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In daily life we often face situations in which we have to make a decision of what is "right" or "good" to do. Those can be ethical dilemmas, difficult choices of lifelong importance (job, partner, moving to another place, etc.), or just simple judgments of incidents, statements, observations and actions with political, social, cultural or other dimension. Since we are embedded into a network of social and cultural interconnections, we are able to come to conclusions without much sophisticated knowledge but just on the basis of our education, experiences, cultural confinements and other factors that constitute a kind of "common sense". However, in many cases our judgments, conclusions and decisions conflict with those of other people. Then, our viewpoints and the foundations of our reasoning standards are challenged – we have to make clear to ourselves how and why we come to these viewpoints in order to convince "the others" of the correctness and reasonability (or in some cases: superiority) of our arguments. This kind of dispute is the core of all kind of conflicts – political, religious, scientific, in personal relations, etc. – since mankind developed the skills of communication and conscious reflection. History provides uncountable examples of what can go wrong: dogmatism, ideology, superstition, manipulation, physical threats, and many more. For many millennia it wasn't "the most reasonable argument" that always won, but in many cases that argument that was brought up and pushed through by the most powerful (the strongest, the wealthiest, the armed, the educated, the rhetorically most skilled, etc.) instance. Especially organised religions, for example Christianity and Islam, with their highly dogmatic belief systems, but also scientific approaches to understanding the world (examples: Phlogiston theory, geocentric worldview), run the risk of erroneous interpretations of the "world". The consequences of unreasonable world conceptions can be dramatic and catastrophic, leading to injustice, mistreatment and misery (examples: the racism and fascism of the Nazi regime in Germany, the persecution of "witches" in medieval Europe, ideology-based exploitation and suppression of "minorites" around the globe, massive environmental destruction and extinction of species due to human activity).
We might compare the development of mankind and its insights into the world fabric to the process of growing up from a child to an adult. A baby doesn't understand anything, not even itself (or "its self"). A young child that just discovers basic mechanisms of the world (cause-effect-relations, gravity, time, etc.) and human skills (for example language, intentional action) is not capable of scientific and metaphysical understanding of the world. It will believe fairytales and stories when they match with the simple observations it can make. The moon glows at night, so it is reasonable to believe that there is someone on or in it who switches on and off a lamp. On Easter morning there are colourful eggs hidden everywhere in the garden, so of course there is an "Easter Bunny" that came at night and put them there! Also, adults give the child simple orders like "Don't touch the electrical socket!" rather than explain the technical background of high voltage and its effect on the human body. The older the child grows and the more it learns the more we will expect it to "know" and "understand" these things. It will not be satisfied anymore with simple orders, childish explanations or flowery stories. A reasonable teenager will start questioning things, identifying flaws, fallacies or "lies". The process of learning is mostly one of "acquiring knowledge", both technical-factual and normative-orientational. With the ongoing process of maturation more and more "beliefs" and "dogmas" can either be substituted by "knowledge" and "insight" or be put on more sophisticated foundations of knowledge and reason. The latter often requires a refinement or modification of worldview and understanding. We can imagine that insights with strong impact can change a person's attitude towards or opinion about something. The same goes for societies: Ancient civilisations cultivated cruel customs such as cannibalism, slavery, human sacrifice or barbaric methods of capital punishment. They believed in ghosts, gods, super- and para-natural forces (some people still do), or based their explanations and worldviews on "facts" and "knowledge" that – from today's perspective – was simply wrong. Most of these false beliefs and immature practices disappeared or have been abandoned, mostly after periods of philosophical and intellectual insights like the European Enlightenment era leading to Humanism or the establishment of Confucian social structures after the Chinese "Warring States" period.
Is the current state of civilisation ready to be called "mature"? Regardless of the fact that there is not just "one civilisation" on Earth but many different ones with varying degree of maturation, we can state that around the globe the access to sophisticated knowledge and insight is given to a larger extend than ever before. Natural and social sciences as well as Philosophy and Psychology have elaborated profound understanding of worldly and human affairs. The question is: What do we do with that knowledge? I'd like to make a point that is by far not self-understanding for many people and/or societies: The basis for any form of reasoning – be it technical, logical, metaphysical, normative, etc. – should be knowledge. At the same time (and this is my second plea), we (like the rebellious teenager) should always question and doubt everything. Knowledge should inform worldview, but worldview in return should evaluate and analyse knowledge constantly. When the rebellious teenager matures into a young adolescent, he or she will usually become more peaceful by solidifying his or her worldview which is based on the questioned, modified, refined and challenged knowledge. With a little optimism I'd like to state that I see a chance that the mankind of today is capable of throwing old dogmatism, false beliefs, misled and corrupt knowledge aboard and substitute it by knowledge-based insight on the world fabric, mankind's place in it, and the human condition. In the following I'd like to draw a sketch of what that might look like.
