August Notes

This post contains links to each of the notes I published in August.

I started the month with posting a single note every day about a basic philosophical or metaphysical belief.

1. Reality is fundamentally physical.

2. Reality is a deterministic system in motion, but not one in which the future is predetermined.

3. Reality is process-driven, not purpose-driven.

4. Reality is causally closed.

5. Causation flows in multiple directions.

6. Minds arise from physical substrates.

7. Mental Causation is a valid causal form.

8. Mental causation, though genuine, is constrained by the conditions of its embodiment.

9. Logic and Mathematics are descriptive practices, not physically causal ones.

10. Reality is best described as an ordered hierarchy with distinct levels of organization.

11. Values are human cultural constructions, not intrinsic features of the natural world.

12. The scientific method is the most effective approach for generating accurate descriptions of reality.

13. There are valid ways of knowing that operate outside purely logical, rational, or scientific frameworks.

14. Human cognition is rooted in embodied emotion rather than in abstract reason.

15. Human cognition is grounded in, and structured by, shared social infrastructure.

16. Beliefs are formed, reinforced, and revised through social facts, not strictly logical or rational processes.

17. The fact that a norm is followed does not entail that the content of the norm corresponds to any fact about the world.

18. Truth is best understood through a conceptual hierarchy involving notions of correspondence, pragmatism, and linguistic deflation.

19. Metaphor is foundational to most forms of human cognition, but we must always remain vigilant that metaphors can mystify as well as illuminate.
    
    *New Direction*
    I don’t expect to be so overtly philosophical for the rest of the month. These notes are more about my everyday experiences, some longer and some shorter.
    

20. Emotional connections run deeper, and are more fulfilling, than abstractions.

21. Always—always—accept the apple from Eve.

22. Follow the Feelings

23. Quote from “Tourist or Traveler?”

24. No words tonight, but a photo from Lake Placid, NY instead.

    
    * Notes with draft paragraphs from a piece I was writing *
    

25. We took our seats on a bench overlooking a wide green field.

26. The clouds drifted overhead in tones of white, gray, and flashes of sunlit silver.

27. The mountain below displayed a palette distinct from the clouds above.

28. And then the wind arrived.

29. In the city, you can track the light too, but it works differently.

30. Quote from “Watching the Light”