Meditations on First Philosophy

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1. rramadassSep 2026
   Later down in the essay, Dirac himself answers this;

   With this kind of cosmological picture one is led to suppose that there was a beginning of time, and that it is meaningless to inquire into what happened before then. One can get a rough idea of the geometrical relationships this involves by imagining the present to be the surface of a sphere, going into the past to be going in towards the centre of the sphere, and going into the future to be going outwards. There is then no limit to how far one may go into the future, but there is a limit to how far one can go into the past, corresponding to when one has reached the centre of the sphere. The beginning of time provides a natural origin from which to measure the time of any event. The result is usually called the epoch of that event. Thus the present epoch is 2 x 109 years [actually 2x10^9].

   One further point in connection with the new cosmology is worthy of note. At the beginning of time the laws of Nature were probably very different from what they are now. Thus we should consider the laws of Nature as continually changing with the epoch, instead of as holding uniformly throughout space-time. This idea was first put forward by Milne, who worked it out on the assumptions that the universe at a given epoch is roughly everywhere uniform and spherically symmetrical. I find these assumptions not very satisfying, because the local departures from uniformity are so great and are of such essential importance for our world of life that it seems unlikely there should be a principle of uniformity overlying them. Further, as we already have the laws of Nature depending on the epoch, we should expect them also to depend on position in space, in order to preserve the beautiful idea of the theory of relativity there is fundamental similarity between space and time. This goes more drastically against Milne's assumptions than a mere lack of uniformity in the distribution of matter.

   Show respect to Mathematicians/Physicists/etc. many of whom had studied Philosophy and i dare say had a better understanding/insight of it than mere academic Philosophers. Why? Because they don't go off into la-la land but try very hard to have both observed evidence and a mathematical model of it match cleanly via a Theory.

   For your edification, read first "Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes" followed by "Physics and Philosophy by Werner Heisenberg".

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2. xhevahirOct 2023
   What? Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy is one of the most important books in the history of Western thought. Saying that "even in France no one longer reads this" is like saying that The Origin of Species is irrelevant because one never sees passengers reading it on the London Tube.
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3. austin-cheneyJul 2023
   * A Deepness in the Sky - Vernor Vinge

   * Foundation - Isaac Asimov (But, the sequel Foundation and Empire is more interesting as it presents ideas that continue to challenge current assumptions of software)

   * Meditations on First Philosophy - Rene Descartes

   * Road - Cormac McCarthy

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4. routerlOct 2021
   See also Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy

   "Why is this guy saying all these obvious things as if they were important?"

   Because he was literally the first one.

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5. hilbert42Feb 2021
   Here's my promised list (note it's only a rough guide). As mentioned, I couldn't post earlier versions as they were too big. Even this new rehash (which was already rehashed from much older posts) is too big, so I'll post the first two thirds now and the remainder later. What's missing (compared to my initial attempt) are large sections of my commentary. For additional details use Wiki (these books are well known, hence they all should have entries). Most are out of copyright so you can download them from the I.A. (Internet Archive).

   1. The Republic (Book 1 only)—Plato Begin study here; it's an excellent intro to formal argument (v. important), as it's the basis of arguing things out in logical ways. It's a dialogue between the philosopher Socrates and a sophist Thrasymachus about the meaning of justice. It's also fun to read, watching Socrates demolish Thrasymachus' selfish stance of 'every-man-for-himself' in logical sequence is like watching a chess game between a master and a cocky arrogant rookie. The book's passed the test of time, it's still in print nearly two half millennia after it was written. Use Jowett's translation, 1892 ed will do. Jowet's info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Jowett

   2. Last Days of Socrates—Plato (Read only if you've time.) It's important in the grand scheme of Greek philosophy and the fact that Plato was affected by the execution of Socrates (his teacher).

   3. Nicomachean Ethics—Aristotle (Likely too long now but essential later). Any Aristotle text is worthy of study, he's a giant in the field, his influence is still stamped all over Western culture today. Phil. is incomplete without studying him. The book's deals with ethics and how people should live their lives.

   4. Meditations on First Philosophy, & etc.—René Descartes Very influential book. Initially, just read Discourse on the Method, it's about finding the truth, especially the sciences. Here, you'll find the famous phrase "I think therefore I exist/am". It also turns up in the 'related' Principles of Philosophy as Cogito, ergo sum. If you advance further, you'll be taught about breakdowns in reasoning/faulty logic and Descartes isn't immune to them either. One of his logical steps is a misstep and is famous for it—no, I won't tell you what its is.

   5. Sir Francis Bacon—Rather than give specific references just get his collected essays (they're all short), select any relevant tiles to read.

   6. The Leviathan—Thomas Hobbes. Herein Hobbes addresses statecraft, society, civil power government (actually very important). Written in the aftermath of the English Civil War when such matters were still raw and fluid. BTW, our modern understanding of the word commonwealth comes from Hobbes, the book's full title is: Leviathan or The Matter, Forme and Power of a Common Wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civil.

   7 & 8. Two Treatises of Government | An Essay Concerning Human Understanding—John Locke Locke is an English empiricist Enlightenment philosopher, his ideas had a strong influence on governance structures in the U.S. Locke was an early epistemologist, so his words are well chosen and noted for the fact. He had a very influential effect on later philosophers. The Two Treatises of Government deals with civil society, one's rights, property and contracts. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding deals with empiricism, fundamental ideas, innate concepts and notions such as 'color', 'good' etc. Locke had a great influence on philosophers such as Hume, Kant, Berkeley, Moore and many others.

