Greetings,

My ventures into the world of philosophy in the past have been trivial in the past at best. Trivial based upon my own application of reason to it. Obviously, myself being trivial at that time, adding its flavor to every aspect of my life. I am truly pleased to have found a group of intellectuals that inspire me to think. I look forward to sharing my thoughts and ideas with you, as well as listening to yours.

I am here, in the most literal connotation of the word, to think. However, because what I already know has been influenced by everything I've experienced thus far, my perception of words, concepts, and principles will undoubtedly be different than all of yours. Understanding can eliminate any discrepencies we may have in this regard, and I implore all of you to excercise your ability to understand myself as well as others.

Reason and logic are dictated to us through how we've perceived them. While everyone perceives things in different ways, they are all defined for the most part, via the language in which we perceive it in. Granted there are factors that weigh in, such as how you perceive the words that you've perceived reason and logic. In terms of intangible, is there anything truly universal that we all perceive in the same way?

Some things I've pondered that could be universal:

Time

Think of a fly - it lives for 7 days. Its perception of time defined by its life is much different than ours. In order for perception to be held the same, there must be a universal constant. A unit of time? Units are completely based upon perception. You'd have to be quite certain that every possible existence of life defines something like we do, every single time.

Mathematics

Often perceived as the universal language... However we're assuming that the way we perceive numbers is the same. That there is no other way to perceive them, however, just within culture we can see that the perception of numbers is different. Base 10, hexidecimal, etc. Binary makes a good case for something universal due to its relation to electricity and parity. However, we use tools to interpret electrical signals that give us the "on/off" pulses that thus define what binary is. We assume that every possible instance of existence will develop such tools.

(This train of thought moved into what exactly we define "inventions." Are they really innovations that improve upon reality, or rather, tools that further shape/dictate/define our perception of reality in a new way?)

Causality and perception are the only two concepts that I have surmised that could possibly be considered universal constants, however, only because I have not found a definitive way to disprove them.

Please discuss.

hi Syph,

I'm not a mathematician but no matter what alien race you find, a single unit added to another unit will always have an approximate value, mathematics is just our wording for it.

As for Time, my belief is that time exists only as a unit of measure created by man and has no other basis within the physical universe, of course, I'm swimming against the stream here. :)

Originally posted by siledre
I'm not a mathematician but no matter what alien race you find, a single unit added to another unit will always have an approximate value, mathematics is just our wording for it.

I understand you. However, you are judging this based upon the human need to understand something in terms of its value. What if there was an intellectual consciousness that existed that had no need to define things in these terms? What if, in a Taoist sense, things just existed?

I think I know what you are saying, so it would be like a bird, they don't really have to know trajectories, wind velocities how much energy expenditure for lift, etc.. it's already understood on a level beyond the need for math. Is that what your saying.