“I am not omniscient, but I know a lot.”

@Fil Albuquerque,

Your exception noted. It is what it is until you try to explain it to another. At that point we are left with our anecdotal and circumstantial observations. As to whether these are valid, the prisons are full of our conclusions. We live with them.

On a side note, please substantiate your advice vis a vis animism

1 Reply

@neologist,

Urging you to be Agnostic suffices ? You see, I am not advising against doubt...just the impartiality on doubting...there is only one thing that cannot be doubt, n that is that there is something...but I rather not pick sides to say what is ultimate nature...on matters of faith I prefer "Structure" then "God"...you see the word structure only aims that X is X while "God" already aims to describe X in some way...animism is certainly a part of reality we ourselves as biological entities in planet Earth are the proof...but to reduce the whole reality to Animism is fanaticism !

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@Fil Albuquerque,

I spent more than a few years as a comfortable agnostic.

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@Fil Albuquerque,

Quote:

...there is only one thing that cannot be doubt, in that is that there is something...but I rather not pick sides to say what is ultimate nature...

Yea Phil that's the way I see it also: There's something we don't yet quite understand, perhaps of an abstract nature, which doubtless (to me anyway) will prove not miraculous but a natural phenom

Then whether or not to call It "God" is pretty much up to the individual

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@Fil Albuquerque,

Quote:

oh but it works in ONE little thing...to DOUBT you assume Reality, period !

Beg your pardon?

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@Olivier5,

You have any doubts ? You see here there is no general to particular nor particular to general going on...all you need is one single thing to have a reality ! To doubt it, is asserting it !

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@Walter Hinteler,

Walter Hinteler wrote:

edgarblythe wrote:

“I am not omniscient, but I know a lot.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust: First Part
=======================================

In German, this quote means something slightly different: "I do not know everything; still many things I understand." (Original quote: Allwissend bin ich nicht; doch viel ist mir bewußt.)

Thanks for clarifying that, Walter.

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@edgarblythe,

edgarblythe wrote:

“I am not omniscient, but I know a lot.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust: First Part
=======================================

I know that I know nothing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"I know that I know nothing"

The phrase "I know that I know nothing" or "I know one thing: that I know nothing" (Ancient Greek: ἓν οἶδα ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα hèn oîda hóti oudèn oîda; Latin: scio me nihil scire or scio me nescire), sometimes called the Socratic paradox, is a well-known saying that is derived from Plato's account of the Greek philosopher Socrates. This saying is also connected and/or conflated with the answer Socrates is said to have received from Pythia, the oracle of Delphi, in answer to the question "who is the wisest man in Greece?".

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It is understood that we cannot know everything. On the other hand why do so many insist that we know nothing?

Ummm...who is actually insisting that we know nothing? That seems to be a self-contradicting statment as is.

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@Fil Albuquerque,

Evidently, we can't doubt our own existence... That's the cogito.

Socrates' phrase is a broad-brush simplification. Otherwise it would be self-contradictory, mind you.

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@Frank Apisa,

It was only your look-a-like... Socrates !

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@fresco,

fresco wrote:

It was only your look-a-like... Socrates !

I think I look like Einstein. And he is my hero.

We have dinner in Princeton often...and I have mentioned to my brother-in-law that I want to take a walk on Mercer Street...where Einstein lived.

He told me that would not be a walk...it would be a pilgrimage.

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@Frank Apisa,

No doubt Einstein is your hero because of quotations such as these.

Quote:

"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."

Quote:

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

Quote:

"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.

1 Reply

@fresco,

fresco wrote:

No doubt he is your hero because of quotations such as these.

Quote:
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."

Quote:
"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

Quote:
"A human being is a part of a whole, called by us _universe_, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest... a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.

He is partly my hero because he outted himself as an agnostic. He also mentioned a GOD...but most people realize that was mostly for effect.

And REALITY may be an illusion...although if it is...not only is it persistent, but it also IS what it IS. No contradiction there.

Imagination may be more important that knowledge. How about you imagining that humans may not be all you think them to be.

And all the other stuff also.

I must say that I am both complimented and amused by the amount of time and energy you, a near genius, spend with me...admittedly not the sharpest tool in the shed.

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@Frank Apisa,

All part of the service !

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@fresco,

fresco wrote:

All part of the service !

Thanks.

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@Fil Albuquerque,

Quote:

@Olivier5,

oh but it works in ONE little thing...to DOUBT you assume Reality, period !

It may have been only a coincidence (if there be such a thing) that you posted your response at the same moment I posted a link to a most interesting presentation. And whether that presentation is perceived as merely tangential to Edgar's question, it is nonetheless well worth the time spent to view it. Again, the link is:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lesley_hazleton_the_doubt_essential_to_faith.html?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button__2013-06-24

You'll enjoy it, or my name isn't Debacle. Smile

1 Reply

@Debacle,

Thanks for the link the talk is indeed inspiring, very sharp, and good food for thought...

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Just cross my eyes in this video still seeing it looks good !

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@Fil Albuquerque,

That is an excellent discussion; witty, informative and enjoyable. After watching I found myself convinced the Conservation of Information Theory is valid. Dropping a headful of rubbish, such as mine, into a black hole, retrieving it whenever or howsoever, plottting it on a matrix, or mapping it holographically, it remains pure and unadulterated by the merest scintillation of understanding. I find that very sustaining.

Offered a T-shirt, as those fellows were, I would have opted for GIGO, as it represents my mode de vie in cyberspace and seems synonymic with the conservation theory.

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@Fil Albuquerque,

I like that saying that goes something like this; the more I learn, I know that the less I know.

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“I am not omniscient, but I know a lot.”

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