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Need philosophy help!
- Thread starter Fassa Albrecht
- Start date
I think I agree with you here. Though I believe that there does exist an objective, or absolute, truth regardless of whether or not we know what that objective truth is, as opposed to relativism. IMO the complexity and intricacy of Earth, life and the Universe demands the existence of a higher power and an Objective truth that goes along with it, IMO of course.
What got you interested in Rand? Just checking out different views? A world view isn't built in a day..... If so, there's a whole lot of other stuff to look into as well like Aristotle, Plato, William K. Clifford, Kant, Bertrand Russell, Descartes, Locke, etc, etc....
Dunno about higher powers/dimensions... but mind independent reality, for sure. IMO, the issue isn't whether or not reality exists objectively so much as "what constrains our ability to know reality in itself?". My supposition is that only omniscient entities could ever know reality in itself, and we're not omniscient.
Gotcha.
Funny, I'm flipping channels right now and 'The Passion of Ayn Rand' is on right now.
Yes I've read her books, but I can't help thinking that she got just more than a little bit too full of herself over the course of her life.
Faith and mysticism by definition are all about beliefs rather than knowledge.
Believing something is true is different to knowing it's true.
That depends on your notions of belief and knowledge. From the perspective of an analytical philosopher, belief and knowledge are closely connected such that belief is often formulated something like I believe s if and only if s.
Yep. That's kind of like set theory. Things that are "known" without fallacy are a subset of things that are believed (if you accept the existence of an objective reality, as discussed above).
It's certainly possible to believe, with what you think is total certainty, something you "know" and be mistaken. On the other hand, I don't suppose you can know something unless you actually believe it.
Here's a nice little clip illustrating the difference between knowledge and belief and strongly supporting the notion of an objective reality.
I read "Atlas Shrugged." It was utopian drivel. Rand prescribes an ideal state, but gives us no idea of how to get there, and in the real world, getting there is impossible. Every attempt at a utopian state degenerates into corruption and tyranny.
Show me where a utopian state has been achieved beyond small isolated communes (cults) without resorting to repression or violence.
The world exists in a way independent of our perception of it. We each form our own concept of the world based on our own experience and reasoning. You and I likely see the world in different ways, but the world is what it is, and our particular concept may or may not align well with the absolute reality.
Except in my case, as I see the world for exactly what it is.
