceals a particular nugget: ‘To put an end to the original sin of philosophy’. Alexandre presents ideals as the deities of an inaccessible world tyrannizing thought. The mind would only use a degraded version of it, and whoever observes this mind would only see the even more degraded … Read more
Leibniz’s monads Descartes’ dualism (mind and matter are separate realities) is opposed to Spinoza’s monism (there is only one level of reality). Leibniz, at the end of the 17th century, wanted to overcome this dichotomy with his monads, infinity of points of active substance. Independent, each of them expresses the entire universe. Leibniz uses the … Read more