Francis Williams' Philosophy Blog

 more and more we find ourselves adjusting to the relentless technological progress of our civilization. yet at the same time we cannot let go our outdated, tribal instinct for superstition and make believe. as a result this creates a dissonance, an incongruence of mental states, which leads to a kind of schizophrenia. our brains crave scientific sureness, it craves epistemological weathertightness, yet at the same time our soul longs for affirmation in what is irrational, in answers such as 'what is the meaning of life', 'what is our purpose on this earth', 'who am i', 'where will go after i die', 'is there a personal god that listens to me that is concerned with my life' - and similar questions. and this search has led us down rabbit holes of all sorts of whimsical and unchallenged beliefs, which our rational thinking does not permit. we know better than to believe stories of prophets parting the red sea, of miracles being performed by mystics ...

 don't you ever get that feeling that everything has been done already? and that everything from now on will be just a repeat in some shape r another of what has already been done? that it is impossible to do something new? thats how i feel everyday. its boredom, like a worm eating at the core of my being. the same rooms, the same kitchen. im so tired and bored of it all. when i do something, i dont just see myself doing that thing, but i see an endless chain of reflections of pseudo deja vus repeating off into the distance, like a mirror in a mirror. im sick of it, this endless repeating chain, i mean what can i do. i can position the chair in a different part of the room, so i face another wall. that doesn't make the slightest difference, the chain still follows me over there. this doesn't just apply to my mindeye, but also to what i hear, i can hear yesterdays thoughts repeating, they are all the same, there is nothing new to them.  everything is coated with a thin film ...

 perhaps what adam and eve were awoken to was some form of "first self consciousness" whereas previously they might have had some other form of consciousness, which lacked a definite conception of an I. perhaps the knowledge of good and evil, the power that was given to them by the tree of knowledge gave them judgement or discernment, in specific applications or fields, which hitherto they had not found necessary. for example the first thing they acknowledge is each other nakedness. so maybe this revolution in the ai world is a second eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. so nudeness is a symbol of self knowledge, a transition of childlike innocence to adult promiscuity, to awareness of genitals and of their own and the other sex. the first knowledge that adam and eve had, the first application of the knowledge of good and evil, was nudity. so it symbolized the scales falling from their eyes, and an advancement to a more godlike form of being, but also one which came ...

 outline of the ideal person (somewhat based ont he life of toni russell). he kept his friends on the straight and narrow. he was invested in his friends. because to him they were assets. of all the assets in his life these were the highest. he had read all the virtues of the great philosophers especially the works of marcus aurelius, and the stoic and the greek philsophers. he had lofty thoughts, and wanted to raise not only himself but his friends in his ideals. he rigorously applied the ethics he had learnt in real life. to him there was no time to slip off the path and wander into foolish territory. he avoided drugs, alcohol, partying, overindulging in the senses. he was the kind of person that the other students looked up to, he had strong values. in school he was a debater and house captain, he was good at sports, not the best, but sufficient to keep a a healthy disposition and state of mind. what he brought to the school was a refinement in thought which not even the teacher...

 of how they died unnecessarily the 39 still wearing their black sweaters, tracksuit bottoms and nike waffle trainers. the last days, there was still some sadness, but the the leader reminded us that all hope we had was simply the luciferian forces staying attached to our mortal coils. feeding off the gumtree like koalas, inhabiting all different forms of corporeal bodies, but the celestial was aeternal. (what is essential is the father like figure, the extreme charismatic nature, the ability to comfort and strike fear at the same time. the people who fell for it, were generally gullible but not dumb, the leaders belief systems and teachings made sense to the smarter of the group, while the young ones bought into the stories of what their lives would be of secret powers, of life on this distant planet etc.) what is essential in a cult group is that you foster a sense of exclusivity and community, that you have a clear delineation between us and them, the dangerous outsiders and the...