Worldviews and ethical theories are most challenged by finding their "deepest" reason, the most fundamental basis that all argumentation is built upon and that – ideally – can be understood and agreed upon by everyone. Constructs that take a belief or a story, legend or claim that can never be proven as the starting point or "ultimate truth" are called "dogmatic", for example religious systems that are built around the faithful belief in a God. It is the standard of philosophical reflection to go deeper than that. Attempts to go back to the very beginning of reasoning and reflecting on the nature of reality are sometimes called "first philosophy", for example skepticism (e.g. Descartes), induction (e.g. Hume), transcendental philosophy (e.g. Kant), and others.[1] There is an intrinsic circular problem that all these first philosophies have to deal with: We want to base a worldview on what we know, but that provokes the question of what we – as human beings – are able to know. This question can only be answered satisfyingly on the basis of a worldview – the one we want to elaborate from what we know. With other words: What the observer (we) wants to observe is the observer itself, more precisely: his ability to observe. Or, as Heinz von Foerster puts it: "What does it need to understand a brain? – A brain!".[2] We need knowledge to draw conclusions on the epistemological question "What are we able to know?", which is ideally fed from ontological insights into the reality of the world. A "one-and-half-cycle" approach is suggested: Based on the very general and fundamental assumptions that are formulated in the ancient Chinese philosophical texts and that we can assume to be more or less secure "knowledge" of the principles and mechanisms of the world, a worldview is drawn that allows conclusion on the "human condition" – the position of mankind in the "world fabric" and, by that, the abilities and limitations of cognition. With an idea of "what human are able to know" the validity of the initial knowledge base is checked and – if necessary – refined. With these more secure insights an extended ontology, the metaphysical foundations of a worldview, can be elaborated. This can serve as a starting point for "applications" such as ethical principles, scientific methodology, human psychology, etc.
The most fundamental phenomenon that we can observe in the world is "change". This can be agreed to even without any scientific knowledge or philosophical preconditions. Nothing remains the same forever. Time and space are spanned up by "change".[3]
In the next step, we have to conclude that there must be a governing principle. Otherwise we would end up either at chaos with all being as a product of randomness and chance, or at the postulation of an organized order under the guidance of a powerful entity creating a deterministic causality. Both are not reasonable to assume: the former because it does not match with our daily life experiences, the latter because it is laden with additional preconditions that are either impossible to prove or a matter of belief (but never of knowledge). Here, we can adopt the concept of Harmony from the Yi-Jing and its further elaborations in Confucianism and Daoism. Harmony must not be mixed up with "sameness". Also, "equilibrium" does not imply "the one perfect state". We can imagine these ideas in the picture of a pendulum: "Equilibrium" means the alteration around the perpendicular. As long as there are causes and effects in the universe, the pendulum will never come to a perpendicular stop. In this sense, harmony describes the tendency to balance out the energies that arise from the interaction of different elements in creative tension. Therefore, it is different from the "immediate harmony" in the Hegelian understanding, and different from the "natural state" symbolised by Adam and Eve in the Bible. This form of harmony is reflective, mediated, and highly relational.[4] In order to make this work, we have to assume a network of conditionality, both in the diachronic and synchronic dimension. The former means, a current state is caused by former states; the latter means, a current state is causally connected to other contemporary states. Additionally, still on save grounds, we can formulate that the ongoing process of oscillating around a point of harmony – disturbance of the equilibrium due to change of the conditions, re-aligning to the new surrounding state, establishment of a new equilibrium that is in harmony with the new state – necessarily leads to emergence, the development of more and more sophisticated and causally interwoven states.
These insights draw this picture of the world (we are now at Box 2: Basic Ontology): In the course of time and space that is made up by the properties and characteristics of Qi (call it "energy"), mankind's appearance following evolutionary processes is embedded into this set of properties. Interaction with the specific environment on Planet Earth equipped the organism "human" with the senses and abilities that are useful and advantageous in this particular surrounding. Therefore, the actual cognitive and mental capability of humans is extremely limited given the complexity and variety of phenomena of the world. The development of brain processes known as "consciousness", allowing volitional action, might be insignificant for the "world fabric", but increases the complexity of human capabilites and human understanding massively. Especially the ability of communication (including self-communication, thinking) and its tool – language – widened the range of human action immensely. However, the idea of the world that is consciously perceived is condemned to remain a confined cut of the actual world. Moreover, it is a construction in the human mind. This leads us closer to the question of what we are able to know. But before we elaborate further on that, let's have a closer look at the characteristics of this worldview that was just described.
We analysed the human condition solely in terms of its natural embedment in its environment, with the universal law of "cause and effect" as its foundation. Obviously, by doing so we follow a naturalistic approach which is the common term for the argumentative elaboration of "values" (like "harmony" or "balance") with the focus on conditionality and cause-effect-relations. Among Philosophers, Naturalism became very popular in recent years. So many contemporary Philosophers claim themselves and other (ancient) Philosophers "naturalists" that it is hard to find a clear definition of what the term means and what it actually implies.[5] It seems safe to claim that Naturalism opposes the supernatural, and in certain understandings also the artificial. But it is the matter of heated debate whether Naturalism has to or needs to stand against "the normative", too. From the Asian perspective, this question would surely be answered in favour of "naturalised normativity": The norms and codes of conduct that are derived from ethical reasoning must be rooted in the nature of the world that mankind is embedded in. Everything else would be an "uprooted", artificial, "thin" man-made concept. It is important to point out (as mentioned above) that it is necessary to be aware of a "separation of tasks" of different stages of reasoning: At this point we are investigating the human condition. Here, naturalistic perspectives like the Asian one are reasonable and appear helpful to address the respective questions. The introduction of "value" in order to elaborate normative statements will be done later when the whole metaphysical worldview is complete and when the perspective is focused specifically on "human affairs" rather than generally on "universal affairs".
