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The Quotidian Practice of Semantics for Philosophical Analyses

Semantics, a branch of study within the larger disciplines of both philosophy and linguistics, is foundationally connected to the construction and conveyance of meaning. Philosophers routinely practice semantics by analytically studying textual language expressing abstract concepts in order to accurately construe it. However, the practice of semantics need not be reserved for only the philosophers and linguists among us. Given the universality with which practical semantics can boost the construction and meaning of almost any given topic, I believe that both practitioners and theoreticians in most all fields could benefit greatly by developing even a basic, informal system for practicing semantics. What follows is by no means a technical or academic method for practicing semantics; it is merely an imperfect system that I have, with the benefit of a modicum of knowledge on the subject, stumbled upon through experience to enhance my appreciation and understanding of subjects as varied as...
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Knowledge as an Insufficient Contributor to Enlightenment

The age-old mantra of knowledge is power suggests, at least at face value, that the acquisition of all knowledge—regardless of its type, quality, or source—is empowering, and therefore worth the cost of time, energy, and opportunities forgone required for its pursuit. This is, in my opinion, for a whole host of reasons, a terribly reductionist notion which, if followed through, would lead one seeking wisdom to suboptimal outcomes vis-à-vis one’s ultimate philosophical goals. This post is dedicated to briefly exploring just one reason why the indiscriminate pursuit of knowledge could be a detriment, instead of a boon, in the sense that it could serve to inhibit one’s comparative, though not absolute, enlightenment. The collation of a select group of philosophical concepts yields my conclusion on this particular matter. First, it must be borne in mind that philosophy defines knowledge as one’s belief that is both justified and true. According to the foundational view of knowledge, our b...
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Assessing the Pursuit-Worthiness of Knowledge Part II: The Negative Case

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In the immediately preceding post, we considered a select group of closely-related reasons that make practically-useful knowledge potentially worth pursuing. In this post, as promised in the last, we will consider the limitations of, and exceptions to, those reasons. We will do so not to refute the points made earlier but rather to attempt delineating the contours of the parameters within which the merits of the previously stated ideas are maximally valid. This will possibly allow us to temper our judgments regarding pursuing practically-useful knowledge without going unwisely overboard or astray because outside of their parameters those same valid ideas may, to a lesser or greater extent, lose their validity. Such a nuanced approach is indispensable because it allows for the realization of how and when it’s wise to act upon a suggestion in general and how and when to pursue a given body of knowledge in particular. The previous discussion did not allow for the consideration of the inte...
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Assessing the Pursuit-Worthiness of Knowledge Part I: The Affirmative Case

Pursuing knowledge, as with pursuing many things in life, requires a commitment of precious and limited resources such as time and energy. Nonetheless, the pursuit of knowledge that is sufficiently valuable is unarguably a highly worthwhile endeavor. What makes knowledge valuable is itself an intractable question but, at least for purposes of this post, suffice it to say that one criterion that makes knowledge valuable is its practical usefulness (it should be parenthetically mentioned that while knowledge and information mean different things in technical philosophy, this post will use both words in their ordinary, plain-English language meaning and, therefore, interchangeably when appropriate). As can be expected, judging the usefulness of any given unit or piece of knowledge is also quite the trial. Human beings, as mere mortals, have limited abilities and tools to accurately or reasonably predict what the future holds, what types of circumstances one could find themselves in, w...
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Delineating Ignorance from Uncertainty through Epistemic Precision

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Though “I don’t know” and “I’m not sure” are sometimes the only wise answers one can provide, there is a substantive difference between the two that people going through the motions of life do not meaningfully understand, much less appreciate. The importance of being able to mark one’s position in uncertainty versus one’s position in ignorance is such that it allows for the realization of when one answer is categorically correct, or at least more appropriate, over another. While the decision regarding whether one is unsure versus ignorant is not rigorously mathematical and is ultimately a personal judgment, I believe that it has a core objective basis. The delineation of ignorance from uncertainty is essentially an epistemological inquiry because the judgment is primarily contingent upon one’s limits of knowledge. Obviously enough, ignorance is the consequence of one having little to no knowledge regarding a given matter whereas uncertainty is a consequence of one having insufficient k...
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What Does it Mean to be Self-Taught?

Philosophers throughout the ages including many of the most preeminent ones such as Rene Descartes, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and John Locke were keenly interested in the epistemological inquiry of how best to gain knowledge. It’s very much in this vein that I have, despite having meritorious thoughts on the matter, often struggled with the question of the meaning of being self-taught. To better round out my understanding, I recently had the opportunity to propose this question to my philosophy club at our most recent meeting. As always, we enjoyed a spirited discussion which involved different and differing viewpoints. What ensued not only helped me better clarify my thinking on this question but also helped me reach a personally satisfying conclusion. The basis of my dilemma on this question is that, at least in general parlance, individuals who independently obtain knowledge in a given area outside of a formal setting are referred to as being self-taught. Such individuals may obtai...
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Novices and Veterans: Divergent Conclusions Regarding the Applicability of Stoic Principles

It was through dabbling in stoicism that I gained a better understanding of how I, like so many others, have a hard time excusing other people's bad behavior. Another thing, that I will later in this post relate to this understanding of my tendency, that became apparent to me after joining a stoicism study group was the pattern of divergence in the conclusions formed by novice versus veteran practitioners of this branch of philosophy. I think that while both the approaches of the novice and the veteran help preserve one's tranquility, only the veteran’s approach leads to practical wisdom beyond mere inner peace. Now, for purposes of only this post, allow me to make, and use as a basis for further reasoning, the grossly oversimplified claim that stoicism teaches extending the benefit of the doubt to other people. For example, if someone has broken a previously-made promise or commitment, stoicism would advocate contemplating the possibility of unforeseen circumstances outside of...
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