All Philosophy
of Science, Nature and Religion
hilosophy,
indisputably can be considered as the greatest Tower of
Inquiry that the Mind has been able to create and build,
acting and shining in all of its splendor and glory as a
Lighthouse for all inquiries, whether it is examining
Science (i.e., its methods and its tools of
acquiring knowledge), Nature (i.e., its
substantive character of what it is), or Religion
(i.e., its psychological, sociological, and
cultural origins and developments). The tools of inquiry
of Philosophy are based upon definitions and concepts of
Ethics, Morality, and Logic. It is the latter tool
however of Philosophy --that of Logic that has elevated
Philosophy, and thus the Mind, to the highest peak of
intellectual endeavor. Probing the Mind, through
philosophical inquiries and reasoning, to determine the
real nature of things as opposed to appearances
(i.e., to determine the respective meanings, the
structures, and the principles thereof in relationship to
what needs to be considered as the ultimate reality
versus what needs not) is a fascinating journey provided
by Metaphysics which because of its abstract and
formalized study, can be considered as a philosophical
study within Philosophy itself. Perhaps a good analogy of
the place Metaphysics has within the realm of Philosophy,
is the one offered by Mathematics, with respect to, say,
Topology and The Theory of Manifolds in relationship to
Geometry as far as the formalization of the study is
concerned.
To
philosophize for the sake of philosophizing, as an
academic exercise --is one thing, to use Philosophy as an
aid to Natural Sciences is an entirely different thing.
To engage in sterile philosophical arguments to see how
far you can be carried by the Mind through philosophical
reasoning --is one thing, to use philosophical reasoning
for probing the reasoning and logic employed into various
proofs and arguments of Science --is an entirely
different thing. To go off on a tangent, and see where
you can go with a philosophical inquiry by embracing the
Irrational -- is one thing, to use Logic and Rational
Thinking in creating philosophical filters and sensors
capable of detecting impurities in reasoning and logic
employed in scientific arguments --is an entirely
different thing.
Because
of this, we perhaps need to make a differentiation
between what may be called "Practical or Applied"
Philosophy from the "Pure or Abstract" Philosophy,
similarly as this differentiation is currently made in
Mathematics. In here, we will have little interest in
entertaining philosophical studies for the love of
Philosophy alone if they cannot lead to practical
theoretical instruments and tools to aid us in studying
Nature. The Theory of Perception is undoubtedly a
fascinating subject, for instance, which will have no
consideration in our studies of Nature. As for the
Philosophy of Science, we shall not engage in sterile
philosophical studies "philosophizing" for the sake and
love of "philosophizing" on the modality, say, of how
"modern" Sciences have gained their results. Instead, we
shall ascribe to the Philosophy of Science the
responsibility (as well as the moral and ethical duty) of
critically examining --through logical philosophical
inferences-- the validity (or lack of it) of the various
methods employed by the Natural Sciences in gaining its
results. This suggested approach, which shall be promoted
on our site, is radically different from the current
approach that the Philosophy of Science is taking towards
sciences --in general, and towards 20th century Physics
--in particular. It is one thing to talk about some
entity, it is an entirely different thing to examine and
scrutinize that entity through the rigor and the
strictness which Rational Thinking can provide. The
Philosophy of Science need not be a descriptive and
narrative field of studies, but rather it needs to be an
analytical and critical field of examining the
methodology employed by Natural Sciences in acquiring its
results. And when fundamental philosophical questions
arise to a particular methodology employed in Natural
Sciences, it is the moral and ethical responsibility of
the Philosophy of Science to expose, in a critical
manner, that methodology in question, and not to leave it
unchallenged. Only through those challenges can the
Philosophy of Science claim its role and justification of
existence within academic disciplines. Through this shift
of approach, the Philosophy of Science can truly become
an indispensable guardian of the intellectual treasures
provided by scientific knowledge. It is this unique role,
that the Philosophy of Science could have, that it needs
to cultivate, nourish, and develop to its fullest extent.
The
capabilities and abilities of the human Mind are truly
remarkable as they can be directed, at will, towards good
or bad, towards constructive endeavors and toward
destructive endeavors, towards embracing the Rational or
towards embracing the Irrational, towards speculations or
towards reasoning and inferences based on factual
experiments. The Philosophy of the Irrational is perhaps
an interesting subject for scholars of Philosophy, but it
shall find no space within our
publication.
