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Reflections on science, spiritual teachings, and mystical philosophy, by Thomas McFarlane
Browsing All Posts filed under »Philosophy«
An Analogy between Math and Empirical Science
Empirical science is distinguished from mathematics primarily in one crucial respect: while mathematics requires that its propositions conform to pure logic, empirical science requires in addition that its propositions conform to empirical data. Because mathematics is unconstrained by the contingencies and uncertainties of empirical data, it has the virtue of great certainty and generality in […]
Suffering is Proportional to Resistance
December 29, 2010
An earlier post entitled Substantiality is Inversely Proportional to Ponderability discussed an insight of Franklin Merrell-Wolff which proposes a relationship between recognition of transcendent reality, or Substantiality, to cognition of objectivity, or Ponderability. Because of their inverse relationship, the more one experiences a world of ponderable objects, the less one recognizes transcendent Substantiality. This relationship can […]
Contemplating the Nature of Time
February 21, 2010
A previous post explored the question of whether time has an objective existence. In this post, we continue this investigation in a more contemplative way. Consider, for example, the sound of a train passing by not far away. Our conventional and habitual way of interpreting such auditory phenomena is to imagine a thing called a […]
Symmetry, Invariance, and Objectivity
May 16, 2009
Symmetry is intimately related to the idea of invariance, the persistence of something amidst change (e.g., changes in time, space, or perspective). This is also one meaning of objectivity. Thus, symmetry is a key to understanding the objective world, as is well known in physics. The basic idea here is not confined to the esoteric […]
About the Author
Thomas McFarlane is the author of Einstein and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings. A graduate of Stanford University in physics, he also holds advanced degrees in mathematics and in philosophy and religion. He is a US patent agent and founder of a Silicon Valley patent firm. View author profile on Google+
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January 17, 2012
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