POETICKS

Just a few unexciting Philosophical Thoughts today, just to record them somewhere.

There are, in my opinion, four or more kinds of absolutes:

1. Philosophical–an absolute 100% certain, usually by definition–e.g. 1 + 1 = 2.  Not applicable to the physical universe.

2. Scientific–an absolute not 100% certain (in the universe as we know it perceptually) but so close to it as to be effectually an absolute with regard to the nature of the universe–e.g., Newton’s laws.

3. Historical–an absolute about what happened in the past not as certain as a scientific absolute but certain beyond rational doubt-e.g., that Shakespeare was the author of the works attributed to himm and Napoleon lost the Battle of Waterloo.

4. Literary-Critical–an absolute about the meaning of a literary work less certain than a historical absolute but certain beyond reasonable doubt–e.g., Keats’s “Ode to Psyche” is about Psyche and Nostrodamus’s writinghad nothing sane to do with the current political situation in the middle east.

I term absolutes 2 through 4 “effectual absolutes.”  I believe an effectually absolute explanation of everything is possible.  All that is needed is suffcient data.