At this point, we can already exclude certain paradigms and principles – metaphysical perspectives that are certainly not element of "my philosophy":
- Dogmatism: Ideologies or teachings that are based on "belief" and mystical hypothesis are neither considered for nor concluded from this worldview conception. All it needed so far is a bit of experience and reflection, but no speculation about God(s) or other "creator entities" and no unprovable initial dogma.
- Transcendentalism: According to E.O.Wilson, there is a significant difference between transcendentalists – those who believe that there are moral guidelines outside the human mind – and empiricists – those who think of them as contrivances of the mind.[6] Some philosophers understood the Yi-Jing as proclaiming "intrinsic value in the universe" and, accordingly, interpreted this as "transcendental". The naturalistic "value" of harmony towards which everything is aligning and striving, however, should not be seen as transcendental since from a perspective of morality, it is "neutral" in the sense that it can't tell what is good and right. "Equilibrium" shows "the direction to go", but still the society and its members is obliged to figure out the methods and tools to go that way (the particular morals). Asian morality, especially as suggested by the Yi-Jing, is characterised as contextual prescriptivism, a highly situational ethics that depends on time, space and condition, but is firm in its principles and virtues. There is neither any form of "moral absolutism" nor a commitment to unshakable "cosmic norms" that are valid beyond the framework of human reasoning.
- Human Nature: In the same sense, it is difficult to talk of "human nature" as something intrinsically given. Human traits are, according to Confucianism and Buddhism, manifestations of states with causal origins that change over time. In a more biological sense: The behavioural attitude of human beings (over the evolutionary development course of mankind) adapts flexibly to the environment according to its requirements and beneficial rewards. The attributes of "good" or "evil" are added by human from human perspectives.
The question "What can we know?" (Box 3: Epistemology) is a crucial one in the endeavour of building a worldview upon knowledge. In the West, the two major "classical" positions on this question are empiricism (knowledge as the result of experiences and cognitive perception) and rationalism (knowledge as the result of rational reasoning and mental reflection). From the previous insights we know that both our experiences and our ratio are "flawed" and/or incomplete and, therefore, our knowledge is also construed. This "constructivism" underlies both insight through reason and insight through experience and cognition. Buddhism (but also other Asian schools of thought) propagate an almost radical constructivism in questions of world perception and recognition.[7] In the European tradition, the idea that the mental representation of the world is not a depiction of the (real) outside world but rather a construction of an image inside the observing mind was elaborated comparably late, but is now widely accepted among philosophers and other related scholars.[8] Meanwhile, constructivism pervaded many academic and scientific disciplines, ranging from natural sciences[9] and psychology to sociology[10] and anthropology, especially prominent as "social constructivism"[11]. There is a clear tendency towards naturalism and constructivism going along with each other since both share, in parts, the same basic assumptions.[12] An idea that can be given up at this point is "truth" or, respectively, the possibility of getting anywhere near the "ultimate truth". Therefore, also the attempt to achieve it is given up.
With these insights, is it necessary to revise, change or even discard the initial input of "basic knowledge" (Box 4)? Would we have to admit that the basic ideas of the world are in any way "wrong" or so flawed that they can't serve as a starting point for metaphysical reflection any longer? The understanding that both the "human reality" and the "human options of acquiring knowledge" are best described by constructivism might leave the impression that "all we are able to know is that we know nothing". However, this is a misconception. First, "knowing that our knowledge is highly filtered" and "knowing that what we believe we know can be wrong or corrupt" is not equivalent to "knowing nothing" (the nihilistic or fatalistic viewpoint). Awareness of the constructive character of our worldview and our reflections on metaphysics is important to avoid dogmatism, to increase the chances of both empiricism and rationalism to be "precise" or "correct", and to align the worldview steadily to newly acquired knowledge. Moreover, the most important claim of all metaphysical and, in the following of it, ethical reasoning should be to be done "to the best of the available knowledge, insight, and conscience". There is simply no other chance to base the reflections on "what we know" and "what we are able to know to the best of our abilities". This corresponds to the Daoist idea that all we are able to do (and, therefore, obliged to do) is "getting as close as possible to the "Dao" (the point of total harmony) with our actions and behaviour, admitting that it will never be possible to reach it.[13] Here, too, it is impossible to reach the point of "ultimate truth", but it should be taken as our goal to get as close as possible to it when reflecting on metaphysics.
Initially, it was claimed that the basic principles of the world fabric are:
- Harmony – Cause-effect-mechanisms due to constant heading towards equilibrium states, spanning "time and space"
- Conditionality – No existence without anything else existing, but no "ontological determinism"
- Emergence – Increasing complexity through sophistication processes and development towards more elaborated states, resulting (among others) in consciousness.
