Cologne, 2003-01-05 (initial)

Before reading on, I would like to point out my Standard disclaimer, which of course applies quite strongly here.

A foundation and justification

(For Katja: the foreword to The Manajarna)

What is so important about philosophy to me? What are the goals I'd like to achieve? I think if my motivation here is better understood, the choice of topics and why they are written as they are will make more sense, so I shall give it a try.

I will drop all pretense for a moment: Philosophy, and writing about it, is not a real choice for me. When I think, I feel the need to order my thoughts, and organize them, and make sure they fit together, that they are consistent at least for the moment before moving on. Writing, be it in long e-mail exchanges with those precious few of you, or here, where I consolidate myself, is one of the few ways I have of doing that; being able to re-iterate over something written down is so much more helpful for me than trying to juggle it all in my head at the same time. It also allows me to pay closer attention to my feelings, which more easily manifest themselves when I'm writing poems, lyrics, or prose than when I'm trying to get them into my thoughts by an act of rational force.

That also explains why you'll find that I have a touch to write about melancholic or depressing issues: because it is their nature that I want to deal with them and move on, while I am just as glad as everyone else to rest while happy. This does not reflect my general state of mind. You're just being shown a rather specific part of it in these writings. I'm trying to move on here, and take care of important matters ahead of time before they have a chance to throw me off-balance, and a number of poems are quite very much about love, lust and happiness, yet the bias remains.

But the truth is: I could not choose not to write; it is compulsory. If something presses against my fingertips from the inside, I can delay, but I cannot avoid. Now, I shall go back to the more noble answer.

First: What is philosophy? Am I referring to the philosophy of science, war, ethics, aesthetics, logic epistemology, religion, metaphysics, or even the philosophy of philosophy itself? Does it deal at all with real, every-day problems, or is it up there in the ivory tower, far from the real world, whatever that may be? And isn't this ambiguity of the word philosophy confusing? Doesn't this leave behind a stale taste of inaccuracy to what is supposedly the oldest ``science'' in the world?

Perhaps the best way to understand what philosophy is about for me is to compare all these different areas, and what the philosopher ``does'' with them. And we will find that philosophy is not a single particular branch of life, but rather a process by which all branches of human life - even itself! - can be dealed with.

It provides means to handle with complex patterns of all kinds, and if for a given particular pattern no means of discussing it exists yet, philosophy can create its own tools.

A reflection in the mirror

Philosophy is the ultimate recursion, a feedback loop on top of everything else - it holds up a mirror to the rest of life and allows us to quite literally reflect on it.

By doing so, it not only shows us where we are, but also where we need to improve. Flawed assumptions, inconsistencies and conclusions gone wrong plague our reflections at all levels, from every angle; and they show up eventually under philosophy's scrutiny.

Philosophy revels in looking at itself in the mirror, seeing the infinite regression of its own reflection, with all the flaws of the mirror and itself becoming all the more obvious and blurry at the same time.

If necessary, philosophy will eventually find that the mirror itself is broken, distorted and has black spots of dirt on it; it will throw away the mirror and painstakingly construct a better one, allowing us to see better.

It provides the means to understand what has gone wrong and how we might correct it.

Doesn't it often go wrong itself? Oh yes. It constantly does; it is a process, not a final state.

And as philosophy itself is not perfect yet, it will lead to errors. If the last few thousands of years have taught us any, it is most definetely that very little if anything at all has ever proven to hold forever. It could even be argued - similar to Gödel's famous proof - that we can never know absolute truth, or at least not prove it.

We need to be watchful of this, and not trust too much, while at the same time not falling into the trap of endless uncertainity. But we can constantly strive to improve.

The mission of philosophy

We are plagued with insufficient ethics and morales for dealing with the current world; unjustified cultural traditions, inflexible rules for relationships, reppressive morales which restrict enjoyment, to dogmatic views in religion and politics; all of these have been viable once or they would not have survived, but they have not been revised for too long.

I believe it is the philosopher's mission, if there ever has been one, to find these flaws and find a way around them.

When science makes a technological leap, we jump to exploit it (at least in the richer regions which can afford to do so). Is it not quite strange that this does not happen with philosophy? The reasons for this are obviously manifold, and I shall not go into them here yet. However for now, let me just say that I believe that this needs to improve.

Nothing of this is new - the world has constantly been changing. And if I might entertain the thought that this text will ever survive for so long as to be read by someone in the year, oh, 2100, I am sure they will feel exactly the same and understand what I am talking about, not even considering the even more hypothetical case of asking someone from two thousand years ago. Does this mean that it is a fruitless task?

Only if you expect it to end and reach a final conclusion, and expect the world to stop changing.

However, the process of renewal and adaption never does; it just can move at different speeds, and even jam for a second; but when it ``finally'' breaks free again, it inevitably tends to violently crush the obstacle and then some. If it cannot grease this wheel, philosophy might at least help you find out when better to step out of the way.

And so philosophy needs to move with the rest of the world, tearing apart and rebuilding itself.

And, so I believe it can be reasoned, philosophy also needs to care more for the parts outside of the ivory tower and be more vocal about discussing problems and solutions found. I shall go as far as to argue that a morale responsibility to do so can be deduced, attached to every insight gained.

But the musings of philosophy shall not be restricted to the ``big'' affairs only; some of the problems which I care about are of a rather simplistic nature, and seem to have been - in my most humble opinion, unjustly - not dealt with by many.

And my own journey

I am not megalomaniac enough to try and deal with the whole world at once, constructing a new model from the ground up. Others, certainly more intelligent, better educated and more dedicated than I am, have tried and failed. I am not going to even try and achieve the perfection of Kant, Glaserfeld or the amazing diversity of Montaigne or others.

But what I will do is reflecting on smaller parts of the puzzle, whatever needs solving in my life, or just takes my fancy or captures my mind, from the ridiculously unimportant contemplation of household life to certainly funny attempts when I try taking too big a bite.

And because they affect my life, I cannot ignore them; so I might as well make these thoughts public, as to solicit feedback and also encourage others to think and reflect more again, and demonstrate by example that yes, philosophy has a very real place in every life.

This is, in part, a selfish journey; too many years of thinking and self-reflection have brought me here, and I cannot go back to bliss. I have always found philosophy and the mind to be exciting, enticing and rewarding; they have helped me cross many rivers and brought me to where I am today - and finally made it clear to me that I can no longer be quiet.

My reflections are not final; I do not believe they ever could be. Every comment will change over time, and I seriously doubt that my style of publishing will ever be suitable for a book. All the changes and their history is preserved though, and might in itself prove insightful one day.

May my reflections prove helpful for someone else, maybe as a starting point for their own journey, or just as a brief amusement. Hopefully, someone will feel tempted to better me and say Oh, I see the flaw in that! and think about it, and join me for the ride.

For all my comments, feedback, thoughts and criticism of all kinds is explicitly encouraged; otherwise, I might as well keep quiet to myself; you will find my e-mail address at the bottom of each page.

Bon voyage.