Philosophy & the Self
Every idea in Doomscholar on philosophy & the self. Open any one to read it in layers, with its sources.
- Live the QuestionsRainer Maria RilkeDo not rush to find answers to life's deepest dilemmas; you must learn to love the questions themselves until you gradually live your way into the answer.
- PanpsychismPhilip GoffConsciousness is not an illusion generated by complex brains; it is a fundamental property of all physical matter in the universe.
- Predictive ProcessingAndy ClarkYour brain does not passively receive reality through your eyes and ears. It hallucinates reality, and only uses your senses to correct its errors.
- Romanticism vs. ClassicismAlain de BottonModern misery is largely caused by the dominance of Romanticism, which tells us to follow our passions blindly, rather than Classicism, which values reason and low expectations.
- Seven Stoic Principles to Simplify LifeMarcus FrickA working Stoic practice compresses to seven paired principle-and-action-item combinations — from 'less is more' to 'you're not in control' — that translate 2,000-year-old maxims into weekly calendar audits and journaling habits.
- The Empty BoatZhuangzi (classical parable)Anger at being wronged usually depends on believing another person intended it — the same collision that enrages you when caused by a person barely registers when caused by an empty, driverless boat, which means most anger is really a reaction to perceived intention, not to the harm itself.
- The Good Enough MotherDonald WinnicottA perfect parent destroys a child's ability to cope with reality. A 'good enough' parent intentionally fails in small, tolerable ways to build resilience.
- The Overview EffectFrank WhiteSeeing the Earth from orbit triggers a profound cognitive shift, revealing the fragility of the planet and the artificiality of human borders.
- The People-First ApproachHaitham Al-BeikTechnology should be built around the Human as an irreducible constant — a 'driver' separate from mind and body who retains the right to keep changing — rather than treating people as optimization targets a system can fully model and predict.
- The Porcupine DilemmaArthur SchopenhauerHuman intimacy is a paradox: we need each other for warmth and survival, but if we get too close, we inevitably stab each other with our flaws.
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