from some guy on facebook:
"What are the fundamental issues that determines the whole structure of a view of life? For example, here is the structure of the philosophy of Objectivism (ie philosophy of Ayn Rand), based on a primacy of existence:
Metaphysics: Axiomatic foundation of knowledge, eg validity of senses, causality, free will, existence, identity, consciousness...these concepts validated by observing that they are present in all experience, and cannot be denied without self-contradiction.
Epistemology: a characterization of thought based on the gathering and ordering of observations of existence
Virtues: the personal qualities that embody and protect thought, eg, honesty...if we are dishonest with ourselves about the evidence we have observed, we cannot make concepts that accurately reflect existence....and without thinking, we cannot live.
Politics: social structure that fosters and protects our ability to act in accordance with virtue...our individual need for thought and free will, along with our individual life, lead us to a political structure which will protect our free thought, our life, and our property
Aesthetics: visions of greatness which we an admire and which will give us emotional fuel to keep working to improve ourselves
On the other hand, here is an example of primacy of consciousness viewpoint, ie, religion
Metaphysics: the existence of God, immortality of the soul, heaven and hell
(note: none of these can be directly observed, ie, these ideas come from our consciousness, rather than from observation of existence)
Epistemology: knowledge arises from divine illumination, sometimes called inspiration, intuition, personal revelation, voice of conscience....the key is that the most important insights do not come from observation of this world, but from contact with god.
Virtue: duty, eg, ten commandments...we are bound to perform gods will
Politics: the great chain of being, each of us in our place, as god has arranged, sometimes with divinely appointed king, and we must obey the political order as it has been established by god on this earth
Aesthetics: adoration of god, eg, the art of medieval europe, almost completely devoted to religious topics such as crucifixion, madonna, depiction of saints..
There are other examples, but these two show you the wide deviations between the two approaches, and it is almost impossible to discuss the topics of ethics, politics and art without reverting back to the foundations in metaphysics and epistemology, eg, it will be impossible to convince a religious person that ethics is not linked to gods will...in order to break this link, you need to go back to the foundations and show why the concepts of god, soul, heaven and hell are not a proper foundation for knowledge..."
RP |
