EthoLiberal Society

In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Aristotle’s works re-entered Western Europe through Arabic translations. For the first time in nearly a thousand years, European scholars had access to a systematic framework for empirical reasoning, natural philosophy, and logic grounded in observation rather than revelation. It was electrifying — and immediately threatening. The Catholic Church faced a crisis. Aristotle’s empiricism was incompatible with theological authority. If the

(To the grammer police, I know "unfooling" is not a word, but it is used here because the opposite of "to fool" would be "to enlighten" and enlightenment is so far way from the goal of simply "unfooling" a person, to bring them back to reality.) Below is a conversation with ChatGPT If people are easy to fool, how come it’s so difficult to “unfool” them? That’s one of the most painfully true questions about being human. People are easy to fool because fooling slips in thro

The book,"What Went Wrong" by B Lewis details how the Arab world rejected modernity because it thought its culture was superior to all, so it refused to learn from outsiders. Sounds a lot like American Exceptionalism + MAGA Introspection is necessary for growth. With introspection, age brings wisdom; without it one grows dumber with over time. This is true for individuals and true for nations. Collectively our information is increasing while our understanding is decreasing. T

Updating mental models: Everyone, everywhere is critical to keep the world going. There’s a company in the Netherlands that makes lithography machines that makes modern computer chips possible. Without their equipment, the world grids to the halt. If you think, yeah, but there was a time (not long ago) before computers, that’s true, but the world now is so interconnected, and reliant on computers, I’m not sure people could exist without them. The more you understand about how

Stupidity is willful ignorance. Avoid stupidity, don’t avoid being wrong. If you want to be right, i.e. have accurate mental models of the world, you have to be willing to be wrong. “The more willing you are to be wrong, the more right you will be.” -Lawrence Sheraton I’m not advocating philosophical skepticism where you question whether anything is knowable; rather I’m advocating having zero ego in the outcome of reality. Your goal should always be adapting the most accurate

Fear and ignorance are powerful, self reinforcing mechanisms of personal and group control. Fascism tends to take hold when it’s clear to the masses that the institutions that support society are no longer functioning properly. The fear and anxiety that this induces puts people in a “burn it down” framework. This is fertile ground for paternalistic authoritarians to seize power, seeking to do just that. Paternalisitc authoritarians claim to have all the answers, they place bl

Why are we here? What is this all about? Evolutionary explanation : We exist to grow, mature, mate, and produce offspring. The next generation gives meaning to the generation before it. The continuation of life, especially intelligent life, is unique and universally important. Ethical explanation : We exist to do good. Personal development towards ethical enlightenment is a lifelong journey. As each individual improves, so does society. If individuals fail in their ethical de

Do your best. Most people do things “good enough” …and if everything was done good enough, would anything be good enough? If you try your best, at everything, every time, then even if you don’t win, you will always get better and learn along the way. If you make it a habit to always do your best, you will find yourself succeeding more than not. Be your own compass; think independently . Derive ethical truth on your own. The crowd, authority figures, and memes (ideas with aut

External reality exists and there are facts about the world that we can be certain of. Ethical knowledge (know-how) is innate and ethical understanding transcends time and culture. “I feel therefore I know ethics” is an axiom of ethical knowledge. Ethical understanding (know-why) requires that people ask a basic question, “how would I like it if that was done to me?” This question should be applied with “the veil of ignorance” (the answers should be the same assuming you are

Debating someone who entertains magical thinking is an exercise in futility. If they want to engage with you, or if you want them to release their magical thinking, you have to nail down the ground rules of debate at the onset of the debate, or at the onset of their magical thinking arguments. Here’s an approach. ESTABLISH EXTERNAL REALITY YOU: To ensure we are engaging in a debate in good faith, let’s set some ground rules. Do you agree that reality exists. You and I are thi

The world is complex. To make sense of the world we construct ideas of how things work; termed “mental models.” Mental models are your map for the world. Some of these ideas are pre-wired from birth, some are formed independently, and some are taught. Our ability to form new and better mental models is essential for learning to occur. We cannot increase understanding (know-why) without the ability to unlearn inaccurate mental models and modify or substitute them with more ac

Let's say you are in the military. You are dropped off in a location and given a map of the drop zone and surrounding area. You parachute down from the plane, survey the area when you land, and you find the map does not match the area at all. What do you do? Is the terrain wrong or your map? This is a rhetorical questions of course. The map is clearly wrong. So what do you do? Do you look for high ground to enable you a better perspective to place yourself on the map? How lo

Why and Because—The Art and Science of Moral and Ethical Understanding explores a basic question: How do you know what is right? Ethics is something we have innate knowledge of, but it takes a good deal of effort to fully understand, express, and apply properly. The problem with innate abilities is we often don’t know how we do it. If we asked 100 people how they maintain balance, we’d likely get 100 different answers. We may not understand how we maintain balance, but that

Polarity | The embodiment of the human condition Polarity is the embodiment of the human condition. People have good and bad impulses; they act in kind and harmful ways. They treat each other with fairness and unfairly. Nobody is as bad as their worst deed, and nobody is a good as their best deed. As a species, we advance the most when we seek truth through greater knowledge and understanding. Conversely, we regress when we are constrained by ignorance and fear. P