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 Posted: Fri Nov 24, 2006 4:48 pm
Recently I've found myself trying to use mathematics to explain love and/or morals to myself. Most often the transitive property. I'll literally sit there talking to myself like it's a debate.
"Brittany said she's an abomination for being gay and will go to hell. But she said I will not go to hell for being gay. If Brittany is gay and Jhesy is gay, then Brittany=Jhesy. If Jhesy =/ hell, then Brittany =/ hell."
Does anybody do this or are the funny looks I'm getting justified?
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Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2006 1:35 pm
No, no, I think you're totally in the right here. If more people were to use their brains and just think things through more, I'm pretty sure we'd all have a lot less problems.
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Posted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 5:44 pm
I used to try using logic to explain everything to myself, but the problem with logic is that it doesn't take well to contradictions... I often wind up with a paradox without solution, or a situation where I choose to ignore one conclusion in favour of another that may be equally valid or invalid.
I think it's wise to keep in mind that the universe is not clean-cut into dichotomies, categories, hierarchies, and other logical structures. There comes a time when logic becomes incapable of explaining something not because of a flawed premise, but because there's a misunderstanding or misconception in the background of "known" variables and solutions that led you down the wrong path before you even started.
Simply accepting an arbitrary possibility--I randomly come up with many arbitrary possibilities as I think--as the truth, and working from there, can reveal all sorts of alternatives.
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Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 2:08 pm
I do find myself sometimes trying to push logic where it doesn't belong, or push my comprehension beyond it's limits. Like, I'll go through phases where I'll try to fit the entire universe in my head, or I'll try to shrink my span of thought to the size of half a proton, and it doesn't work. Those are times where I have to stop myself (For fear of making myself physically ill) and admit there are some things I just can't grasp in this life.
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Posted: Mon Nov 27, 2006 2:54 pm
Extreme feats of concentration, such as attempting to simulate every detail of a situation down to an atomic level, or following a single line of thought without allowing anything else to interfere, are well beyond me.
It's much easier to use general rules to evaluate general cases. In reality, though, very few cases fit the general case you might conceive. As per chaos theory, even extremely insignificant changes in a system's starting condition can result in catastrophic changes to the system's evolution and outcome. Since the general case isn't accurate, the applicability of general rules (that are designed to work with general cases) to specific problems is also questionable.
With regard to logic, I'm satisfied with multiple sets of general rules that are each close enough to being applicable to my specific problems that I can alternate between them or even break free entirely to improvise as the conditions evolve.
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Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 6:07 pm
.: I think if people started using more of this logic and common sense, the world would be a better place in some respects :.
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Posted: Sat Dec 16, 2006 10:56 pm
I assume that means that you feel that the world would be a worse (or the same) place in other respects? Do explain.
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Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:36 am
!GreenEnigma! .: I think if people started using more of this logic and common sense, the world would be a better place in some respects :. Ugh. The problem with that is common sense is extremely subjective to not only your environment, but also a person's own experience. Also, logic is a tad more complicated than one might think. Most people can't even begin to understand some of the more intricate rules and argument formulas/fallacies. Most of it is pretty simple, but splicing together forms and building tables can easily get very confusing. Logic to most people is synonymous to common sense, saying that "Boiling water to kill germs is just the logical thing to do" without actually putting it into argument form with the proper logical operators. Of course, all I'm saying here is just a really fancy and over explained version of "I disagree, because the world would not necessarily be a better place."
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Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 4:44 pm
The thing about common sense is that it's not all that common, and there in lies the pproblem. People are more prone into acting on their feelings because they are in the here and now, while thinking about something will just take longer and does not have exciting results. But than again, people should think more about their actions, so that at least some things would be better in the world.
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Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:10 pm
Kabol: Personally, I think that real logic, not just common sense, would benefit everyone in the world, and thus make the world a better place. It would do well if everyone in the world took and passed at least one college level rhetoric class.
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 9:49 pm
Well, unfortunately, people live for today's satisfaction, and not tomorrow's happiness. This results from reckless, unchecked emotions. I think that logic is fine and well, if combined with a healthy amount of pure emotion. There has to be emotion behind the logic, or else the logic seems detached and heartless.
Or maybe this is just an old poet's ramblings.
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