My motivation to express and communicate my thoughts on these things is curtailed on one side by an awareness of the immensity of my ignorance, and on the other side by my fear that I have no right to promote such substantial claims given my absent credentials.<\/p>\n
What follows is successful if it convinces the following: I have a unique perspective, which forms an expertise on the basis of its idiosyncrasy (and not on the basis of expertise in any particular domain or school of thought or practice).<\/p>\n
In the first, I am a unique personality. Everyone is a unique personality, but just so.<\/p>\n
In the second are my various ventures among the library bookshelves, including philosophical, biological, linguistic, historical, fictional, psychological, and religious. I elaborate:<\/p>\n
I have an armchair[1]<\/sup><\/a> philosopher\u2019s familiarity with the Western canon, having perused many of the canonical names between Thales (the \u201cfirst\u201d) and the early twentieth century. This gives me an appreciation for: those individual schools of thoughts; relativity of philosophical beliefs; the historicity of philosophy; the variegation of philosophical concerns and conduct.<\/p>\n I have a university graduate\u2019s familiarity with the generalities of biology, with a bias for its molecular signalling and developmental principles. This gives me an appreciation for the complexity of biological systems, including the methods of their conceptualization and study.<\/p>\n I have a sporadic interest in linguistics, beginning with Plato\u2019s Forms, that led me to Sapir and Whorf, and later to Chomsky, Pinker, and later to the Piraha language as an epitome of language differentials. This gives me an appreciation for the role of language<\/p>\n [1]<\/sup><\/a>At a younger age I read Einstein\u2019s An Introduction to Special and General Relativity<\/em>. Frustrated by my inability to understand the latter, I investigated further, learning about the Vienna circle, and thus the significance of Wittgenstein in schools of thoughts within those great minds. Deciding that if I understood what formed the basis for their disagreements would enlighten me as to how Einstein thought, I attempted to read a book on Wittgenstein. Failing to make it through the book\u2019s introduction, which mentioned Descartes, eventually led me to plan a study[I]<\/sup><\/a> of what philosophy\u2019s led to Descartes and thence to Wittgenstein. Thus I started with Plato\u2019s Republic<\/em>, later backtracking to learn of the Pre-Socratics, through the Socratics (incl. Plato and his schools, Aristotle, the Stoics, and some of the lesser knowns), I picked at the Latins, fast-forwarded through the darkness of the Dark Ages, was disappointed by Scholastics, picked at the Muslim renaissance, marvelled at the impact of the Lacoon, collecting Machiavelli along the way, began the age of reason (with Descartes again), was reinvigorated by Spinoza, accumulated a useful medley that funnelled into Kant, pursued and judged his successors, leap-frogging until I reached Bentano and Husserl, falling into Nietzsche, and finally only reading enough Wittgenstein to know that I agreed in the most part. It is ironic that I never made a full study of Wittgenstein\u2019s words since they inspired me to write what I thought about the nature of reality. The conclusions, which are not<\/em> the subject of these writings, were (to state obtusely) that reality is perceived by a sort of metaphorical idealism.<\/p>\n [I]<\/sup><\/a> See Shai’s “Philosophy Readings Through Time<\/a>” where he lists the philosophy books he has read<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My motivation to express and communicate my thoughts on these things is curtailed on one side by an awareness of the immensity of my ignorance, and on the other side by my fear that I have no right to promote such substantial claims given my absent credentials. What follows is successful if it convinces the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[159,276,232,154],"tags":[],"metadata":[171,158,307,305],"class_list":["post-954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-autobiography","category-curriculum-vitae","category-google-drive","metadata-editors-footnotes","metadata-shai_footnotes","metadata-stage-5-consolidation","metadata-stages-phases"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":74,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2016\/01\/30\/meeting-buddha-on-the-road\/","url_meta":{"origin":954,"position":0},"title":"Meeting Buddha on the road","author":"Pala","date":"January 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The search for answers is fueled by curiosity, directed by questions, and treads along a pavement of non-delineated possibility. I have turned to Buddhism to learn about meditation. I meditate to unfurl the self, clean the glass darkly, and strengthen the mind. The Buddhists promise only an understanding of suffering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1002,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2016\/12\/31\/fixing-a-broken-crown\/","url_meta":{"origin":954,"position":1},"title":"Fixing a Broken Crown","author":"Pala","date":"December 31, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Fixing a few fractures: BROKEN If look at any obsessive dedication, especially where prone to escapism the following is apparent (simplified): The 10III, qua ta\u2019anug, is not seen properly, and this is due to a few overlapping expressions (ratzon l\u2019ratzon) of that hidden agenda. One damaged 10II seems to be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2016\/10\/30\/apologies\/","url_meta":{"origin":954,"position":2},"title":"Apologies","author":"Pala","date":"October 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: In October 2016, Shai opens his eighth\u00a0blog, entitled \u201cA Bashful Hope\u201c and sub-title \u201cDreaming of meaning\u201d. Between October 2016 and December 2016 he posts\u00a013 articles in this blog. This blog is clearly a work-in-progress and its menu structure suggests that Shai planned to incorporate articles across the vast\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A Bashful Hope"","block_context":{"text":"A Bashful Hope","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/blog-posts\/a-bashful-hope\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/09\/28\/science-news-on-one-foot-circa-september-25\/","url_meta":{"origin":954,"position":3},"title":"Science News on One Foot (circa September 25)","author":"Pala","date":"September 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Three headlines selected from this week's Science\/Nature journals: (1) Memory in the innate immune system, (2) water in extrasolar atmospheres, and (3) enhancing photosynthesis in crops. Herein I summarize these, highlighting what makes them interesting to this person.","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":112,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2014\/09\/27\/reading-hegel-part-4-on-stoicism-and-skepticism\/","url_meta":{"origin":954,"position":4},"title":"Reading Hegel [part 4] on “Stoicism” and “Skepticism”","author":"Pala","date":"September 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Reading Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit for the first time. Here I've read the first part of section B \"Self-consciousness\", chapter IV \"The truth of self-certainty\", part B \"Freedom of self-consciousness\". That elaborate indexing adumbrates the topic matter: Hegel's studying a self-conscious entity, whose basis for truth is its certainty of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2393,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2016\/04\/04\/letter-to-a-stranger\/","url_meta":{"origin":954,"position":5},"title":"Letter to a Stranger","author":"Pala","date":"April 4, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear stranger, Down the road is a bridge over a cement creek. The waters are always very low, except when it rains, then it stays high for a few days. In the middle of the creek, to the side of the bridge, is a supermarket trolley lying on its side,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/sadotI-apology","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954"},{"taxonomy":"metadata","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/metadata?post=954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}