David Peat

More documents

Recommendations

Info

FourLANGUAGEWe are all philosophers. At somepoint in our lives we have asked the deepest questions it is possible fora human being to ask. Who are we? Where do we come from? Whereare we going? What is the meaning of life? Does time have an end?What is right action? What does it mean to be free? How should I acttoward others? What is the meaning of death?Since recorded history philosophers and religious teachers of allcultures have debated these questions. Some cultures have offered answersbased on religion or mystical revelation. Others have createdcomplex overarching systems of thought. Some philosophers answerthese questions with yet other questions. Others seek closure and completenessand wish to create a single philosophical approach that willencompass all questions and all answers.Some religious and philosophical systems deal in poetic images asthey seek to express the transcendent. Others, particularly in the West,espouse the goals of clarity and directness. On the other hand some71
72 From Certainty to Uncertaintyphilosophical writings become dense and convoluted as philosophersattempt to express the ineffable in words, and force language into tasksfor which it is not normally adapted.And thus we arrive at another great question: How is it possible tosay something that means something? How do we make sense of theworld when we speak about it? How can we communicate the essenceof what we feel and think about the world? How can we speak in waysthat are not misunderstood? What is the correct way to use language?The philosopher Leibniz argued that a rational and “ideal” languageshould only be used in philosophical arguments. Undergraduatediscussions about “free will,” “consciousness,” “morality,” and so on rapidlybecome bogged down in confusion over definitions. “I’m talkingabout one thing and you’re really discussing another,” we say. “Let’sstart by defining our terms. Let’s all agree on what we’re talking about.”Thus the argument moves in a new direction, in trying to define freewill, or awareness, or what we mean by “goodness.” Yet as soon as we allagree on such a definition it seems to slip through our fingers, for wesense that we are really beginning to talk about something subtly different.Leibniz understood these pitfalls only too well. He proposed thatphilosophers should adopt a language in which all terms are first properlydefined and free from ambiguity. If we all agree on what is meantby “freedom,” “morality,” “causality,” “time,” “space,” and so on, and weare careful only to use those terms in the way we have defined them,then we can talk together and our discussions will proceed logically,step-by-step. In this way we will arrive at a degree of certainty andfreedom from ambiguity and confusionLeibniz’s program sounds ideal. Once such a language has beenperfected philosophical arguments can be cleared up and, step-by-step,the great questions of philosophy resolved and answered. In this wayphilosophy will arrive at a general agreement of what it knows andwhat remains unanswered. In place of the various philosophicalschools we will have total clarity. Philosophy will have placed a fence orboundary around what can be said, what can be known, and what wecan say for certain. Outside this boundary will remain all the unan-
Page 3 and 4:
Also by F. David PeatBlackfoot Phys
Page 5:
Joseph Henry Press • 2101 Constit
Page 10 and 11:
PREFACEQue sais-je? (What do I know
Page 12 and 13:
Preface xiand London saw its first
Page 14 and 15:
Preface xiiiand, determined to see
Page 18 and 19:
OneQUANTUM UNCERTAINTYIn 1900 Lord
Page 20 and 21:
Quantum Uncertainty 3able to the p
Page 22:
Quantum Uncertainty 5Imagine a gro
Page 25 and 26:
8 From Certainty to UncertaintyCom
Page 27 and 28:
10 From Certainty to Uncertaintybl
Page 29 and 30:
12 From Certainty to Uncertaintypo
Page 31 and 32:
14 From Certainty to Uncertaintykn
Page 33 and 34:
16 From Certainty to Uncertaintywr
Page 35 and 36:
18 From Certainty to Uncertaintyde
Page 37 and 38: 20 From Certainty to UncertaintyIn
Page 39 and 40: 22 From Certainty to Uncertaintyne
Page 41 and 42: 24 From Certainty to Uncertaintyco
Page 43 and 44: 26 From Certainty to Uncertaintyof
Page 45 and 46: 28 From Certainty to UncertaintyTh
Page 47 and 48: 30 From Certainty to Uncertaintywi
Page 49 and 50: 32 From Certainty to Uncertaintyne
Page 51 and 52: 34 From Certainty to Uncertaintyli
Page 53 and 54: 36 From Certainty to UncertaintyGH
