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Politics : Evolution
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To: Greg or e who wrote (13561)2/10/2011 3:45:34 PM
From: Jacques Chitte  Read Replies (1) of 69300
 
>Namely: Can your worldview account for the world as we experience it?<

This is almost tautologous with the classic unanswered question: What is the meaning of life?

My glib answer to the question as you posted it is "Nobody's worldview can do that. The world is not simple despite our most fervent desires to understand it by way of simple models. None of us gets smart enough and old enough to make a real dent in what can be known."

A more thoughtful answer is going to be less snappy. For me the core is - Rationalists, the honest ones in any case, won't pretend to have an encompassing worldview. The rationalists I've respected have the attitude "It's a start from unprejudiced premises. It clearly does not explain everything. That's not the point. Once something irreducibly contradicts this provisional worldview, I will try to amend or expand my philosophy to accommodate the inconvenient fact." Key: rationalism is provisional. Rationality is not, but rationality is a process for thinking. It's when one expands it into a Theory of Everything that the human urge to have things explained has taken one step over the line. Sometimes it takes a wise and humble man to say "My worldview is imperfect."

It has been so long since I've seen the movie that I didn't recognize the references. Now if you'd quoted a favorite Coen Bros. flick, I'd have almost certainly recognized the quote (grin).

"We are nihilists, Lebowski. We beliefe in NAWTHING."
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