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Axioms
Axioms is a work that explores the true nature of human knowledge, in particular the fundamental nature of deductive and inductive reasoning. It begins by embracing Hume's Skepticism and Descartes' one ``certain'' thing, and then looking for a way out of the solipsistic hell this leaves one in in terms of ``certain'' knowledge. Indeed, to the extent that philosophy in the past has sought to provide certain answers to virtually any question at all, philosophy itself proves to be bullshit - all philosophical arguments ultimately come back to at least one unprovable premise, usually unstated, and can be refuted by simply asserting ``I don't agree with your premises.''
The way out is to give up the idea of certain knowledge. All non-immediate knowledge of the world is based on these premises, which are unprovable assumptions, or axioms. To understand the world around us, we have to begin by making all sorts of assumptions - such as the assumption that there is a real world out there to be understood in the first place, and that the rules that govern it are structured and understandable. The rules of thought, logic, and mathematics that we use to structure this understanding are themselves only methodologies for deriving contingent truth based on unprovable axioms, and changing the axioms underlying any mathematical or logical argument often changes the equally valid conclusions.
The way out is to give up the idea of certain knowledge. All non-immediate knowledge of the world is based on these premises, which are unprovable assumptions, or axioms. To understand the world around us, we have to begin by making all sorts of assumptions - such as the assumption that there is a real world out there to be understood in the first place, and that the rules that govern it are structured and understandable. The rules of thought, logic, and mathematics that we use to structure this understanding are themselves only methodologies for deriving contingent truth based on unprovable axioms, and changing the axioms underlying any mathematical or logical argument often changes the equally valid conclusions.
250 pages, ebook
Published January 1, 2007
2 people want to read
About the author
Robert G. Brown
12 books124 followersMy real biography is way too long and complex for a few hundred words, so this is the reader's digest version. I've lived in Skaneateles, New York, New Delhi, India, West Springfield, Virginia, and for 34 years now in Durham, NC where I teach physics at Duke. I'm married (to Susan F. Isbey MD) and have three boys. We live with three dogs, one cat, and sundry transient animals of all classes.
In addition to doing physics, math, statistics, computing, predictive modelling, and geekstuff like that, I write. A lot. Daily.
I write magazine columns and articles, usually in the field of computing. I've written lots of "learned papers" in physics, mostly published in Physical Review. I've written two books of poetry (much of which has been published on the Internet since before the Web was born), two fictional novels (one of which, The Book of Lilith, has been published), and several topical texts in physics and computing. I'm currently working on more fiction and on what should be THE definitive work on axiomatic metaphysical philosophy.
My books can be found here:
http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcc...
The The Book of Lilith (ISBN: 978-1-4303-2245-0) can be found on Amazon or Barnes and Noble or other fine online booksellers. Some of them are also available for free via my personal website here:
http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb.
In addition to doing physics, math, statistics, computing, predictive modelling, and geekstuff like that, I write. A lot. Daily.
I write magazine columns and articles, usually in the field of computing. I've written lots of "learned papers" in physics, mostly published in Physical Review. I've written two books of poetry (much of which has been published on the Internet since before the Web was born), two fictional novels (one of which, The Book of Lilith, has been published), and several topical texts in physics and computing. I'm currently working on more fiction and on what should be THE definitive work on axiomatic metaphysical philosophy.
My books can be found here:
http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcc...
The The Book of Lilith (ISBN: 978-1-4303-2245-0) can be found on Amazon or Barnes and Noble or other fine online booksellers. Some of them are also available for free via my personal website here:
http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 7, 2021
Oof. I'm sorry, but this was not good...
I stumbled on Dr. Robert G. Brown's Duke University page searching for a way to break myself out of a solipsistic spell during shelter-in-place. I thought his "Solipsism is Bullshit" article was fine enough, so I figured I could give his unfinished, unpublished(?) draft of Axioms a go. And boy what a doozy.
Brown is a computer scientist/physicist tossing his two cents into the pool of metaphysics and theology, and Axioms reads exactly like how you would expect -- a mid-2000s New Atheist screed against fundamentalist religion shellacked with but a flimsy veneer of contemplation. As a self-described "Godful scientist" (emphasis his), Brown sloppily argues that all axioms are unprovable and axiomatic systems incomplete and/or inconsistent. Or, to put it another way, all belief is a matter of faith. Duh.
Here, we see the same problem exemplified with Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and the others: fundamental misapprehensions about religion. This is the reason why the only strawman they can argue against are strict fundamentalists. In the same way fundamentalists attempt to read texts as literally as possible, Brown falls into the same trap. He must go on bizarre diatribes about set theory and quantum mechanics just to point out that things can be both true and false at the same time. He has to invoke the tired "memetic Superorganism" metanarrative of history to dubiously describe relations within a generic religious society. Anyway, Axioms' own axiom of axiomatic liberalism may soon come home to roost.
However, while the content of Axioms is shoddy, I surprised myself more by powering through the horrible prose. You can't go through one paragraph without seeing a joke footnote or pun. I figure Brown had to add oases of granddad jokes within a desert of dry math-speak to liven the draft up.
Thank God it was free, but I'll never be able to get my time back.
I stumbled on Dr. Robert G. Brown's Duke University page searching for a way to break myself out of a solipsistic spell during shelter-in-place. I thought his "Solipsism is Bullshit" article was fine enough, so I figured I could give his unfinished, unpublished(?) draft of Axioms a go. And boy what a doozy.
Brown is a computer scientist/physicist tossing his two cents into the pool of metaphysics and theology, and Axioms reads exactly like how you would expect -- a mid-2000s New Atheist screed against fundamentalist religion shellacked with but a flimsy veneer of contemplation. As a self-described "Godful scientist" (emphasis his), Brown sloppily argues that all axioms are unprovable and axiomatic systems incomplete and/or inconsistent. Or, to put it another way, all belief is a matter of faith. Duh.
Here, we see the same problem exemplified with Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and the others: fundamental misapprehensions about religion. This is the reason why the only strawman they can argue against are strict fundamentalists. In the same way fundamentalists attempt to read texts as literally as possible, Brown falls into the same trap. He must go on bizarre diatribes about set theory and quantum mechanics just to point out that things can be both true and false at the same time. He has to invoke the tired "memetic Superorganism" metanarrative of history to dubiously describe relations within a generic religious society. Anyway, Axioms' own axiom of axiomatic liberalism may soon come home to roost.
However, while the content of Axioms is shoddy, I surprised myself more by powering through the horrible prose. You can't go through one paragraph without seeing a joke footnote or pun. I figure Brown had to add oases of granddad jokes within a desert of dry math-speak to liven the draft up.
Out there I can almost hear the cleverest readers starting to snicker inside. If I conclude that Philosophy is Bullshit, isn't this entire book just bullshit? Of course it is. My wife would have told you that before you bought it, if you'd only thought to ask her. Sorry thought, can't get your money back.
Thank God it was free, but I'll never be able to get my time back.
Displaying 1 of 1 review