Common Moral Obligation

I find the tribalism in our current culture to be not only disturbing, but a sure-fire way to destroy our common life together. If we are to survive the current situation, together, then we need to re-appropriate an understanding of our common humanity.

Cynical

When I was an adolescent, I began to realize that the adults in my world were no better than I was at upholding the standards they held up for me. This had a profound effect on me. I became cynical.

A Pre-Socratic Crush

I am fascinated by the Pre-Socratic philosophers. Why the general tendency towards monism? Thales' water, Anaximander's eternal indeterminate, Anaximenes' air, and of course Heraclitus' fire all try to pinpoint the one thing upon which all else depends. What is the one "stuff" from which the multiplicity arises? They were, in general, materialists. Material monists, if you will. The only problem with saying they were materialists is that they had not yet developed the kind of dual (material/spiritual) understanding of reality from which contemporary ideas of materialism have their provenance. Their dualism, if we can say that they had one, was the one and the many.

Worldviews, Primary Assumptions, and Certainty

In the last post ("Atheism: Worldview or Objective Point of View") I promised 1) to show why I believe that all people have a worldview, and 2) to show why I believe that all worldviews are based on primary assumptions that are not ultimately subject to evidence or reason.