 |
|
|
| Reality is deceptive. | ||
"From the unreal lead me to the real. the Brihadaranyaka Upanishads, |
||
What ought we to know? | How do we know? | Speaking about what is known | Means to discern | Cosmos | Dialectical means |
||
An artists rendering of the atomic nucleus. |
||
Bound together by the strong force an artist's rendering of protons and neutrons in an atomic nucleus. |
||
| An atomic nucleus is the ultimate source of electrical power, radiation, and material coherence, yet we cannot see atomic nuclei. | ||
| Diverging questions | reality contrasted with fantasy | meaning of language & myth | mirages | cosmology | contradictions | ||
 |
||
| The flow of electrons brings the world into being, seemingly out of nothing. | ||
There are questions to pose?
How are questions about the material world different from questions about behavior (ethos) ?
Do behavioral questions (what do people do and how should we behave) diverge in quality from questions of morality (ethics)?
When moral questions involving what we ought to know increase our powers to do harm or good, how should we act on that knowledge?
We may or may not be able to answer two aspects of this responsibility that comes with knowledge:
* power to do what and
* what ought we to know?
Faust in his bargaining with Mephistopheles (the devil).
The myth of Faust suggests that there are some forms of knowledge that humans are not capable of handling responsibly because we as a society are too immature to understand the consequences of our actions, no matter how noble, pure, and beneficent the motives.
How do you distinguish between the real and the imagined?
A fission reaction occurs faster than our senses can detect.
A seasonal river runs through Canyon de Chelly, Arizona.
The Fall of Icarus, a painting inspired by the ancient Greek myth of limitations.
When interpreting representations, ideology, metaphors, art and similes, the imagination can be fooled by idolatry.
To avoid the paradoxes inherent in knowing the world we must be sure to always assure that:
the image ties to substance
idols align with accurate ideas
senses are expressed in thought
picture corresponds to message
surface links with underlying meaning
affect ties to cognition
symbols carefully reflect beliefs
apprehension serves to promote comprehension
Without some
means of inquiry, or method of analysis,
we are unable to distinguish the real from the fantasy,
the actual from the merely formal. 
Human advancement relies on the capacity to distinguish real threats and opportunities from imagined fears and paranoid threats. For instance, our senses can be deceptive.
Experts in human understanding of ourselves in the world include:
Rodin's, The Bronze Age
 |
|
 |
|
| Take for example a mirage that embodies the appearance or form of water but not the substance or liquid material. | |
 |
 |
| Dual rainbows | Desert mirage |
Diverging questions | reality contrasted with fantasy | meaning of language & myth | mirages | cosmology | contradictions
Cosmos is the Greek concept for order in the universe (One song).
The world as ordered time.
Precession of the equinoxes are due the movement of the earth on its axis with respect to the galaxy and movement of the distant stars.
In German thought, the world is seen as both something we discover and something we construct. All three considerations emerge from our perception of something larger and less transient than ourselves.
These three weltanschauung which are perceptions of the world are called:
The Armillary Sphere and the Orrery is a representation of the earth in the celestial heavens, or the stars, moon, planets and sun. Far right: Saturn's moons revolve around the super giant gas planet.
Diverging questions | reality contrasted with fantasy | meaning of language & myth | mirages | cosmology | contradictions
The world that we experience is both seen and not seen.
| Sensed (seen) | Unseen (yet experienced) |
 |
 |
A method is the application of a precise process in order to distinguish between the real and imagined events.
|
Method to discern the:
|
||
|
actual
|
 |
ideal |
| Real |
contrasted
|
Imagined
|
| exists |
method
|
illusory
|
| substantial |
means
|
ephemeral
|
| embodied |
practical
technique
|
intangible
|
|
Existence
|
Fantasy
|
|
| certainty |
uncertainty
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
condition substance, material |
image imagination, magi |
|
Dialectical tension: an example of the apparent incompatibility of opposite concepts.
 |
||
| Diverging questions | reality contrasted with fantasy | meaning of language & myth | mirages | cosmology | contradictions | ||
Because the distinctions between the actual and the imagined are of such importance there are other pages on this web site dedicated to understanding how to approach this crucial, prevalent, and devilishly subtle divergence in perspectives.
Further discussion of this crucial dichotomy: 1) The concept of worldview, distinguishing real from ideal is used to unite the apparent antagonism of the sensory real and ideal see: real versus ideal 2) The power to accurately discern is a question of precision considering that the imagination can influence your answers: see real - ideal |
||
 |
|
|
|
T. E. Hulme on description Ian Tattersall on falsifiable knowledge Warwick Fox on precisely using words What ought we to know? | How do we know? | Speaking about what is known | Means to discern | Cosmos | Dialectical means |
||
 |
||
|
||
