Philosophical Speculations

Bernardo says in part 2 of More Than Allegory that there is no such thing as objective space or time Space and time do not have sense data. Neither color, smell, taste, sound or feel. So they cannot be objects and therefore cannot in any case be objective. All objects that can be considered to be a...

The following is a mind-blowing essay by Owen Barfield. You will not regret reading it. It explores the evolution of consciousness through the corresponding evolution of language and the central historical event of Christ. Philology and the Incarnation by Owen Barfield [/b] Sir Thomas Browne, that m...

And you agree that 'important emotions' are qualitative experiences (qualia), right? If I imagine a tiger, I will not have the same "emotions" as if I have the impression of a tiger. The second one will ignite an array of emotions, the first one won't. That is why I am working from a conn...

That will clearly require more discussion if you disagree that they are polarities rather than mutually exclusive opposites. They can be pointers to ontic realities, or pointers to relative realities (such as archetypes) or pointers simply pointing to some collectively shared mind-created meanings....

It's a common misconception to associate the "state of non-self" with the absence of thoughts or phenomenal experiences, they actually have nothing to do with each other, except that some people arrive at the experience of non-self through the suspension of thinking in deep meditation (si...

Barfield explores the phenomenon of modern mental illness, such as Schizophrenia, and how it reveals a fundamental alienation of the 'self' from the surrounding world and from the true Self in all of human society, with the Schizophrenics being the ones who are most aware of the alienation. Moderns...

Ashvin ... as it turns out I did watch that episode, and found it very relatable. And strangely enough Brett bears a striking resemblance to a guy who lived in the same rooming house I ended up living in shortly after getting off that Vancouver bound train, who was a few year older than I at the ti...

In regard to the question of telos/meaning of life, there seems to exist these two opposite extremes that I sketched below. Apart from the metaphysical side, there is definitely a strong psychological aspect of this problem due to humans deep psychological need of and yearning for the meaning of li...

The experience of the concept also possesses qualia, including feelings. I would disagree. Sense data (qualia?) organised in a perception, in my opinion, ignites concepts in a cognition. Certain combinations of sense data will ignite certain concepts. Feelings on the other hands are ignited from th...

Living creatures can show outward expressions of inner feelings. Anyone that has owned a dog knows that they can exhibit anger, fear, curiosity, jealousy, happiness and various other emotions. How do they learn to have and exhibit those states of mind? Is it dog intuition? Most likely they have a f...