Reading and Writing: Dewey Decimal System 100

Reading and Writing: Dewey Decimal System 100 Philosophy and Psychology  

100 Philosophy and Psychology  

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

― Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning



“Pythagoras is in fact credited with having coined the words "philosophy" ("love of wisdom") and "mathematics" ("that which is learned"). To him, a "philosopher" was someone who "gives himself up to discovering the meaning and purpose of life itself...to uncover the secrets of nature." Pythagoras emphasized the importance of learning above all other activities, because, in his words, "most men and women, by birth or nature, lack the means to advance in wealth and power, but all have the ability to advance in knowledge.”

― Mario Livio, The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number



“You must determine where you are going in your life, because you cannot get there unless you move in that direction. Random wandering will not move you forward. It will instead disappoint and frustrate you and make you anxious and unhappy and hard to get along with (and then resentful, and then vengeful, and then worse).”

― Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos



“To be is to do - Socrates



To do is to be - Sartre



Do Be Do Be Do - Sinatra”

― Kurt Vonnegut

110 Metaphysics

Metaphysics, according to Aristotle, is an investigation into the different kinds or categories of being. To understand what he had in mind, it is helpful to know that, as Aristotle saw things, terms like “being” or “existence” have a variety of different meanings. For example, what it is for a horse to exist is very different Aristotle’s idea was that “being” and related words (like “is” or “exists”) mean one thing when predicated of a horse or a cat and something else when predicated of a number. The meanings are related to one another, but still different. We can understand this point by way of an analogy. Consider the word “healthy.” We might say that a meal is healthy; we might also say that someone’s complexion is healthy, or that she herself is healthy. It seems that “healthy” means something different in each of these three cases. The meanings are related, but they are still different. So, likewise, Aristotle thought, with words like “exists” or “is”: They too vary in meaning, depending on the sort of thing to which they are applied.

-Michael Rea, Metaphysics: The Basics 

120 Epistemology

The official name for the study of knowledge in philosophy is epistemology. The word ‘epistemological’ means pertaining to the study of knowledge; while ‘epistemic’ means pertaining to knowledge.



The noun ‘knowledge’ and the verb ‘to know’ are used in a large variety of ways. The Oxford English Dictionary devotes almost 2600 words to defining various senses and constructions involving the verb (not including hundreds of examples). It’s difficult to sort all this out, but we can roughly distinguish three main kinds of ways of knowing, corresponding to three sorts of things said to be known:

1        Knowledge of facts (for example, Fred knows that the party is cancelled). We’ll call this knowing-that.

2        Knowledge of a thing or person (for example, I know Sally; Irving knows every song the Beatles recorded). We’ll call this knowing-him/her/it.

3        Knowledge how to do something (for example, Zelda knows how to string a guitar). We’ll call this knowing-how.

-Robert M Martin, Epistemology: A Beginner's Guide (Beginner's Guides) .



130 Parapsychology & occultism



The men and women of the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory were scientists. A medium relaying messages of continuing love from a dead wife might be enough for an inconsolable widower, but it would never be enough for the scientific community, which demanded not only more convincing evidence but also experiments that could be reliably repeated to produce consistent results. To move an idea out of the realm of belief and into the world of accepted fact, others must be able to verify your results. There are no shortcuts to this process, and no exceptions. Like those we pray to when death is imminent, the scientific method is immune to longing, hope, and pleas.

-Stacy Horn, Unbelievable 

150 Psychology:

“The DSM-IV-TR is a 943-page textbook published by the American Psychiatric Association that sells for $99...There are currently 374 mental disorders. I bought the book...and leafed through it...I closed the manual. "I wonder if I've got any of the 374 mental disorders," I thought. I opened the manual again. And instantly diagnosed myself with twelve different ones.”

― Jon Ronson, The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry



 “If we wish to know about a man, we ask 'what is his story--his real, inmost story?'--for each of us is a biography, a story. Each of us is a singular narrative, which is constructed, continually, unconsciously, by, through, and in us--through our perceptions, our feelings, our thoughts, our actions; and, not least, our discourse, our spoken narrations. Biologically, physiologically, we are not so different from each other; historically, as narratives--we are each of us unique.”

― Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales



153 Cognition and Memory

But what if all the experts who have told us for a hundred years that it cannot be changed are wrong? What if the brain is like pretty much every other part of the physical world, in that human ingenuity can find a way to tinker with it? Think about it: we can transplant a heart, construct a bionic retina to let the blind see, and build robotic legs to permit the lame to walk; we can get breast implants and have a sex change. But we can’t increase our brain’s functional abilities? Are smartphones the only thing we can make smarter? What is this intelligence thing anyway: is it some kind of forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge? Does it not have a real, physical basis? Are these researchers who tell us it can never be changed actually scientists—or are they high priests of an IQ cult? Are we not smart enough to figure out how to make ourselves smarter?

Dan Hurley, Smarter (2013)



When Holmes first lays out the theoretical principles behind his approach, he boils it down to one main idea: “How much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came his way.” And that “all” includes each and every thought; in Holmes’s world, there is no such thing as a thought that is taken at face value. As he notes, “From a drop of water, a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other.” In other words, given our existing knowledge base, we can use observation to deduce meaning from an otherwise meaningless fact.



For, at its most basic, isn’t that the detective’s appeal? Not only can he solve the hardest of crimes, but he does so with an approach that seems, well, elementary when you get right down to it. This approach is based in science, in specific steps, in habits of thought that can be learned, cultivated, and applied.

Maria Konnikova, Mastermind: How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes (2013)



155 Developmental and differential Psychology

But for all their differences, shyness and introversion have in common something profound. The mental state of a shy extrovert sitting quietly in a business meeting may be very different from that of a calm introvert—the shy person is afraid to speak up, while the introvert is simply overstimulated—but to the outside world, the two appear to be the same. This can give both types insight into how our reverence for alpha status blinds us to things that are good and smart and wise. For very different reasons, shy and introverted people might choose to spend their days in behind-the-scenes pursuits like inventing, or researching, or holding the hands of the gravely ill—or in leadership positions they execute with quiet competence. These are not alpha roles, but the people who play them are role models all the same.

Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking (2012)

158 Self-Help/Inspiration:

 “I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, 'Where's the self-help section?' She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.”

― George Carlin



Make small commitments and keep them. Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic. Be a part of the solution, not the problem.

-Stephen R. Covey “Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People: Living THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE Every Day”



“What would you do if you weren't afraid?”

― Spencer Johnson, Who Moved My Cheese?



“Making my bed correctly was not going to be an opportunity for praise. It was expected of me. It was my first task of the day, and doing it right was important. It demonstrated my discipline. It showed my attention to detail, and at the end of the day it would be a reminder that I had done something well, something to be proud of, no matter how small the task.”

― William H. McRaven, Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World



“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”

― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture



160 Philosophical logic

“Logic does not generate new truths, but rather allows one to evaluate existing chains of thought for consistency and coherence. It is precisely for that reason that it proves an effective tool for the analysis and communication of ideas and arguments.



The ability to analyze others’ arguments can also serve as a yardstick for when to withdraw from discussions that will most likely be futile.”

― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments



The modern world is a noxious environment for those of us bothered by logical error. People may have become no worse at reasoning, but they now have so many more opportunities to show off how bad they are. If anyone cared about our suffering, talk radio and oped pages would be censored. Even Congress is now broadcast, as if no torment were too great.  



Alas, most know next to nothing about the ways reasoning can go wrong. Schools and universities pack their minds with invaluable pieces of information—about the nitrogen cycle, the causes of World War II, iambic pentameter, and trigonometry—but leave them incapable of identifying even basic errors of logic. Which makes for a nation of suckers, unable to resist the bogus reasoning of those who want something from them, such as votes or money or devotion.

-Jamie Whyte, Crimes Against Logic: Exposing the Bogus Arguments of Politicians, Priests, Journalists, and Other Serial Offenders  



170 Ethics



Ethics are arguably the one type of philosophy that is readily applicable to daily life. Philosophy asks big questions like, “Is God real?” or “Why are we here?” But those big questions don’t directly address how to live one’s life. Ethics is the missing step between addressing the infiniteness of the universe and reconciling it with the daily existence of life on earth. If philosophy encourages moral behavior by asking the big “why” questions, then ethics is an exploration of that moral behavior, and it seeks to formulate concrete “what” and “how” answers to the questions that philosophy poses.

