Philosophical Breakthroughs

hilosophical breakthroughs are rare, but they do occur, when a subject which was formerly considered philosophical becomes scientific. It is not that a scientist comes in and cleans up the subject. No, there must be a long philosophical evolution of the subject. The last philosopher of a subject ceases to be called "philosopher" by future generations, and becomes known as the founder of a discipline.

he last philosopher of mathematics was Euclid, building on earlier work by Plato, Zeno, Pythagoras, Thales and the Babylonians. The last philosopher of physics was Newton, who said he stood on the shoulders of giants. He didn't name them, but we can imagine it would be Kepler, Galileo, Copernicus, Ptolemy, Hipparcos and Thales.

n a way, the creation of a science is the solution to a group of philosophical problems. But they might not all be solved right away. It wasn't until the invention of the calculus that mathematicians were able to resolve Zeno's paradoxes. The point is, they were set on the right path, one which produced reliable results. Euclid's methods have been used by mathematicians from that time forward, just as physicists continue to follow the example of Galileo and Newton.

he solutions to the ancient philosophical questions about free will, the nature of the Mind and the Mind-body relationship are found in my new science of The Mind, and the problems of ethics, morality and aesthetics are solved in my new science of Civilization. Philosophical questions about immortality, divinity and the meaning of life can be resolved in the new science of Metaphysics. At least we are set on the right path. We see what kind of experience is relevant and what kind of tests are required. For many readers, these philosophical breakthroughs may be more important than the specific goal of going to the stars.

here have only been about two dozen philosophers in the entire history of Western Civilization, including me, and the only others from the 20th Century are William James and Carl Gustav Jung, whose work forms the underpinnings of the science of Metaphysics.

can say with Newton that I too stand on the shoulders of giants, when it comes to Psi, although the names of those giants are not yet widely known. A brief list: Tyrrell, Bender, Karagulla, Moody, Stevenson. Someday they will be famous.

he new science which is mostly my own work is the new science of Civilization, also called "Utopian Analysis." I became a utopian dreamer at 15 after reading Plato's Republic. I got the idea for Utopian Analysis when I was 19 and a Sophomore in college. My professors told me to forget it, that what I was attempting was impossible. I got the same message from my graduate school advisor and other professors, and later from my colleagues in what is laughingly called "philosophy." It took me 30 years to solve these "impossible" problems and another 10 years to find a way to publish them (the invention of the Web).

he last philosophers to make significant contributions to the science of Civilization were Hobbes and Locke and they lived in the 17th Century. What we have had since is 300 years of sophistry among professional philosophers, because the founders of economics, geology and biology imitated the spirit and example of Galileo and Newton, rather than learning anything from the philosophers of the time. In the 20th Century, the influence of philosophy (in the form of logical positivism) on science has been purely negative, creating a mystery out of quantum mechanics, and making psychology a bastard stepchild of biology.

hy the long dry spell? Why were my colleagues so sure that it was impossible to create a science of values? Because of the "naturalistic fallacy." This is the fallacy of inferring values from facts. I do not commit this fallacy, and avoiding it was the least of my problems. Perhaps the question is "why were my professors and colleagues so sure that a science of values must commit the naturalistic fallacy?" Because they are sophists.

he only academic philosopher of the 20th Century who has had any influence on me is a British philosopher, whose last name is Austin. He said two things which are both true and worth repeating. (1) The function of philosophy is the founding of sciences. (2) Values are guides to action, not properties of things. Thus, values are relative to the actor. There is probably nothing which is of value to every person. However, I have found a number of community ideals which prove true for every community. See the section on "Utopias Result."

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