 maybe a hundred years from now, when facebook will have its own porn profiles, and public intellectuals will be UFC fighters, maybe then north korea will be considered the ultimate holiday package for those disillusioned with capitalism-  for bohemians, artists, hipsters, and poets. maybe theres something about being on a screen that sucks out life from humanity, something about media itself- especially when coupled with the liberal vision of individualism and self-promotion. maybe the amish have got it right. praise god, farm your land, drink water from the stream, plant your own vegetables. but of course, you cant think that way. we dont want any luddites - anyone who prevents civiliation from progressing must be burned at the stake-  no. modern medicine, refrigerators, airconditioning, vr headsets- what would we do without those things. no, you cant look back. even the source of your opinions and values, all your old friends that you read in paperback, the roald dahls...

 i was thinking about that movie with michael douglas, 'the game' and a sudden spark of isnpiration hit me... rather than a brief adventure, like in the movie, this toture last a lifetime. imagine if, starting in some indeterminate year of your life, things started gradually going downhill for you and as each week passes your life became afflicted with a series of misfortunate events one worse than the other. you lose your job, your girlfriend leaves, your freinds and family betray you, you cant afford rent,you are forced to borrow money, you cant afford medical bills and your health worsnes. then you get depressed and decide on the fifth anniversary since the troubles began , you cant take it any longer and you want to jump off a building. you jump off, but as you fall to the ground instead of hitting the ground, you feel a a soft billowing safety net uderneath you, catching you. you stand up and see you are surrounded by friends and family, all people who you thought betrayed...

 the pyramids at giza are believed to have taken between ten and sixty years to complete. this immense work was the the result of a change in administration of the pharaoh rulership and a sudden urge to perpetuate the line of kings through some work of noble note. little is known, however of the efforts required to keep the stones clean after they were built. on the assumption that the empire would last for ever, or at least until the end of the decreed last ruler's lifetime, the pyramids were to be maintained at a regular basis, involving a stringent cleaning and rejuvenation program. for this process, a special committee was established by the pharaoh khafre. this committee was composed of qualified engineers, who co ordinated the cleaning projects, and thousands - if not by the end of the civilization: millions in total- of highly trained cleaners, who were responsible for scrubbing to perfection the limestone blocks. the interior passage ways, and tombs were not permitted acces...

 What problems of  proving the moral law are overcome by the  'fact of reason' in the second critique? This essay intends to explain how the 'fact of reason' provides a successful argument in proving the existence of a necessarily binding moral law, and subsequently the necessity in the presupposition of freedom in the will of rational beings as a result of moral law. It will proceed from a problem arising out of of an 'unconditonal law requiring uncondional obedience', and will progress from this notion as a means to analyse the arguments of freedom and the moral law in the groundwork, and more specifically, in the critique of practical reason.   An action, if it is to have moral worth, must be based on a maxim which conforms to the universal law. Therefore, the determining grounds of the will ie. the decision to act; must be brought about by pure practical reason, which excludes all matter of a maxim as being heteronomy of the will. One might state this as ...

 Does Russell's Theory in 'On Denoting' provide' provide a satisfactory answer to the problems posed by empty names? One problem of empty names is that they denote an event, person, or object which can fail to exist. Reference to non-existent persons such as the 'the present Tsar of Russia' or 'the present King of France' or the 'present Prime Minister of the United States'. Each of these examples refer to titles which have existed but at the time of their utterance , do not exist. The clearest example is the statement: 'The present king of France is bald' , which is referring to an non-existent entitiy 'The King of France'. Another example of an empty name is one which shares two identities, such as that Superman = Clark Kent, Mark Twain = Samuel Clemens, The present Queen of England = Elizabeth Windsor. WHen referring to one of these cases however it ought to be that, due to them being one and the same, a listenter ought to unde...

  “ A film is a photograph of a dramatic representation; it is not, because it cannot be, a photographic representation”. The aim of this essay is to discuss two aspects of this claim. Essentially there ar two claims embedded within this statement. The first is that photographic representation is a contradiction. Scruton argues that there can be no such thing as a representation of a sbject in a photograph, but merely ‘ a surrogate’. The implication being that photographs have less artistic merit than other truly representational mediums, such as literature or painting. The second claim is that this argument extends into the realm of cinema in virtue of being a photographic art form, the implication being that cinematic artistic merit falls short of painting on the same grounds. The aim of this essay is to discuss, largely, the first claim and several counter arguments put forward against it by other philosophers, since in my opinion the two claims are dependent. The essay will...