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Friday, February 22, 2013

22 February 2013

Nothing like a Filosophy Friday on a Saturday morning.
Today's Daily Quota is based on one of my favourite maxims; de omnibus dubitandum est.
Translated, it simply means 'everything must be doubted'.

This statement was coined by Kierkegaard in his novelle on Johannes Climacus, and later employed by Karl Marx as an open-minded approach to life, and everything that we are told.
This maxim need not be cynical in nature, but rather a constant reminder that we must doubt all that we see, hear, feel or think, as it is almost always fleeting. 
We must never be arrogant about our own knowledge, as what we are certain about today will be the retrospective fiction of tomorrow.

How would things ever change for the better if there is no one that, at first, doubts?
How are we to ever move forward if we are completely satisfied in what we know and trust?
Is curiosity not what makes us human?

This approach to doubt was first employed amongst early Renaissance philosophers, most notably Rene Descartes (pictured left).
This was referred to as Cartesian Doubt, and laid the foundation for the maxim above.

Below I have linked everyone to a PDF file (pedophile?) that discusses, quite briefly, this concept of Cartesian Doubt. A very hot item for future conversations, and for our own approach to the 'truths' we encounter in life. 

READ IT HERE


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