-Brian Boone, Ethics 101: From Altruism and Utilitarianism to Bioethics and Political Ethics, an Exploration of the Concepts of Right and Wrong (Adams 101)  
Reading and Writing: Dewey Decimal System 100 Philosophy and Psychology 100 Philosophy and Psychology “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” ― Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning “Pythagoras is in fact credited with having coined the words "philosophy" ("love of wisdom") and "mathematics" ("that which is learned"). To him, a "philosopher" was someone who "gives himself up to discovering the meaning and purpose of life itself...to uncover the secrets of nature." Pythagoras emphasized the importance of learning above all other activities, because, in his words, "most men and women, by birth or nature, lack the means to advance in wealth and power, but all have the ability to advance in knowledge.” ― Mario Livio, The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, the World's Most Astonishing Number “You must determine where you are going in your life, because you cannot get there unless you move in that direction. Random wandering will not move you forward. It will instead disappoint and frustrate you and make you anxious and unhappy and hard to get along with (and then resentful, and then vengeful, and then worse).” ― Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos “To be is to do - Socrates To do is to be - Sartre Do Be Do Be Do - Sinatra” ― Kurt Vonnegut 110 Metaphysics Metaphysics, according to Aristotle, is an investigation into the different kinds or categories of being. To understand what he had in mind, it is helpful to know that, as Aristotle saw things, terms like “being” or “existence” have a variety of different meanings. For example, what it is for a horse to exist is very different Aristotle’s idea was that “being” and related words (like “is” or “exists”) mean one thing when predicated of a horse or a cat and something else when predicated of a number. The meanings are related to one another, but still different. We can understand this point by way of an analogy. Consider the word “healthy.” We might say that a meal is healthy; we might also say that someone’s complexion is healthy, or that she herself is healthy. It seems that “healthy” means something different in each of these three cases. The meanings are related, but they are still different. So, likewise, Aristotle thought, with words like “exists” or “is”: They too vary in meaning, depending on the sort of thing to which they are applied. -Michael Rea, Metaphysics: The Basics 120 Epistemology The official name for the study of knowledge in philosophy is epistemology. The word ‘epistemological’ means pertaining to the study of knowledge; while ‘epistemic’ means pertaining to knowledge. The noun ‘knowledge’ and the verb ‘to know’ are used in a large variety of ways. The Oxford English Dictionary devotes almost 2600 words to defining various senses and constructions involving the verb (not including hundreds of examples). It’s difficult to sort all this out, but we can roughly distinguish three main kinds of ways of knowing, corresponding to three sorts of things said to be known: 1 Knowledge of facts (for example, Fred knows that the party is cancelled). We’ll call this knowing-that. 2 Knowledge of a thing or person (for example, I know Sally; Irving knows every song the Beatles recorded). We’ll call this knowing-him/her/it. 3 Knowledge how to do something (for example, Zelda knows how to string a guitar). We’ll call this knowing-how. -Robert M Martin, Epistemology: A Beginner's Guide (Beginner's Guides) . 130 Parapsychology & occultism The men and women of the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory were scientists. A medium relaying messages of continuing love from a dead wife might be enough for an inconsolable widower, but it would never be enough for the scientific community, which demanded not only more convincing evidence but also experiments that could be reliably repeated to produce consistent results. To move an idea out of the realm of belief and into the world of accepted fact, others must be able to verify your results. There are no shortcuts to this process, and no exceptions. Like those we pray to when death is imminent, the scientific method is immune to longing, hope, and pleas. -Stacy Horn, Unbelievable 150 Psychology: “The DSM-IV-TR is a 943-page textbook published by the American Psychiatric Association that sells for $99...There are currently 374 mental disorders. I bought the book...and leafed through it...I closed the manual. "I wonder if I've got any of the 374 mental disorders," I thought. I opened the manual again. And instantly diagnosed myself with twelve different ones.” ― Jon Ronson, The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry “If we wish to know about a man, we ask 'what is his story--his real, inmost story?'