Thales of Miletus and the Maxim Philosophers Forgot
Thales of Miletus, for his work in the 6th century BCE, is today widely regarded as the first philosopher in the ‘Western’ tradition. History records him as a pioneering thinker and perhaps the most revered of the Seven Sages of ancient Greece. Oddly, however, and much to their cost, Thales is almost entirely ignored by later philosophers, and today it is almost as if he never existed. .
The Inevitable Simplicity of Metaphysics
The Perennial philosophy states that the ultimate nature of reality is too simple to think. In this case, why does metaphysics seem so complicated? Is it that all the world’s great mystics, sages, meditators and gurus have been and still are fraudsters, all telling the same lie? Or is it is because we are misunderstanding something?
The True Nature of Reality: What Should a Rational Person Believe?
To study metaphysics but not mysticism would be a futile exercise, as history shows, and would not be rational.behaviour.
A Place for Comments, Questions and Suggestions
A place for asking philosophical questions, making suggestions and commenting,
Introductory Notes for Various Kinds of Reader
The topics of metaphysics and mysticism may attract (or repel) a wide variety of people from all walks of life who bring with them a wide range of skills and abilities. In this post I make some targeted introductory remarks to various potential interest groups.
In Pursuit of the Inconceivable: Extract from the Introduction
This extract from the book conveys something of its style and approach, and also provides some background and context for my blog posts and newsletter. .
Aristotle, Nagarjuna and the Law of Non-Contradiction in Buddhist Philosophy
Is Buddhist doctrine ‘illogical’? Some scholars hold this view, but here I argue that this view is an error caused by a misunderstanding of dialectical logic and Aristotle’s ‘laws of thought’. .
Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Missing Ingredient
Episode I
A Puzzle in the Paper
It is a late autumn Sunday morning. At 221B Baker Street Mrs Hudson has lit the fire and cleared away the breakfast things. Holmes and Watson are comfortably settled in their armchairs reading the papers.
“I say Holmes, have you seen this piece in the Times about consciousness?”….
The Continuum East and West
This essay examines the relationship between mysticism, for which Buddhism’s Middle Way doctrine would serve here as a defining example, and what, for want of better word, we call ‘Western’ philosophy. The issue here is their very different descriptions of the space-time continuum.
Is Metaphysics a Waste of Time?
The view that metaphysics is a waste of time is common in philosophy. Here I debunk this idea by responding to one of the most poorly informed and misleading indictments of the subject I have ever come across.