Immortal Curiosity

Section 1 – Transformation of the Cosmos

Tarnas begins with a sweeping and inspiring overview of the widespread impact of the Copernican Revolution. He focuses on the various philosophical and psychological shifts it implied in the minds of those who accepted it, and that must have been in place in the academic world at large for such a conception to have arisen and eventually gain acceptance. A particular lucid summary of the broadest strokes of this change comes within the second chapter (pg. 9):

For the Coperican hypothesis to be made reasonable, an entirely new conception of “reason” itself had to be forged: new ways of deciding what counts as truth, new ways of recognizing patterns, new forms of evidence, new categories of interpretation, a new understanding of causality. [...] The nature of the Copernican revolution was so fundamental that what had to be rethought was not only all the conventional scientific theories but the entire established hierarchy of humanity’s place in the universal scheme of things: its relation to the rest of nature and to the cosmos, its relation to the divine, the basis for its morality, its capacity for certain knowledge, its historical self-understanding.  Read more... (1086 words, estimated 4:21 mins reading time)

Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge is an inviting, informative work on several topics, primarily attempting to present what Wilson terms the “consilient world view”. He reviews a number of human investigations and endeavours, presenting how they variously show evidence for the effectiveness of consilience or have failed to utilize it, to their benefit or detriment, respectively. In addition, he present proposals for the inclusion of consilience in studies that have entirely or mostly neglected it, taking into account their current milieu.

One issue that became moderately annoying in this text is Wilson’s tendency to provide an overabundance of detail, leading to discussions within particular fields that I feel could have been entirely left out or summarized to the text’s benefit. In the end, while it does not feel overly taxing and is not that long of a work when one takes its subject into account, it could have had a much more unified and focused approach.

Assorted quotations and notes:  Read more... (721 words, estimated 2:53 mins reading time)

• Chapter 2-
  • After describing the development of the Enlightenment thinkers, he continues by claiming that their propositions and assumptions are borne out well and that they are not to be blamed for the fragmentary state of philosophy thereafter.

Originally written in February 2006. Taken from an older blog I do not keep up anymore, I am moving this here to be listed with my other philosophical writings. My thoughts on the topic may currently differ from when it was written, but I find it interesting nonetheless.

That natural biological evolution is progressive and goal-oriented, with man as its pinnacle, has been a common and influential notion. From ancient and learned sources such as Plotinus, to the widely recognized and copied illustration “March of Progress” by Rudolph Zallinger, the idea can be seen in scholarly literature and also in more quotidian descriptions of evolution and human development. Even up to the time of Darwin and up to the Modern Synthesis, the idea of there being a telos, or goal, of evolution was not uncommon. As biological explanations became more distant from theological sources, however, the idea of telos and of goals existing in the activity of nature began to wane.  Read more... (1197 words, estimated 4:47 mins reading time)

Originally written in February 2006. Taken from an older blog I do not keep up anymore, I am moving this here to be listed with my other philosophical writings. My thoughts on the topic may currently differ from when it was written, but I find it interesting nonetheless.

New methods of expression and dissemination of information that have emerged in the recent times that allow his nature as a force of improving the efficiency of his own development to more easily seen. Since intellection and expression of abstract ideas developed in man, this potential existed. From the articulations of philosophers and other thinkers in earlier periods of civilization, e.g. in Ancient Greece, it appears that, in many cases, humanity viewed the universe as something eternal. As soon as the idea of an origin arises, however, the idea that all things might have had a beginning, the idea becomes captivating. It is almost as if man had to develop the idea, and it took on its own internal force.  Read more... (539 words, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

Originally written in January 2006. Taken from an older blog I do not keep up anymore, I am moving this here to be listed with my other philosophical writings. My thoughts on the topic may currently differ from when it was written, but I find it interesting nonetheless.

It is very interesting to consider the quality of volume that ideas often seem to possess in one’s mind. While this may sound like a rather inchoate notion, I do mean something very definite by it, but I do not yet have a word to express it precisely. I shall give an example instead. Consider a university or any intellectual institution. When I consider such a thing, it seems to occupy a particular region of some sort of space in my mind. The region corresponds, in some way, to the physical locality of the institution, i.e the region the idea comprises relates to the region representing my self within the totality of my mindspace as my physical person relates to the physical location of the institution. But when I consider more deeply the institution qua intellectual, what was once a volume seems to resolve into points, viz. people and even ideas, the latter melting into some sort of locationless nothing, and the former shrinking to moving points. This seems to be a very subconscious notion, but it is one that I think is socially common. It would be worth considering how our minds connect physical locality with ideas, and more generally how intellectual structure has a spatial element. Perhaps it is merely a matter of association through habit that I connect certain physical locations with certain ideas, but it nevertheless occurs, and has an impact on my method of thought.  Read more... (722 words, estimated 2:53 mins reading time)