Our
eleven (11) subject-sections plus The Hall of Fame
section, which can be accessed through the above
Navigational Bar located in the page's heading, are
designed to provide a comprehensive reference to the many
facets and ways of studying and investigating the
subjects of Philosophy. Aside from the two (2) Index
sections --one by Subject, the other by Author, and
three (3) Forum sections --The RealDeal®
Forum Letters, The RealDeal® Forum Chat
Rooms, and The RealDeal® Forum Workshops,
which are perhaps self-explanatory, the other remaining
six (6) sections need a further introduction as
follows.
A
special section entitled The RealDeal® List
(and Auxiliary List) of Most Wanted Solutions was
designed to list and emphasize what is not known or
understood from the realm of Natural Sciences in a way so
as to attract both the attention and the interest in
further studying the topics involved.
Issues
of unresolved problems of the Philosophy of Science,
Nature, and Religion shall be presented in our
RealDeal® List (and Auxiliary List) of Most
Wanted Solutions with the intent of attracting their
attention.
The
remaining five (5) sections
1.
The RealDeal® Foundational
Inquiries;
2. The
RealDeal® Theoretical
Studies;
3. The
RealDeal® Discovery Reports;
4. The
RealDeal® Focus Line; and
5. The
RealDeal® Historical Scrutinies;
which
form the so-called Core sections of our publication are
designed to cover a wide range of issues involving
Natural Sciences and Philosophy, and a brief description
of those sections related to Philosophy is described
below. [Additional information is provided in the
HomePage of each section (which you can reach from our
Science's FrontPage site by clicking on the corresponding
Icon-Button of each section located at the left side of
the respective title) as well as in the Philosophy part
of each section (which can be accessed from the
corresponding Navigational Bar of the respective section
located also in our Science's FrontPage.)]
1. The
examination of Philosophy itself, at its most fundamental
level of inquiry, shall be presented in our
RealDeal® Foundational Inquiries section. The
concentration of these studies will be related to the
Philosophy of Science, of Nature, and of
Religion.
2.
Studies of the major topics of Philosophy of Science,
Nature, and Religion shall be presented in The
RealDeal® Theoretical Studies section. In
addition to the guidelines set up in our Publication
Policy page with respect to the style and form of
presentation, these studies need to be written in a way
so as to attract the largest possible audience interested
in the subject at hand, and with an "eye" towards
freshmen students, with one and only one goal in
mind:
to
lure and attract as many young students as possible
into pursuing a career in Philosophy.
To
accomplish all this, the style and form of presentation,
will be quite different from anything else ever written
on the subject at hand because these studies, regardless
of the complexity of the subject involved will need to be
provocative --to provoke first and foremost the interest
in the subject itself. And second, you, the reader must
be introduced not only to the beauty and the complexity
of the subject involved, but also, and most importantly,
to the shortcomings of the theory or subject described.
These shortcomings, if properly implanted, will spring
into fresh ideas and approaches to the subject at
hand.
3. The
RealDeal® Discovery Reports section, for the
time being, will not be applicable to the Philosophy
field, although this may change if we shall see
fit.
4.
Philosophy, as anything else in life, to be able to
flourish in a given Society and Culture must be able to
have the necessary support. But what is actually
"necessary" is not as simple to answer as perhaps it may
seem. Issues of this sort affecting the complex
relationships between financing the study of Philosophy
and Society will be explored from different viewpoints in
our section entitled The RealDeal® Focus
Line. Also there, issues involving the antagonism, real
or imaginary, between Philosophy --in general (and
Philosophy of Religion and Philosophy of Nature --in
particular) and Religion will be presented from various
perspectives and points of view.
5.
Historical and biographical studies in Philosophy shall
be covered in our RealDeal® Historical
Scrutinies section. The central focus of these studies
will be to adhere as much as possible to the Historical
Truth and separate myths from reality. This historic
scrutiny is essential for protecting and defending the
Historical Truth related to the History of Philosophy, a
field not fully matured and independent --as an academic
field of inquiry and research. These studies to be
presented herein are intended to act as academic
historical filters which should be able to set new
standards of research into the History of Philosophy. It
is because of all this that the historical material
published herein will be quite different, both in its
scope and form of presentation.
With
respect to our two (2) Forum sections mentioned at
the beginning of this overview presentation, which are
listed in our FrontPage science site as the last
two (2) sections, we may want to mention here the
following:
·
In The RealDeal® Forum Letters, we will
present selected letters received from our readers with
respect to the variety of issues that are being covered.
Issues which do not pertain to the subjects covered
herein will not be considered for publication in any form
or fashion, although we will read all mail received and,
when appropriate, we may respond in kind.
·
Finally, in The RealDeal® Forum Chat Rooms we
shall organize science events from a variety of topics
and issues for debates.
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