Since time immemorial, the intellectual thought has long been considered the primary purview of Philosophers – the results of whose creative psychological skirmishes still continue to be drawn upon for inspiration and guidance in pressing times. When taking stock of the written publications of these thinkers (which may be accessed through a variety of Spectrum Cable and Internet).
we may find that most of them attempt to root their varied (and inter-related) theses on experienced phenomena within the confines of the mental frameworks already established by their predecessors; giving rise to such designations as ‘Neo-Platonist’ and ‘Neo-Aristotelian’ (among others).
A few, however, attempt to fashion sophisticated intellectual paradigms of their own – by becoming skeptical of the traditions of others, or by choosing skepticism in itself a predetermining tool of analysis (with Nietzsche being one of the forerunners of this trend in the last century).
Epistemological skepticism, a branch of philosophy that seeks to invoke suspicion at the very foundations or bases of knowledge (by casting doubts over whether we really ‘know what we know’) has practically dominated all the realms of intellectual engagement since the beginning of the 20th century. The said current of research continues onward with its piercing advances even today.
How Reality and Thought Converge…
Reality comprises every empirically-verifiable material around us (i.e. everything that can be perceived through the mediums of our innate senses). When we seek to venture beyond this domain that is definitively ascertainable – one which leaves no room for claims of non-existence – we enter the world of the mind.
Since the human mind has been naturally endowed with the faculties of imagination and analytical thought (aids which, according to the results of some research studies, are also possessed in diminutive states by some ‘lesser’ sentient species such as dolphins and chimpanzees), it is able to use these mechanisms to fabricate a reality of its own. This kind of imagined reality (which is an oxymoron like no other) can either be a seamless construct of pure logic or an edifice of seeming nonsense. Or, strangely enough, it can even be a conglomeration of both.
From an evolutionary standpoint, the intrinsic ability to imagine conflicting scenarios in an attempt to arrive at a resolution has proved almost pivotal to the survival of the human species. In today’s world, Cable TV (obtainable through reliable Cable TV and Internet Deals) provides even more avenues for continuously exercising this imaginative function.
The Reinforcing Cycle
Like a budding scientist juggles with hazardous substances within the safe (and private) confines of his/her laboratory, the human mind is able to generate a range of virtual and contradictory ‘drills’ inside its isolated space. This providential facility, in addition to allowing the members of the said species to anticipate the consequences of their next line of attack or defense, also endows them with the virtue of empathy.
From a completely ethical perspective, empathy is considered by many metaphysicians (religious and spiritual gurus) as being the trait that is most crucial to the health of any human collective.
Some thinkers like to equate reality and thought in a dialectical relation with each other. What this means is that they consider both conceptions as being linked to one another in a manner that bolsters their mutual strength and continued viability. There is, however, a great deal of consensus on the original cause behind thought; summed up in an inversion of Descartes’ famous formula ‘I think, therefore I am’. Since existence precedes thought (for how can any exercises of rationality thrive without a thinking subject?), it can only be reasoned that one came from the other.
But once their cycle of spontaneous production goes running on its course, with thought begetting reality (and vice versa), both can simultaneously be referred to as either the effectors or the recipients.
How Physics weighs in
As any informed individual would relate, the laws that control this physical universe and the laws of physics are one and the same. With their epistemological bases rooted in well-known mathematical principles, which allow for their behavior to be successfully predicted, these rulings of the natural world show evidence of the presence of an innate order to all things.
Many religious scriptures, in their attempt to vent their theological takes on this issue, have also hinted elaborately in verse and prose towards this observed predicament. Many famous scientific documentaries (like the Neil Degrasse Tyson starrer Netflix Production ‘The Inexplicable Universe’) continue to contribute their own oratorical offerings to this debate as well – and maybe watched with a quality Spectrum Internet Price after 12 months subscription. What is interesting to note, however, is that the imaginative realm does not, at times, follow any of these juridical frameworks; a subject that continues to baffle thinkers engaged in this discipline even today.