Page 55 and 56: 38 From Certainty to Uncertaintymo
Page 59 and 60: 42 From Certainty to UncertaintyMa
Page 61 and 62: 44 From Certainty to Uncertaintyex
Page 63 and 64: 46 From Certainty to Uncertaintybu
Page 65 and 66: 48 From Certainty to Uncertaintyon
Page 69 and 70: ThreeFROM OBJECT TO PROCESSWe are c
Page 71 and 72: 54 From Certainty to UncertaintyWh
Page 73 and 74: 56 From Certainty to Uncertaintyco
Page 75 and 76: 58 From Certainty to Uncertaintyso
Page 77 and 78: 60 From Certainty to Uncertaintyti
Page 79 and 80: 62 From Certainty to Uncertaintyto
Page 81 and 82: 64 From Certainty to Uncertaintywi
Page 83 and 84: 66 From Certainty to UncertaintyJu
Page 85 and 86: 68 From Certainty to Uncertaintyde
Page 87: 70 From Certainty to Uncertaintyco
Page 91 and 92: 74 From Certainty to Uncertaintyim
Page 93 and 94: 76 From Certainty to Uncertaintypo
Page 95 and 96: 78 From Certainty to Uncertaintyto
Page 97 and 98: 80 From Certainty to Uncertaintysi
Page 99 and 100: 82 From Certainty to Uncertaintyso
Page 101 and 102: 84 From Certainty to Uncertaintyor
Page 103 and 104: 86 From Certainty to Uncertaintyme
Page 105 and 106: 88 From Certainty to Uncertaintypr
Page 107 and 108: FiveTHE END OF REPRESENTATIONThe pr
Page 109 and 110: 92 From Certainty to Uncertaintyfl
Page 111 and 112: 94 From Certainty to Uncertaintyse
Page 113 and 114: 96 From Certainty to Uncertaintyre
Page 115 and 116: 98 From Certainty to Uncertaintyun
Page 117 and 118: 100 From Certainty to Uncertaintya
Page 119 and 120: 102 From Certainty to Uncertaintyf
Page 121 and 122: 104 From Certainty to UncertaintyO
Page 123 and 124: 106 From Certainty to Uncertaintyg
Page 125 and 126: 108 From Certainty to Uncertaintyo
Page 127 and 128: 110 From Certainty to Uncertaintym
Page 129 and 130: 112 From Certainty to UncertaintyY
Page 131 and 132: 114 From Certainty to UncertaintyI
Page 133 and 134: 116 From Certainty to Uncertaintyr
Page 135 and 136: 118 From Certainty to UncertaintyN
Page 137 and 138: 120 From Certainty to UncertaintyT
Page 139 and 140:
122 From Certainty to Uncertaintyo
Page 141 and 142:
124 From Certainty to Uncertaintyr
Page 143 and 144:
126 From Certainty to UncertaintyW
Page 145 and 146:
128 From Certainty to Uncertaintyd
Page 147 and 148:
130 From Certainty to UncertaintyT
Page 149 and 150:
132 From Certainty to Uncertaintyf
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
136 From Certainty to Uncertaintye
Page 155 and 156:
138 From Certainty to UncertaintyA
Page 157 and 158:
140 From Certainty to Uncertaintya
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
144 From Certainty to Uncertaintyi
Page 163 and 164:
146 From Certainty to UncertaintyO
Page 165 and 166:
148 From Certainty to Uncertaintyt
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
SevenRE-ENVISIONING THE PLANETThe h
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
158 From Certainty to Uncertaintyn
Page 177 and 178:
160 From Certainty to Uncertaintyo
Page 179 and 180:
Page 181 and 182:
Page 183 and 184:
166 From Certainty to Uncertaintya
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
170 From Certainty to Uncertaintyu
Page 189 and 190:
Page 191 and 192:
Page 193 and 194:
Page 195 and 196:
178 From Certainty to Uncertaintyp
Page 197 and 198:
180 From Certainty to Uncertaintyh
Page 199 and 200:
Page 201 and 202:
184 From Certainty to Uncertaintyc
Page 203 and 204:
186 From Certainty to Uncertaintyn
Page 205 and 206:
188 From Certainty to Uncertaintys
Page 207 and 208:
Page 209 and 210:
192 From Certainty to Uncertaintyi
Page 211 and 212:
194 From Certainty to UncertaintyB
Page 213 and 214:
196 From Certainty to UncertaintyO
Page 215 and 216:
Page 217 and 218:
200 From Certainty to Uncertaintyg
Page 219 and 220:
202 From Certainty to UncertaintyR
Page 221 and 222:
204 From Certainty to Uncertaintym
Page 223 and 224:
Page 225 and 226:
Page 227 and 228:
210 From Certainty to Uncertaintym
Page 229 and 230:
212 From Certainty to Uncertaintyh
Page 232 and 233:
POSTSCRIPTThis book was completed b
Page 234 and 235:
AppendixGÖDEL’S THEOREMEarlier a
Page 236 and 237:
Appendix: Gödel’s Theorem 219It
Page 238:
Appendix: Gödel’s Theorem 221te
Page 241 and 242:
224 IndexBody in Question, The (Mi
Page 243 and 244:
226 IndexHHalf-life, 9Hamilton, Wi
Page 245 and 246:
228 IndexPalio of Siena, 195 n.4Pa
Page 247:
230 Indexinterpretation of, 14-16,
show all

David Peat

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?