Ancient Asian thinkers and intellectuals recognised – and I fully support it – that no phenomenon of the world manifests itself independent from other elements of the world. This can be observed for both material aspects of the world (the interaction of matter from the atomic to the cosmic scale) and abstract entities that occur in the mind of a conscious being. Moreover, even this classification of "material" and "mental" aspects of the world does not imply that they are separated, but regards them as connected as well, e.g. by understanding cognitive and mental processes as of material origin, for example the interplay of biomolecules, or by realising that also the "material world" is just another construction in the mind of the perceiver. Here, my idea of the world stands in sharp contrast to Cartesian dualism.
The initial assumptions are confirmed and supported by modern methods of scientific investigation and observation. Natural sciences created in-depth knowledge and understanding of the matter that the world is made from and how it is kept together. Mankind has access to knowledge about the atomic constitution of the world as well as the cosmic mechanisms of solar systems, galaxies and the universe. This knowledge confirms the important insight that whatever happens in the universe is happening because of a constant heading towards equilibrium states. Two atoms in a molecule oscillate and vibrate around a point of (energetically) "most favourable" distance to each other. In a chemical reaction, a "trigger" (for example an input of energy in form of heat or light) disrupts this balance, forcing the components to find a new "best" state of energy, eventually forming new bonds with other atoms or molecules. Macroscopic processes follow the same mechanism with increasing degree of complexity: Water runs down a mountain in the "energetically most favourable" way according to gravitational forces, friction forces, momentums, etc. Evolutionary processes creating "life" and bringing about consciousness and the ability of self-recognition, reflection and abstract reasoning evolve in a fine-tuned balance with the environment. Even psychological, social and cultural phenomena follow this rule of cause and effect – a trigger causing a disruption of the current equilibrium state, forcing the formation of a new equilibrium according to the new conditions. Reaching states of equilibrium is the fundamental driving force of everything that happens in the world. This can be taken as true independent from human observation and understanding. The examples used here, including "atoms", "molecules", "gravitation", "energy", "evolution", "psychology" or "society", are the current state of human knowledge, have been different 1000 years ago and will be different – maybe refined or discarded and substituted by new, more precise knowledge – in a thousand years from now. The overall principle of cause and effect, however, will most likely never be proven invalid, no matter how incomplete, insufficient, flawed and ignorant our human knowledge of the world turns out to be.
We can elaborate those first insights further. A simple conditionality would have to be understood as deterministic causality, but with the high degree of complexity that is found in the world, we better speak of "complex conditionality networks" pervading the "organic whole" that the world constitutes.[14] First, that allows the influence on "Karma" by volitional actions which is necessary to make sense of the Buddhist goal of enlightenment; and second, with this tenet we circumvent the threat of "nihilism" and "fatalism" that come up with stricter determinism. Emergence within this network of conditionality is "upgraded" to evolution by adding an element of "improvement" or "sophistication" through the growing complexity of "re-harmonising" processes. This evolution – a constant increase in cause-effect-relations within the network – necessarily leads to a high degree of interconnectedness of literally everything with everything. In this dynamic oneness, subject to constant change, nothing is permanent or eternal but everything contains of an intrinsic impermanence.
Another important concept in Western philosophy that must be regarded critically in the context of this (mine? "Asian"?) worldview is teleology – the question whether beings have an intrinsic purpose of existence or not.[15] Aristotle gave the example of an acorn that has the "telos" – the intrinsic purpose – to grow into an oak tree. The response from the perspective presented here would be: The acorn grows into an oak tree because that is its place in the conditionality network, both as "effect" (an oak tree produced an acorn as its way of sustaining the existence of the kind "oak tree") and "cause" (the acorn is supposed to grow into an oak tree because that is its position in the causal chain that was established as an equilibrium to ensure the ongoing existence of the kind "oak tree"). Several scholars interpret this still as a form of teleology,[16] but the difference is an important one: "purpose" is a human concept, whereas thinking of states as result of karmic interconnectedness works out well without adding "humanisation" of processes (or "pathetic fallacy").
Let me come to Box 5 and extend our ontological conception. The sophisticated cause-effect-law suggests that the world can only be understood "in its whole" since everything is connected. This can be best described by a combination of holism and monism (in "Western" terms). Realising that evolutionary processes proceed under the principle of "harmony" (heading towards equilibrium states) puts the human realm (as result of an evolutionary process) into a larger perspective of cosmic relations: We are neither "divine" nor "outstanding", but just another "entity" that is part of the overall balance.
In Western philosophy, "monism" as counterpart of "dualism" often referred to a solely "idealistic" or a solely "materialistic" ontology, claiming that only one of them (respectively) is representing the reality. However, the dualistic separation of mind and matter sphere is still present in this attributive distinction. "Neutral monism" tries to overcome this separation.[17] The monism inherent in Chinese Philosophy can be best described by "dual-aspect monism".[18] The first Buddhist philosopher that systematically pointed out the monistic character of a Buddhist's understanding of the world was Nagarjuna.[19] His concept of "sunyata", usually translated as "emptiness" could be considered as a form of cosmic monism when taken together with holism.
