Catagories of philosophy and religion

I've noticed (and had my observation confirmed by many others now) that philosophies fall in to two main catagories: personal and universal. The personal philosophy is all about the human experience and deals with humans in the abstract but is intimately tied to humans. We'll come back to this one. The other type is (what I'll call) universal meaning it tries to tell us about the real universe (what is still true when we are dead or before we are born). Universal philosophy seems to fall into three subcategories: naturalistic philosophy, theology type and abstract.

Naturalistic is grounded in science and materialism and deals with the ethics and repercussions of science and technology (like chimera research). It seeks to guide and refute or reinforce the conclusions science has made. A truly interesting and useful field.

Theology type is not grounded in materialism and takes a starting assumption that is chosen for tradition or interest. The most common is plain theology which is simply the philosophy of materialism minus anything that contradicts the starting assumption of "there is a god" or "there is such thing as absolute good" etc... While sometimes this can be fun to do (for instance assume the Marvel universe is real and ponder the superhero registration act as in the Marvel Civil War) ultimately it is an acedemic endeavor since it is fantasy. Basing an entire philosophy or world view on an indiscriminate starting assumption is just silly (it is unfortunate many people realize this in the Marvel example but not the god example.

Lastly there is abstract philosophy. This is philosophy for the sake of philosophy and ponders such questions such as what is justice or purpose. Practitioners construct definitions of objects and try and make logical relations between them. If that sounds like something else you are correct: mathematics. In fact it is nothing but mathematics except it uses a very inefficient mode of communication. Structures in abstract philosophy must be isomorphic (the same) to mathematical structures to be logical. So while this may provide an interesting way of understanding group theory or something else it cannot show anything new about the universe. Sometime people confuse this structure and try and talk about justice or purpose in the real of abstract philosophy (at least in discussions I've had). This is a terrible mistake since these words bear no definition outside of personal philosophy.

Religion is nothing more than a theology type philosophy which it too bad since natural philosophy has made the world so much better, theology type practitioners seem bent on blowing it up.

In terms of personal philosophy's I would say this is where religion must go. Religion must say it does not talk about physical truth but personal truth such as love thy neighbor or giving is a great joy (I know these don't stem from religion they stem from biology, but it's something they can still use). I'm sure they exist, although I've not met any so I'll call it philisophical religion. The idea is the same as the Simpsons episode were Lisa discovers Jeremiah Springfield was a fraud. She realize it is the message that is important, no the messenger. We have a saying don't shoot the messenger but perhaps we need one that says "don't deify the messenger." This type of philosophical religion (were god is equatable to an imaginary friend) has the added advantage that people will need to think for themselves since they have to interpret the"holy books" as (they were meant) allegorically. Any other type of religion is contrary to natural philosophy, dangerous and constantly on the defensive since it won't be able to defend it's ridiculous claims against rational thought.

Reading between the lines

It was revealed last week that while Newt Gingrich was leading the charge to have Clinton impeached he had an extramarital affair. Why do I bring this up, because for one thing he admitted to it (everyone thinks it is because he may make a run for the republican nomination) and look at him. Do you think someone would voluntarily sleep with him? It seems to me it must have been with a prostitute.

It is also interesting that these moral "warriors" are just hypocrites. Look and affair is between the adults who participate and no one else's business but when you go around preaching you're morally superior it becomes a public issue.

Electrical brain signal's challenged

A group of physicists is claiming that neurons transfer sound waves (solitons) to be specific and not electrical impulses. This would be really neat since the conditions for a soliton to propagate are very sensitive and so it may be able to disrupt brain activity by targeting the conditions of the cell. I would think this is quite a finding since current explanation is very different. I guess that would mean that the fields we use to interact with the brain don't interact with the signal but its medium.

Tax reform

If you've spent some time with me discussing Canadian politics, tax reform has come up. This is obviously a terrible interesting subject to most (:-), but is very important. So when the mayors started the One Cent Now campaign I was overjoyed! I don't think it is enough and still think a portion of the income tax should come to cities would also be nice it has stirred debate and that's really what matters. There is also talk about stopping the downloading of services from the provincial government. I'd prefer having the GTA become a province and take over all the services and get the income tax. But either way this should start something historic in Canada, a change from an arguarian tax structure to a urban one. Twenty years to late, but better late than never!

Mr Diety

This is really worth watching (or listening to). It is really funny and witty. Let me know what you think!

Superman Vs Jesus

Both had their fathers send them to earth. Both were given superhuman abilities. The problem is Superman is completely selfless as compared to Jesus. Jesus heals some people who he comes across. Superman actively goes out and helps everyone he can. Jesus constantly tries to make people worship him and his dad, where as Superman specifically does not want praise and even avoids it. If I'm going to look up to a fictional character I think I'll pick Superman.

Obama vs Clinton

The problem I see about this is all everyone talks about is black this and woman that... I have no idea what the chief policy differences are except Iraq, and there isn't much on that either. Then again it is soo in advance since the election is a year and a half away who needs policy. Personally I don't like either since they constantly talk the religion crap way too much.

UK brainwashing

I have been watching Red Dwarf and The office (UK) in my spare time over the last few months and listening to The Naked Scientists' podcast all have one thing in common: a lot of talk about curry dishes. This has brained washed me to start desiring curry a lot more and I have been making an average of 2-3 curry meals a week. I guess this is one of the few areas where I am highly suggestible. I love spicy food and the curry is such a nice constant spice. I also love sushi with the Wahhabi, but I can't afford that often and I'm too lazy to make it. I still have to try a vindaloos and a tandoori.

Does anyone know of any other famous spicy foods? (I already eat a lot of Mexican food).