Your Philosophy on life, the universe and everything?

[anoni]

We may have a lot of different beliefs for a lot of different things, but a lot of us have a general rule or structure to follow. These philosophical structures can occassionally be very important, so my question to you TFF users is what is your philosophy, how did it come to be and how has it evolved over time?

I started off not having much of a philosophy on life, I just didn't really think of things that much. Then, when I was in about 7th grade, my brother taught me of Einsteins theory of special relativity. It took a little bit for me to grasp, but once I understood it, it became eye opening. Although the scientific belief is not so much relevant to how my beliefs evolved, I started believing in it philosophically. I believed that all opinions and all observations were subjective, that NOTHING was objective, not mathematics or the constant speed of light (which is in direct conflict with the original theory), I believed that as humans have minds they have bias and thus can believe what ever they want to and that would be a truth to them.

  As time went on I thought a lot more about the theory, debated a lot more people and became a bit more rigorous with the belief. I got rid of the idea that NOTHING was true and all was subjective, but I instead defined a new class of truth, a "relative truth", in which something can be said to be true to a certain group of people if most people within that group believe it. This meant that things like Mathematics and Science could sustain some objectivity because they could be seen as "relatively true". But there were still a lot of holes in the theory and it was only when I discovered set theory that I crafted the theory to what I believe today.

  My current belief in relativity is a lot more mathematical in nature. It assigns differing reference frames into sets, so what you become interested in is not what is ACTUALLY true, but what is true for a particular set and what set it is true for. This also underlies the value of science and mathematics, because it can be said that was in ACTUALLY true is true for all sets and mathematics and science tends to attempt to define things that are true for as many reference frames as possible. The set application is important because it emphasis what community you're interested in, in terms of discovering a truth. For example, Is slavery bad? In ACTUALITY there is no known answer to that, but we can say that to the set of all humans, most humans find slavery bad so therefore, it is bad relative to humanity. It helps define usefulness out of truths, rather than worrying about what is actually occurring, it worries about what is true for the reference frames you are interested in.

  There are still some holes to poke out, but I'm getting closer.

  So what is your theory of life?

[White Wolf Guardian]

One day we existed, the next we died, someone else had 4 kids, then their offspring do the same thing.

[Teiko]

I think everything interpreted by life would be considered subjective... Every being will have a different interpretation whether it's with the senses, or logical derivation. This means subjective morality, etc. The moral values that we as humans tend to share have evolved with us; like with many other animals, we found an advantage in coexisting with each other. You might say that we are moral for looking out for one another, or you can argue that it is only a selfish act. But even we wouldn't know because it's instinctual, not logical (at this point). We don't even know if free-will exists.

I think that everything has to be taken with a grain of salt. Even if we could objectively understand everything about the universe that we occupy, there may still be a different reality outside of our universe, with entirely different laws. Mathematics might not work outside of this universe. We can't even prove absolutely that mathematics is objectively true. So even if you understand everything, you would only understand your own relative everything.

[kalan]

My thoughts on life are simple, some of you may have heard this saying before.

The object of life is not to arrive at the grave in a well preserved body but rather to come sliding in sideways completely worn out yelling hot damn that was a hell of a ride

[Konica]

I agree that a lot of things are relative, especially when talking about culture and social norms.  Although, I'd hesitate to say absolutely everything is subjective. Until it is proven otherwise, I'll believe the speed of light is constant. I'm not gonna question its constant-ness without compelling reason.

Mathematics might not work outside of this universe. We can't even prove absolutely that mathematics is objectively true.

We can't prove math is true because we made it. It's an abstract man made concept.

[Timmy Fox]

Can my answer to this question be 42?

[Rattatat]

Ever since I left religion I became s nihilist I'm theory and a secular humanist in practice. I live my life and set my beliefs to things that can be proven to be true. Faith in anything is useless and only that which has evidence and proof can be trusted.

[Tina]

My philsophy about life is that there is a reason for everything and nothing is left without purpose. Even if the reason or purpose for something happening or just existing is cruel or just down right wrong, that's still someting. I guess my theory on life is based on the theory of fate, but wether or not there is someone like a god or unknown entity guiding that fate i have no clue but will keep an open mind to it. One thing i would like to note is I'm not an atheist but i am agnostic, which means i believe their could be a god but i don't follow any particular religion.