--for each of us is a biography, a story. Each of us is a singular narrative, which is constructed, continually, unconsciously, by, through, and in us--through our perceptions, our feelings, our thoughts, our actions; and, not least, our discourse, our spoken narrations. Biologically, physiologically, we are not so different from each other; historically, as narratives--we are each of us unique.” ― Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales 153 Cognition and Memory But what if all the experts who have told us for a hundred years that it cannot be changed are wrong? What if the brain is like pretty much every other part of the physical world, in that human ingenuity can find a way to tinker with it? Think about it: we can transplant a heart, construct a bionic retina to let the blind see, and build robotic legs to permit the lame to walk; we can get breast implants and have a sex change. But we can’t increase our brain’s functional abilities? Are smartphones the only thing we can make smarter? What is this intelligence thing anyway: is it some kind of forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge? Does it not have a real, physical basis? Are these researchers who tell us it can never be changed actually scientists—or are they high priests of an IQ cult? Are we not smart enough to figure out how to make ourselves smarter? Dan Hurley, Smarter (2013) When Holmes first lays out the theoretical principles behind his approach, he boils it down to one main idea: “How much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came his way.” And that “all” includes each and every thought; in Holmes’s world, there is no such thing as a thought that is taken at face value. As he notes, “From a drop of water, a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other.” In other words, given our existing knowledge base, we can use observation to deduce meaning from an otherwise meaningless fact. For, at its most basic, isn’t that the detective’s appeal? Not only can he solve the hardest of crimes, but he does so with an approach that seems, well, elementary when you get right down to it. This approach is based in science, in specific steps, in habits of thought that can be learned, cultivated, and applied. Maria Konnikova, Mastermind: How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes (2013) 155 Developmental and differential Psychology But for all their differences, shyness and introversion have in common something profound. The mental state of a shy extrovert sitting quietly in a business meeting may be very different from that of a calm introvert—the shy person is afraid to speak up, while the introvert is simply overstimulated—but to the outside world, the two appear to be the same. This can give both types insight into how our reverence for alpha status blinds us to things that are good and smart and wise. For very different reasons, shy and introverted people might choose to spend their days in behind-the-scenes pursuits like inventing, or researching, or holding the hands of the gravely ill—or in leadership positions they execute with quiet competence. These are not alpha roles, but the people who play them are role models all the same. Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking (2012) 158 Self-Help/Inspiration: “I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, 'Where's the self-help section?' She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.” ― George Carlin Make small commitments and keep them. Be a light, not a judge. Be a model, not a critic. Be a part of the solution, not the problem. -Stephen R. Covey “Daily Reflections for Highly Effective People: Living THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE Every Day” “What would you do if you weren't afraid?” ― Spencer Johnson, Who Moved My Cheese? “Making my bed correctly was not going to be an opportunity for praise. It was expected of me. It was my first task of the day, and doing it right was important. It demonstrated my discipline. It showed my attention to detail, and at the end of the day it would be a reminder that I had done something well, something to be proud of, no matter how small the task.” ― William H. McRaven, Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World “The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” ― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture 160 Philosophical logic “Logic does not generate new truths, but rather allows one to evaluate existing chains of thought for consistency and coherence. It is precisely for that reason that it proves an effective tool for the analysis and communication of ideas and arguments. The ability to analyze others’ arguments can also serve as a yardstick for when to withdraw from discussions that will most likely be futile.” ― Ali Almossawi, An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments The modern world is a noxious environment for those of us bothered by logical error. People may have become no worse at reasoning, but they now have so many more opportunities to show off how bad they are. If anyone cared about our suffering, talk radio and oped pages would be censored. Even Congress is now broadcast, as if no torment were too great. Alas, most know next to nothing about the ways reasoning can go wrong. Schools and universities pack their minds with invaluable pieces of information—about the nitrogen cycle, the causes of World War II, iambic pentameter, and trigonometry—but leave them incapable of identifying even basic errors of logic. Which makes for a nation of suckers, unable to resist the bogus reasoning of those who want something from them, such as votes or money or devotion. -Jamie Whyte, Crimes Against Logic: Exposing the Bogus Arguments of Politicians, Priests, Journalists, and Other Serial Offenders 170 Ethics Ethics are arguably the one type of philosophy that is readily applicable to daily life. Philosophy asks big questions like, “Is God real?” or “Why are we here?” But those big questions don’t directly address how to live one’s life. Ethics is the missing step between addressing the infiniteness of the universe and reconciling it with the daily existence of life on earth. If philosophy encourages moral behavior by asking the big “why” questions, then ethics is an exploration of that moral behavior, and it seeks to formulate concrete “what” and “how” answers to the questions that philosophy poses. -Brian Boone, Ethics 101: From Altruism and Utilitarianism to Bioethics and Political Ethics, an Exploration of the Concepts of Right and Wrong (Adams 101)