Holism as the counterpart of reductionism has a rather short history in the Western philosophical tradition. The term is coined by J.C. Smuts[20] and has ever since been subject of philosophical debate and dispute.[21] Several understandings of "holism" have been expressed, such as "The whole is more than the sum of its parts." (naïve holism), "An understanding of a complex system is best sought at the level of principles governing the behaviour of the whole system, and not at the level of the structure and behaviour of its component parts." (methodological holism), "Some objects are not wholly composed of basic physical parts." (ontological holism), "Some objects have properties that are not determined by physical properties of their basic physical parts." (property holism). Modern understandings are strongly linked to the growing awareness for the high degree of complexity of the world.[22] Especially in the biological sciences, a reductionist ontology and methodology is more and more replaced by holistic conceptions of complex systems. With the acceptance of a complex conditionality it is, furthermore, possible to circumvent a strict determinism (see above). In Chinese Philosophy, Holistic world conceptions were much more widespread since ancient times. In most of the classical texts (Yijing, Daodejing, etc.), the complexity of the world as an organic whole is paid tribute to by analysing and understanding it in view of its constant processes of change and movement.[23]
The reflections above have revealed insights on the basic characteristics of my philosophical view on the world. The four key elements, so to say the cornerstones of that worldview, are identified to be holism, monism, naturalism, and constructivism. Their combinations result in further important concepts of the world fabric and its mechanisms:
The monistic and holistic world conception almost necessarily leads to a cosmocentric position in questions of ethical accountability and evaluation.[24] With a naturalistic approach to a holistic interpretation of the world fabric, credit is given to a complex conditionality as driving mechanism of all being and happening. The interconnected oneness of all being within the framework of Nature should be read with atheistic or agnostic accounts: It does not support the existence of a divine entity like the God of the Abrahamic tradition. The religious idea of monism becomes obsolete in a naturalistic fashion. The acceptance of a constructive character of human perception of the world adds further specific implications. In the ongoing debate between realists and antirealists, the ontology developed here can be grouped around the middle, comparable to pragmatism (in the Deweyan and Rortyan understanding)[25] or the "Natural Ontological Attitude" introduced by Arthur Fine.[26] To illustrate Buddhism's nearness to Fine's ontology, compare the Buddhist ideal approach of "seeing things as they are" to Fine's statement "The attitude that marks [my naturalism] is just this: try to take science on its own terms, and try not to read things into science".[27] Understanding both as approaches to "know reality" (Buddhism in a wider sense, Fine with means of science), they share the pragmatic and constructivist notion of being constantly aware of the pitfalls of human perception and cognition. Moreover, modern forms of "Engaged Buddhism" – the layman practice of actively supporting peace and the cessation of suffering – are based on a pragmatism that is characteristic for Buddhist practice in all its schools.[28] Constructive Realism, a model of knowledge- and language-based reality-understanding that I support (I will explain later), makes even more sense when embedded into a monistic interpretation of the world. The alternatives – ontological idealism or materialism, or epistemological rationalism or empiricism – are all dualistic and don't fit into this scheme that emphasises monism. The "no-substance ontology"[29] that is prevalent in Asian Philosophy, especially in Buddhism, finds its foundation in the constructivist paradigm within a holistic worldview. That is so because a holistic world conception – of everything being holons that are parts of larger holons – within a constructivist paradigm (we can always only grasp parts of holons, e.g. certain properties and features) identifies "substance" almost inevitably as an illusion, whereas reductionism would conclude "substance".
As pointed out earlier, I believe that my worldview shows significant parallels and similarities to what we can call "Asian worldview" which is fed mostly from the two directions of "Dao" (as in the Yi-Jing, in Confucianism, and in Daoism) and Buddhism. However, my focus is on Buddhism since its metaphysical foundations are further and deeper elaborated. This is perfectly reflected in the analogy between Buddha's teachings and the cornerstone overview. Each link can be understood in terms of one or more of his key concepts:
Emptiness can be readily understood as the consequence of a monistic and holistic worldview.[30] Same as a cosmocentric framework for ethical reasoning, it propagates that there is no "intrinsic values" in parts of the world (for example, "human" or "mankind"), but only in "the world itself". Complex conditionality leads to the concept of Karma, additionally reflecting the idea of "harmony" (for example, in the understanding of "dao"). A key factor is the complexity that allows the emergence of "consciousness" so that volitional action, and by that the influence on retributive karmic relations, becomes possible. In an interconnected world of natural entities, the practice of morality is expressed through "the middle way" and, for human beings, in compassion (rather than in following divine laws), while the source for it must be sought in proper (or "right") understanding of the world. Moreover, the karmic interconnectedness leads to compassion (or better: the understanding that it is "right" to show compassion for all being), while the "Middle Way" is the active practice of supporting the establishment of balance and harmony. The case of constructivism is important for the Buddhist "Theory of mind": The idea of accepting the constructive character of our world perception, resulting in the plea for practicing mindfulness and awareness in order to "align the construction as close as possible to the actual reality", is another way to describe the goal of Enlightenment. The formulation of "microworlds" and "lifeworld" in constructive realism corresponds to the "Theory of Two Truths" in Indian Buddhism.[31] Ultimately, the central element of Buddhist metaphysics, the links of interdependent co-arising, are best mirrored in view of a combination of holism (everything is karmically connected and impermanent) and constructivism (ignorance, delusion, attachment, cognition as "contact" between sense and sense-object, etc.).