   9. The Prince—Niccolò Machiavelli He gets a bad press although he doesn't deserve it. It's questionable that he was truly 'Machiavellian' himself. Simply, The Prince is sound practical (worldly) advice to a prince about how to conduct oneself and how not be screwed by one's enemies (be wary/aware of likely enemies, avoid situations that could lead to one's dethronement). It's a very short book, just a few hours to read.

   10 & 11. On Liberty | Utilitarianism—John Stuart Mill. Both books were highly influential and still are. On liberty deals with a theory of liberty—re liberty itself, also concerning political rulers, tyrants and tyranny. Utilitarianism is about utility, the notion of the greatest good for the greatest number, it still underpins the philosophy behind the running of most modern cities/states today.

   12, 13 & 14. A Treatise of Human Nature | An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding | An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals—David Hume It is impossible [I almost said 'almost'] to cover these works in a couple of sentences, so I won't. At least you should know about them and what they are about. Hume is a Scottish Enlightenment philosopher and much more. His works are uncannily modern and prescient nearly 300 years after they were written. He's hugely relevant to philosophy, science and culture in general; a true giant in the field. Like Locke, he was not a believer in innate ideas but rather that they come from experience (like George Berkeley's Tree in the quad arguments). He's the principle founder of philosophical induction and much more.

   15. The Social Contract—Jean-Jacques Rousseau This is a great work (and fun to read). The most famous opening sentence of any philosophical work likely ever written, ancient or modern, is at the very beginning of Chapter 1: L'Homme eft né libre, and par-tout il eft dans les fers.—Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Words of great influence and they were in fact so. Those words were much the truth in 1762 and they're still pretty much true nowadays (unfortunately)!

   Frontispiece: https://archive.org/details/jducontractsocia00rous/page/n7/m...

   Chapter 1: https://archive.org/details/jducontractsocia00rous/page/2/mo...

   It's Rousseau's most famous work. He discusses political society and conjectures all people will be free if everyone equally gives up certain rights then all accept the responsibility and obligation thrust upon them in equal measure for their own collective governance. Here, he posits the notion of the The General Will of the Citizenry, it's this that should drive legislative government. The General Will should always hold government to account, especially when it exceeds authority or legitimacy. The Social Contract was revolutionary at the time (1762), only 27 years later the French Revolution took place and Rousseau's ideas, at least in part, were influential in causing the foment that led up to it. It changed governance for the better and today we're its beneficiaries (at least so in democracies).

   16. Critique of Pure Reason—Emmanuel Kant I'm hesitant to mention Kant because he can be so obscure. The trouble is that he's so influential. Kant deals with knowledge, reason, human reasoning, and empirical reason. One cannot ignore Kant or does so at his/her peril, (perhaps this book is better left until you've a fuller grasp of the subject).

   17. Principia Ethica—G. E. Moore (George Edward) Prof of Phil., Cambridge, UK at turn of the 20th Century. Since it was published in 1903 Principia Ethica has had a huge influence on philosophers and still does (incl. yours truly, it was one of my early texts). ;-) It deals with the notion that certain ideas and concepts cannot reduced into simpler terms because they're already irreducible. 'Good' or 'bad' can't be reduced further as we've no way of measuring them. We know/learn what 'good' means intrinsically, so too 'very good' but we cannot measure the amount of 'good', nor can we measure how much 'very' adds to it. Here's another case: normal sighted people and those who've gone blind later in life know the colour 'yellow' as they've physically seen and perceived it, but no amount of trying will convey that perceived notion to a person blind from birth (they'll learn a conceptual understanding but can't actually perceive color as the sighted do). There's much more to Moore too: moral philosophy, etc. He was a trendsetter for much of 20th C. philosophy.

   18. The Problems of Philosophy—Bertrand Russell Russell was one of the last great polymaths and a social reformer, philosopher, logician and much more (I remember him on TV when a kid). The Book discusses past philosophical problems and equates/restates them in his terms. He questions, discusses, countenances and argues over subjects such as 'what we can actually prove', 'what are causal relationships', 'what is knowledge and validation', 'what is their relationship or relative importance when considered along side metaphysics'. He further develops ideas that began (first logically codified) with Locke (or even Bacon) and continued through to Hume, Berkeley etc. He discusses the important notion of the 'sense datum' (along with G.E. Moore, A.J. Ayer, etc.).

   Note: 'The Problems of Philosophy' is only a little book but you are rather unlikely to digest it in just one sitting!

   I'd strongly recommend both Principia Ethica and The Problems of Philosophy to those studying Quantum Physics, as they deal with what is real and what we know about real things—and things that are seemingly ephemeral but are in fact real (e.g.: zero point energy, virtual particles, potentials). Grasping Russell's solid logic also gives us the mindset to tackle the 'awkward' practice—the philosophically worrying 'logic'—of renormalization and perturbation theory (Yang-Mills etc.) in Quantum Field Theory/QFT and its sibling Quantum Electrodynamics/QED.

   (Items 19 through 22 to follow.)

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6. lugus35Dec 2015
   The Value of Science http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0375758488/

   Meditations on First Philosophy http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0192806963/

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