Scientific Positivism: A New Philosophy
By Spencer Ferri
Foreword
Thanks for taking the time to download the first part of my informal series of essays. This project has a very particular and personal purpose, and is written in reflection of both that purpose and the and the consideration of a great many topics. Ultimately, my purpose is to describe a unique style of philosophy developed by me which carries with it many qualities and is influenced by many fields of thought and study. I have considered: abstract experiences, historical knowledge, technological marvels, scientific discoveries, artistic experience, modern philosophy, political argumentation, personal social experiences, self-analysis and even the lessons of science-fiction during the development of my philosophy. How have I managed to consider all of these many topics and still develop a well-rounded philosophy instead of some chaotic, jumbled mess? Simply, I have considered all of these fields throughout my life gradually and empirically, regularly challenging my total world-view with every new piece of data recieved. I am not unique in that I ask questions, seek answers and reflect on what I find, not at all. But I have toed the line between rebellion and respect, I have engaged as many people as I can with as great success as I could achieve and have yet to meet any who've developed a world view which is like mine.
I will, without regular deadlines, update this series by pulling apart the network of interconnected knowledge I've developed from itself and re-classify critical relationships into individual categories which will be, as the series evolves, reconnected to those new parts. I will associate many things and, as I write more and more essays, I will show a process of thinking which I have not yet seen adopted by many people. Each chapter will be followed by an addition to each preceding part, manifested in summaries and quick references. By showing you this process, by making it clear where I've connected new parts to old documents, I hope to inspire the invention of your own brand of scientific positivism.
I believe we are a people of nearly unlimited potential. But we must be rationally aware of our limits, the limits of natural and physical law. Please enjoy my series as I demonstrate the reason why I believe a scientifically-positive world view is the best world view, and a world view any one can adopt while still retaining their individual identity and liberty.
Scientific Positivism: An Introduction
All acceleration and improvement of human life and experience since mankind first improved his tool-making techniques has been of our doing. There are many examples of developing technologies and social philosophies which have reduced the amount of time and energy required for people to live well and quicken our rate of life experiences. We can demonstrate this by looking both at how the currently prevailing administrative/economic views replaced previously prevailing views; we can describe the accuracy of their interpretation by comparing how much human potential they could unlock by giving national authority to those world-views. We do this by analysing their respective legacies, by comparing historical world-views and their accomplishes to the accomplishments of modern authorities. As we can justify calling the economist as a better judge of character than ancient priests by looking at the affect of their philosophy in authority, so too can we see the flaw in the vague modern economic philosophy when it is compared to scientific discoveries and the world-view this collection of knowledge can paint.
By looking closely at how the business-science relationship has built our modern world - both in admiration of its wonders and in strong criticism against the mistakes it has made - we can begin to see a new paradigm shift in the world. The conversation between the boldly successful philosophies of government and businesses, the defeated-but-resilient remnants of philosophies religiously or impulsive inspired, and the newer more complicated scientifically-optimistic world-views is leading us to some unknown, unpredictable future. People have described the future as being anywhere between a desolate landscape and a world of abundance. I believe creative, scientific philosophers uphold the most rewarding lines of reasoning. If we can restructure our political and economic systems to better empower these voices - if we were to hand them the mic. for a while - I believe this group would have the ability to lead the unhealthy conversation to a healthy place by educating many and empowering them to affect rationally healthy and rewarding living. I believe their way of thinking is one anyone can adopt, one which has the best chance to achieve maximum global human potential and prosperity.
