Living Wisely/Real, Good Insights
Embracing these insights can provide helpful guidance.
Reality Exists—Every time you decide to open the door before passing through the doorway, you are betting that reality exists.
- Learn what there is.
Reality is awesome![1]
Truth corresponds to reality. A true statement is an accurate description of reality, as it is best known at the time. Because understanding evolves, true statements also evolve over time.
Beliefs are what we hold to be true.
We choose our beliefs. We can choose true beliefs.
Untrue beliefs are more likely to be harmful than true beliefs.[2]
Therefore, we have a moral obligation to choose true beliefs.[3]
- Decide how to choose your beliefs.
Perceptions are personal; they are not objective. Perceptions are constructed.
Reality is the objective arbiter of disputes involving matters of fact.
Reliable epistemologies—ways of knowing—converge on reality.
A lack of convergence is caused by unreliable methods. Every apparent contradiction is a symptom of an incomplete investigation.
The most reliable epistemologies are based on thinking scientifically.[4]
Intellectual Honesty combines good faith with a primary motivation toward seeking true beliefs.
Moral reasoning helps us decide what we ought to do.
- Use well-chose moral reasoning as your guide through life.
What matters is well-being. What matters is human experience.[5]
Therefore, it is wise for moral reasoning to be based on studies of human experience and human well-being.
Moral reasoning extends to include all sentient beings, worldwide, now and into the future.
We can choose to live wisely.
Notes:[edit | edit source]
- ↑ See, for example: https://lelandbeaumont.substack.com/p/reality-is-awesome
- ↑ Many ill-fated undertakings were based on untrue beliefs. This list of harmful false beliefs and these case studies provide several examples.
- ↑ The ethics (or lack thereof) of belief, August 31, 2022, Philosophy as a way of life, Medium.
- ↑ See, for example Pinker, Steven (February 13, 2018). Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress. Penguin Books Limited. pp. 576. ISBN 978-0-525-42757-5., Chapter 22.
- ↑ In addition to human experience, the experience of other sentient beings is also morally relevant.