The following overview summarises the collected reflections of this letter by setting all important characteristics of this worldview into perspective using "western" terminology.
- For an overview: Ritchie J, "Understanding Naturalism", Acumen Pub., Stocksfield, UK, 2008, chapter 1
- von Foerster H, Pörksen B, "Wahrheit ist die Erfindung eines Lügners. Gespräche für Skeptiker. (Truth is the invention of a liar. Conversations for skeptics.)", Carl-Auer-Systeme, Heidelberg, Germany, 1998
- On the philosophical implications of "change": Mortensen C, "Change and Inconsistency", in "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy" (ed. EN Zalta), Fall Edition 2015
- Li CY, "The Philosophy of Harmony in Classical Confucianism", Philosophy Compass 2008, 3/3, pp.423
- For an overview: a) Bashour B, Muller HD (eds.), "Contemporary Philosophical Naturalism and its Implications", Routledge, Abingdon, UK, 2014; b) Braddon-Mitchell D, Nola R (eds.), "Conceptual Analysis and Philosophical Naturalism", MIT Press, Cambridge, USA, 2009; c) De Caro M, Macarthur D (eds.), "Naturalism and Normativity", Columbia Univ. Press, Chichester, UK, 2010; d) Fischer E, Collins J (eds.), "Experimental Philosophy, Rationalism, and Naturalism. Rethinking Philosophical Method", Routledge, Abingdon, UK, 2015; e) Flanagan O, "Varieties of Naturalism", in "The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science" (ed. P Clayton), Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 2008; f) Galparsoro JI, Cordero A (eds.), "Reflections on Naturalism", Sense Pub. Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2013; g) Gasser G (ed.), "How Successful is Naturalism?", Ontos Verlag, Heusenstamm, Germany, 2007; h) Milkowski M, Talmont-Kaminski K (eds.), "Beyond Description: Naturalism and Normativity", College Pub., London, UK, 2010; i) Nuccetelli S, Seay G (eds.), "Ethical Naturalism. Current Debates.", Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, 2012; j) Olafson FA, "Naturalism and the Human Condition. Against Scientism.", Routledge, London, UK, 2001; k) Price H, "Naturalism without Mirrors", Oxford Univ. Press, New York, USA, 2011; l) Ritchie J, "Understanding Naturalism", Acumen Pub., Stocksfield, UK, 2008; m) Walsh DM (ed.), "Naturalism, Evolution and Mind", Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, 2001
- Wilson EO, "Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge", Chapter 11: Ethics and Religion, pp. 260, Vintage Books (Random House Pub.), New York, USA, 1999
- Vogd W, "Constructivism in Buddhism", in "Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions" (eds. Runehov ALC, Oviedo L), Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 2013
- a) Lenman J, Shemmer Y (eds.), "Constructivism in Practical Philosophy", Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, UK, 2012; b) Pörksen B (ed.), "Schlüsselwerke des Konstruktivismus (Key works of Constructivism)", 2nd ed., Springer VS, Wiesbaden, Germany, 2015 (in German); c) Bagnoli C, "Constructivism in Metaethics", in "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy" (ed. EN Zalta), Fall Edition 2016
- Golinski J, "Making Natural Knowledge. Constructivism and the History of Science", Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, 1998
- Onuf NG, "Making Sense, Making Worlds. Constructivism in social theory and international relations", Routledge, Abingdon, UK, 2013
- a) Berger PL, Luckmann T, "The Social Construction of Reality", Anchor Books, New York, USA, 1966, b) Kukla A, "Social Constructivism and the Philosophy of Science", Routledge, London, UK, 2000; c) Wilson DS, "Evolutionary Social Constructivism", in "The Literary Animal. Evolution and the Nature of Narrative" (eds. J Gottschall, DS Wilson), pp.20, Northwestern Univ. Press, Evanston, USA, 2005
- Mallon R, "Naturalistic Approaches to Social Construction", in "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy" (ed. EN Zalta), Winter Edition 2014, available from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/social-construction-naturalistic/ (accessed July 24th 2016)
- Moeller HG, "The Philosophy of the Daodejing", Columbia Univ. Press, New York, USA, 2006
- a) Gershenson C, Aerts D, Edmonds B (eds.), "Worldviews, Science and Us: Philosophy and Complexity", World Scientific Pub., Singapore, 2007; b) Gregersen NH, "Complexity", in "Encyclopedia of Science and Religion" (ed. JWV van Huyssteen), Macmillan, New York, USA, 2003
- Bronkhorst J, "Karma and Teleology. A Problem and its solutions in Indian Philosophy", Studia Philologica Monograph series, Tokyo, Japan, 2000
- for example: Full G, "Education in Buddhism", in "Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions" (eds. Runehov ALC, Oviedo L), Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 2013
- Overview: Weir TH (ed.), " Science, Philosophy, Religion, and the History of a Worldview", Palgrave MacMillan, New York, USA, 2012
- Vimal RLP, "Buddhism and Dual-Aspect Monism", available from https://www.academia.edu/4183378/Buddhism_and_Dual-Aspect_Monism, 2013
- a) Fatone V, "The Philosophy of Nagarjuna", Motilal Banarsidass Pub., Delhi, India, 1991; b) Burton D, "Emptiness Appraised. A Critical Study of Nagarjuna's Philosophy", Motilal Banarsidass Pub., Delhi, India, 1999; c) Tuck AP, "Comparative Philosophy and the Philosophy of Scholarship. On the Western Interpretation of Nagarjuna", Oxford Univ. Press, New York, USA, 1990; d) Westerhoff J, "Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka. A Philosophical Introduction", Oxford Univ. Press, New York, USA, 2009