[anoni]

I agree that a lot of things are relative, especially when talking about culture and social norms.  Although, I'd hesitate to say absolutely everything is subjective. Until it is proven otherwise, I'll believe the speed of light is constant. I'm not gonna question its constant-ness without compelling reason.

Mathematics might not work outside of this universe. We can't even prove absolutely that mathematics is objectively true.

We can't prove math is true because we made it. It's an abstract man made concept.

Godel's incompleteness theorem is a mathematical theorem that states that no proposition can be completely correct and completely consistent at the same time. All theorems generally must have axioms (assumptions), for example in physics we say "electrons have charge" and we can describe very accurately what they'll do, but when asked "why electrons have charge", there truly is no answer known, indeed there may not be any answer except "They just do". Further more there's no way to prove that the axioms you say are the most fundamental, there may be a reason for electrons having charge, but that reason will almost definitely cause another, more fundamental, assumption. So if you say we can't believe in things because they cannot be proven true, then we can't believe in anything, because nothing can be fully correct and fully consistent.

  As for the constant speed of light, we as humans believe that now because that seems to be the best explanation of the universe, but there's no way to assert whether or not it is ACTUALLY true. Indeed in some cases it has shown to be false in specific arrangements. As well, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle allows for some very slight variations on the speed of light, indeed a photon could be possibly moving faster than what we consider the speed of light (however these uncertainties average out to the commonly measured speed). The point I'm trying to make is that the constant speed of light is true for humans, it's the most true thing we have, but is it the REAL truth? Is it the absolute truth? There's no way to know, and the question is really irrelevant.

My philsophy about life is that there is a reason for everything and nothing is left without purpose. Even if the reason or purpose for something happening or just existing is cruel or just down right wrong, that's still someting. I guess my theory on life is based on the theory of fate, but wether or not there is someone like a god or unknown entity guiding that fate i have no clue but will keep an open mind to it. One thing i would like to note is I'm not an atheist but i am agnostic, which means i believe their could be a god but i don't follow any particular religion.

An Agnostic is someone who is unsure whether or not a god exists. A Diest is someone who believes in some form of higher power, but doesn't believe in any mainstream religion or ideology.

[Teiko]

There's a quote that I like... It's goes something like, "Even if everything in our universe isn't real, (implying it's a simulation, or whatever)...   It doesn't matter."

Basically saying, what are you gonna do about it? Lol.

[Angder]

I am alive, and appear to exist.

As far as I can tell the same applies to everyone else

Some day I will die.

I can do bad things, or I can do good things while I live.

Praying to a higher power wont change those facts.

Believing in a greater purpose does not change those facts.

So ultimately the only thing of consequence is doing good things with my life, I don't care about "fate", "god", the "soul" or any other unprovable concepts, if you need them to do good, then your not a good person, if you don't need them, then why worry about them at all?

I guess what I am saying is the most important thing in my life is doing the right thing to the best of my ability and what else do I need to know about the nature of life? unless it changes that goal, or helps that goal, why do I care?



Having said this, it occurs to me that keeping an open mind is also VITALLY important for me, letting yourself get too set into a system that "Can not be wrong" is unhealthy in the extreme

[Midnight Madness]

• Honesty
  
  • Always be true to yourself and others. Do not falsify information for personal gain.
• Optimism
  
  • Positive thoughts have a higher probability of yielding positive results.
• Passion
  
  • Find what you love to do and do it. Life never stops, and passion drives one through any adventure.
• Elation
  
  • Be happy to spread happiness. Every day is a gift. Even when things are bleak, there are still people who care, yourself included.

I always hope for these things, and I hope to spread feelings like these to others. Yes, it's an acronym for me. But regardless, it's a personal thing that always keeps me from slipping off the tracks.

[drakewithout]

6.   If at first you don’t succeed, get a bigger hammer

[Teiko]

Timmy Fox is onto something. Maybe the philosophy of everything is a number lol.