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I'm intuitively suspicious that what people call Theory today begins with "all map, no territory," and results in, "maps all the way down." This seems similar

I'm intuitively suspicious that what people call Theory today begins with "all map, no territory," and results in, "maps all the way down." This seems similar to a ladder of physical competence, but applied to philosophical reasoning. It's not clear to me that there is a there there outside of math, physics, (and increasingly computation) where you have to physically practice the calculations to arrive at the conclusions, whereas I don't think philosophy has an analogous objective competence. Ironically, some mysticisms like meditation (and perhaps even prayer) may even have a higher bar because they are a physically transformative competence akin to practicing music, whereas attaching yourself to an academic and fundamentally political consensus doesn't have the same honest signals or investment.

astrange 4y ago
> Ironically, some mysticisms like meditation (and perhaps even prayer) may even have a higher bar because they are a physically transformative competence akin to practicing music The issue there is that while meditating leads to "something" happening for sure, almost nobody is going to stop to check if it's the right "something" and the teacher can't look inside your mind. So you might just have a mental breakdown then decide that's proof you're "enlightened". (Was going to quote David Chapman here but someone already did in this thread. But I mean, it's how most cults or New Agey religious groups start.)
- motohagiography 4y ago
  Even while I agree, the analogy to music is fairly consistent, as anyone can eventually bang out the notes, but the performance is going to be the effect of the practice. In the meditation case, anyone can say they are enlightened and maybe do some yoga poses, but their performance in life is going to be the effect of the practice as well. Conspicuously, there is no honorary enlightenment either.

astrange 4y ago

> Ironically, some mysticisms like meditation (and perhaps even prayer) may even have a higher bar because they are a physically transformative competence akin to practicing music The issue there is that while meditating leads to "something" happening for sure, almost nobody is going to stop to check if it's the right "something" and the teacher can't look inside your mind. So you might just have a mental breakdown then decide that's proof you're "enlightened". (Was going to quote David Chapman here but someone already did in this thread. But I mean, it's how most cults or New Agey religious groups start.)

motohagiography 4y ago
Even while I agree, the analogy to music is fairly consistent, as anyone can eventually bang out the notes, but the performance is going to be the effect of the practice. In the meditation case, anyone can say they are enlightened and maybe do some yoga poses, but their performance in life is going to be the effect of the practice as well. Conspicuously, there is no honorary enlightenment either.