- Smuts JC, "Holism and Evolution", Macmillan, London, UK, 1926
- Procacci S, "Holism: Some Historical Aspect", in "Determinism, Holism, and Complexity" (eds. V Benci, P Cerrai, P Freguglia, G Israel, C Pellegrini), Kluwer Academic, New York, USA, 2003
- a) Edmonds B, "Pragmatic Holism (or Pragmatic Reductionism)", Foundations of Science 1999, 4, pp.57; b) Esfeld M, "Holism in Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of Physics", Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 2001; c) Esfeld M, "Physicalism and Ontological Holism", Metaphilosophy 1999, 30(4), pp.319; d) Pigliucci M, "Between holism and reductionism: a philosophical primer on emergence", Biol. J. of Linnean Soc. 2013, 112(2), pp.242; e) White M, "A Philosophy of Culture: The Scope of Holistic Pragmatism", Princeton Univ. Press, Princeton, USA, 2002
- Tonietti TM, "Towards a History of Complexity. A Comparison between Europe and China", in "Determinism, Holism, and Complexity" (eds. V Benci, P Cerrai, P Freguglia, G Israel, C Pellegrini), Kluwer Academic, New York, USA, 2003
- McShane K, "Individualist Biocentrism vs. Holism Revisited", The Ethics Forum 2014, 9(2), pp.130
- a) Hookway C, "Pragmatism", in "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy" (ed. EN Zalta), Summer Edition 2016, available from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pragmatism/ (accessed July 24th 2016); b) Dewey J, "The quest for certainty", in "John Dewey: The later works (Vol. 4)" (ed. JA Boydston), Illinois Univ. Press, Carbondale/Edwardsville, USA, 1984/1929; c) Pihlström S, "Neopragmatism", in "Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions" (eds. Runehov ALC, Oviedo L), Springer, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 2013
- a) Fine A, "The Natural Ontological Attitude", in "Scientific Realism" (ed. J Leplin), University of California Press, Berkeley, USA, 1984; b) Fine A, "And Not Antirealism Either", Nous 18, p.51-65, 1984
- Fine A, "The Shaky Game: Einstein Realism and the Quantum Theory", Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, USA, 1996
- Adorjan MC, Kelly BW, "Pragmatism and 'Engaged' Buddhism. Working toward peace and a Philosophy of action", J. Sociol. Self-Knowl. 2008, 6(3), pp.37
- Bhatt SR, Mehrotra A, "Buddhist Epistemology", Greenwood Press, London, UK, 2000
- Gyeltsen GT, "Mirror of Wisdom. Teachings on Emptiness", Thubten Dhargye Ling Pub., Long Beach, USA, 2000
- Thakchoe S, "The Theory of Two Truths in India", in "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy" (ed. EN Zalta), Summer Edition 2011, available from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/twotruths-india/, accessed 11.4.2016


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The Ultimate Guide to Options
Facts About Eye Doctors
Your eye sight is important hence when there is a problem with it, you need to be able to get the best treatment. Since they are related, eye doctor and eye exams cannot be separated. This is simply because the doctors that provides treatment for the eye is the same doctor that examines your eyes. It is critical for you to be able to locate the best doctor that will give you the correct examination. Accurate examination will allow you to be able to get the correct treatment for your eyes. Given that is can find the cause of the trouble and thus can be easily treated.
The high quality eye doctor has been well trained and also has a certification. A certified doctor is allowed to work in any area. This is because they have been able to achieve the standards set by the associations which control their activities. For a doctor to be certified, it means that they have been trained well in the area. The standards are understood by doctors that are educated properly. When you are in search of a doctor to help you with your eye condition, they should be able to provide you with examinations. The exams they perform on your eyes should follow the set standards.
The quality eye doctors will prescribe the correct glasses when you need them. Given that it is their role to direct you to the right places to get glasses. They need to give you the best solution. giving you the glasses which can correct your vision is among their roles. Since they are mostly medical doctors, they need to be able to provide you with alternative prescriptions for your problems. When you have an eye problem that needs surgery, they will direct you to the best place for the surgery. Usually, they direct you to the best places for surgery when they are not able to perform it.
It is a requirement for you to find an experienced doctor irrespective to the cost they charge. Eye examination should be detailed. Doctors that are experienced are able to perform a detailed eye exam. They have the skills required since they have been working on eye examinations for a long while in the industry. Do not avoid getting their services because of their price. Getting your eyesight checked is critical. For examinations to be performed on your eyes, it is possible that you can find eye doctors when you visit hospitals. You can also find them given that you have the best referrals from other practitioners in the field. You need also to look at the reputation of the hospitals and the equipments available.
Reference: Discovering The Truth About Health

subset: commoncrawl


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Released: 17 January 2017
A Merciful Death is the first book in the Mercy Kilpatrick series. I really enjoyed the Bone Secrets series so I was looking forward to this book.
