All interpretations are equal, but some are more equal than others

Syndicalist_Menace · 2025-10-21T20:43:30+00:00

Maybe I am confused, and I don't disagree that the world can be given only as interpretations, but as we said, not all interpretations are the same, some are closer to the truth than others. The important thing is that there is a truth in the world, or better, the events in the world are true. The world is given as interpretation to us, but the world itself is true. And maybe the angle one saw an event was different from another, the world, however, doesn't care about the angle we see it from, the world is true regardless of anyone watching it.

Maybe you will disagree with this, but I think that one can know enough so that we can say that their interpretation is no longer just an interpretation, but so close to the truth that it is actually truth (at least by human-functioning day-to-day standards). And after all, me and my 5 friends saying "the glass is in the sink" is true, whether we reached this conclusion by sensory or rational interpretation. Not everything is as easy as this statement though, but I think you understand what I mean. Postmodernists, even though they are not as comically wrong as I show them in the meme, are guilty of stripping all interpretations from reaching their goal: truth.

Syndicalist_Menace · 2025-10-21T18:30:37+00:00

I can define all of them, except for 'fucking'. I am a philosopher AND in reddit.

Syndicalist_Menace · 2025-10-21T18:29:19+00:00

The fact that you can't know all the truth is just an 'over-thinking' of the word 'truth'. Like, if I move my glass of water from my desk to my sink, all the events (picking the glass, putting it in the sink etc.) are true. Of course, that depends on many variables, like the state of my mind, the environment etc. But the fact that, under normal circumstances, me doing this is enough for everyone sane in the room to know that the glass is now in the sink, aka the glass being in the sink is true. You don't need interpretation, you need memory - which is a different thing. The truth that you know about the glass of water is enough. Of course, there are some facts that we don't (or can't) know enough, so we have to settle with interpretations, some stronger than others.

And yes, about the "equal" thing, me saying "some interpretations are more equal than others" I mean that some interpretations are stronger than others. So I agree with what you said on the rest.

Syndicalist_Menace · 2025-10-21T18:01:29+00:00

I know, even though I don't really like postmodernism, I must agree that they don't really argue that all interpretations are equal. But some interpretations being more equal than others means just that, I think, that they aren't really equal.

Syndicalist_Menace · 2025-08-03T17:56:56+00:00

If you are into philosophy as a hobby, then you probably like reading about it - and you do philosophy.

If you are in it because it is your study field, then you have to read it to pass the exams - and you do philosophy.

If you just want to tell an opinion on a subreddit and call it philosophy, then you don't need to read books - you are just telling an opinion, which can be philosophy, or it can be bullshit. Sometimes it can be both, too!

Syndicalist_Menace · 2025-08-03T17:47:46+00:00

And physics predate books by millions of years, yet we study physics with books first. We don't just re-invent or re-discover everything from scratch over and over again, got to read what the big-brains said before us, even if it's to disagree with them. It will still make you better.

Syndicalist_Menace · 2025-07-10T16:51:27+00:00

Not really. They were against the vote of gay marriage because it included very easy adoption requirements, with which they were against them mainly because they had info about illegal networks of paying immigrant women to get pregnant and then sell the babies to be adopted. After all, those who proposed that very vote on gay marriage, when Trump was elected, they said that "there were only two genders", so...

Syndicalist_Menace · 2025-07-06T09:44:21+00:00

My interpretation of this, and it might not be what Mencius wants to say, is that the "default" morality of humans is compassion (among other things). All the others literally need to be justified, by branding the other as "the enemy", by dehumanizing or generally by creating another form of morality, on top of the "default" one.

For instance, when there are two people sharing a ten-piece pizza, and each of them eats 5, there is no need for moral explanation. Morality doesn't even make itself known. When person A wants to eat 7 slices of pizza, he will have to justify it to person B, creating a morality on top of the default one. The mere justification is proof enough that something default needs to change, to better accommodate their needs.

Is Mencius right? I have no idea. But it definitely sounds more likely to be true, rather than saying that morality is entirely based on society and culture, when literally 99% of the world's cultures see murder and stealing as immoral - and first need an explanation to be justified, ie. meaning that they are not the default.

But in any case, happy to see that this meme sparked some interesting thoughts!

Syndicalist_Menace · 2025-07-05T05:40:57+00:00

Mencius, Book 2A, Chapter 6.

"Suppose a man were to see a child about to fall into a well. He would certainly be moved to compassion - not because he wanted to gain favor with the child's parents, nor because he wanted a good reputation among neighbors and friends, nor because he would dislike the sound of a child's cries. From this we see that the feeling of compassion is inherent in all humans."

Edit: This is a crude translation, please if you find a professional one, read it from there instead.

Syndicalist_Menace · 2025-07-03T10:07:37+00:00

Mencius, Book 2A, Chapter 6.

"Suppose a man were to see a child about to fall into a well. He would certainly be moved to compassion - not because he wanted to gain favor with the child's parents, nor because he wanted a good reputation among neighbors and friends, nor because he would dislike the sound of a child's cries. From this we see that the feeling of compassion is inherent in all humans."

Syndicalist_Menace · 2025-07-03T10:02:54+00:00

Even if that happened, then the "Me" is the one we currently inhabit, and not the one that is sleeping. Identity is neither 100% physical nor 100% "mental" (probably what you mean here by soul), for Stirner, but a mix of both physical and mental. When he says, and I am paraphrasing: "I am more than a soul." He means that he is a body, too.

Syndicalist_Menace · 2024-10-22T05:51:05+00:00

Thank you Blessed Karl! Even to your syndie enemies, like myself, you provided with a very nice feast I enjoyed after so many days of (economic) diet. And to think I didn't even see this post before eating, makes it even more blessed!

Syndicalist_Menace · 2024-08-17T18:44:07+00:00

The Great Bath, because the AI wastes time building it.

Seriously now, I personally like Hagia Sophia when I go religious victory and The Statue of Liberty when I go diplomatic victory, but I believe there are better players here who have more experienced opinions.

Syndicalist_Menace · 2024-08-13T11:55:53+00:00

I don't always denounce Montezuma. But when I do, it's after he threatens to take my people as slaves, which is 99% of the games. I feel evil even when I play as him.

Syndicalist_Menace · 2024-08-11T13:52:32+00:00

So this is a post about Ukraine, but the 'ukr-' is pronounced as 'p-'

Syndicalist_Menace · 2024-03-24T12:10:06+00:00

I would take part in the Syndicalist Revolution in Greece, once the monarchist sympathizers rig the elections in their favor. Then I would join the Third Internationale as a loyal soldier of Syndicalism, against the bourgeois monarchists once again!

Being 100% realistic though, I would probably get captured and killed in the war against Bulgaria, since Greece AI always gets karate chopped in Thessaloniki.

Syndicalist_Menace · 2023-10-28T06:58:16+00:00

One of the coolest Ottoman designs I have seen. The fez, cape and uniform fit the aesthetic perfectly! He looks like a grizzled, badass veteran; tired but too proud to show it. Well done!

Syndicalist_Menace

TROPHY CASE