It wasn't quite what I expected. The romance aspect was very minimal so I'm not sure I would call this a romantic suspense book but more of a mystery. I really enjoyed the prepper backdrop for this book. It was very interesting and gave me a lot of insight into the lifestyle.
Mercy was a character that was a bit hard to connect to. Although I liked her she didn't let anyone in and therefore it was difficult to get to know her as a reader. She kept a lot of secrets and because her background was involved in the mystery the details were slow to be revealed. Mercy was a very closed off character even when she was with her estranged siblings and never really opened up throughout the book. Truman on the other hand was a character that I really enjoyed. His background was laid out and the reader knew exactly where he was coming from and I enjoyed seeing his respect and feeling for Mercy grow.
Their were aspects of the suspense story that I really enjoyed. While I had a good guess of who the villain was there were plenty of other suspects and I was kept guessing until the end. However, the investigation portion was slow and was almost exclusively interviews. I would have liked more romance from this book and to get to know more about Mercy.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and as long as you aren't looking for a book with a strong romance aspect then this murder/mystery is worth reading. I personally enjoyed her Bone Secrets Series more but I enjoyed this one enough that I will read the next book in the series. I give this book 3 Charms.


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Thursday, August 20, 2009
Country Morning
This was a quick card I made using the Country Morning Level I Hostess set from Stampin' Up. It is a really cute set. The paper is retired though. I used Riding Hood Red cardstock and a scrap of Bella Rose Designer Paper. The chicken wire background stamp is also retired! Stampin' Club and Stamp A Stack this week end is calling for my attention but I just wanted to create something! As usual comments (and suggestions) are WELCOME! Until next time! Happy Stampin' & Scrappin'
Posted by Nancy Dawson at 3:00 PM
Labels: Note Cards, Stampin' Up
2 comments:
- Pam said...
I like that a lot, Nancy! Nice job!
- August 20, 2009 at 5:22 PM
- Leonie Schroder said...
great card - a very country feel to it. well done!
- September 12, 2009 at 9:44 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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Some DNS problems with Ariejan.net
This is just a quick note to let you know there are currently some issues with DNS for Ariejan.net. This basically means that Trac and SVN are currently not available. I've made the appropriate changes and things should be working again in a few hours.
I'm very sorry for the inconvenience.
Update: It appears that things are working again. If you have any issues with Trac, please let me know.
Continue reading...
Want to keep reading and learn more? I've got you
covered with a hand picked selection of awesome books.


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Midnight Run
The phone rang just as I was going to bed.
This phone call had a number I knew all too well, even without the caller ID showing the name… K1 Remote Operations. A this time of night it would be a problem, a serious problem. This particular problem would have me on the road back to the summit an hour later.
Midnight runs to the summit are not common, but they do occur in my life. Usually we can work remotely, the night attendant serving as our remote eyes and hands. Just press the right button, flip the correct switch, done. Not this time. We tried, for over an hour we tried.
I really did not want to head back up. I had just gotten down a few hours ago, having spent the day on the summit working on the usual long list of things that need to get done. Days on the summit, in the thin air of nearly 14,000ft elevation are physically draining.
The irony of this malfunction is that I had seen it before. The dome had tripped out inexplicably on previous occasions. The problem would occur then disappear. Once it vanished you could not troubleshoot it. Unlike most of our other systems there are no logs from the shutter drive, nothing records what was going wrong.
The Friday before this it had happened to me again. But this time was different, I had a maintenance computer attached to the PLC serial port. This time I saw the error, something in the code labeled speed mismatch. No idea what this was, or how it worked. Again the error disappeared, and I could not troubleshoot further as the weather was getting worse. No opening the shutters again.
Puna Glow
Puna is glowing.
Not a good glow when you consider that glow is from a raging river of lava between fissure 8 and the sea at Kapoho. Still it can be pretty under the rising Milky Way. I stayed late at work and took a few photos on the way down the mauna. Click on the image for full scale goodness…
4K Screen Backgrounds
I was just re-editing one of my photos for use as a background. In my life complicated by multiple computers, many of which are virtual, I use unique screen backgrounds to remind myself which computer I am on.
Hmmm? Maybe I should share a few.
These are sized for the newer 4K monitors at 3840 x 2160, which is the usual 16:9 aspect ratio now used for most monitors. The images should display well on full HD monitors as well. You can use these for personal use only, no commercial use or re-posting to other services!
Use the 'full size' link under the image to download it.
Lava Fountain
New Moon
New Moon will occur today at 09:43HST.
Helicopter Ride
The Wai'ōpae Tide Pools
One of the most beautiful places on the island is gone.
The Wai'ōpae Tide Pools were a place where anyone could see the wonders of a coral reef. The calm and protected pools full of fish and lush coral. You could see damselfish hovering over a coral head or watch small barracuda hunt just under the surface.
And they were popular, on any given day a couple dozen locals and tourists could be seen exploring the pools. You could swim across one or two, then have to climb across a few feet of old pahoehoe lava to drop into the next. The more adventurous were rewarded with even richer coral in the outermost pools where the ocean waves created more challenging swimming conditions.


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