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http://www.bestpossibleworld.com/index06.htm
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Topical Index
(see the Commentary below)
An annotated contents (old)
Index (old)
0. Introduction, & (part 2), Recap, brief list of explanations
Some of the older pages are are grouped together by topics below. What follows here are the more recent pages listed chronologically.
0.1 On the Web (a continuing weblog) (in chron. order: 7/10 - 8/8/2002):
Immaterialism, Mind, Postmodernism, Eschatology, A Hard Core of Truth Seekers?, Funda-Mental, & (part 2), Quine's Holism, Jerry Fodor & Co., 'Naturalism in Question', A de facto Dualism, Mind-Body & God, Theistic Idealism, Charles S. Peirce, C. S. Lewis, Bomb + Internet >= better than a Saucer?!, Idealist Cosmology, Holographic Universe, Teilhard's Omega, Tipler's Omega, Blood in the Water?, From Intangibles to Memes,
The Observation Factor, & (part 2), Materialism, Coherence II, Dan Hutto, Mind-Body Debate, Huw Price, Atomism & Transhumanism, Representation, etc., Who's Keeping Score?, Coherence Theory, Aristotle Gets Real, Representation, Reduction, etc., Nature & Plato, etc., Rationalism vs. Naturalism and other Orthodoxies, What Is There?, Coherence, How to See, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Direct Realism, Do Ideas Count?, A Semiotic Answer?, El Camino Real, Gospel of the Real, East is East & West is West, Creation & Maya, The Epistemic-Ontic Divide.
(1/8/03 through 2005):
On the Side of Reason, Messianism, The Force is with Us, Unreasonable Coherence, Creation vs. Evolution, Omega, Numbers, Symmetry, Bootstrap, Mandelbrot Mystery, Tar Baby, Cosmic Dialectics, Recap, Crisis, All or Nothing, Triumph of Science?, Angelic Doctor, Solving the World's Problems, Agoraphilia, End Times & Apokatastasis, More of the Same, The Heart of the Matter, The Mandelbrot Revisited, Foreseeing the Second Coming, End Game?, [Latest page goes here!]
0.2 [4/7/05] I'm still working on The Second Coming: for all us Dummies: (formats: PDF, MHT, PPT, RTF). And I may be working on this for some time, yet. The most current version will usually be the PDF version. [a] Comments on Dummies.
0.3 [4/16/05] Here is a link to the contents of my original website Aquarium Contents. This was on clark.net, and any links still referring to that url will need to be updated. I will be attempting to explain the old website here: Comments on the original website.
1. Best Possible World (BPW):
The Best Possible World Page, How Many Worlds?, Best World for Whom?,
2. Metaphysics:
A Metaphysical Introduction, The Observation Factor, & (part 2),
- Mind & matter: Antipodes, Antipodes II,
- (Non) Reductionism: Materialism, The Nature of Mind, Post-Reductionism, Naturalism, Emergence, Mere Words, Hanging by a Thread,
- Immaterialism: Immaterialism, & (part 2), Explaining Science (part 2), Dream Atom, Idealist Cosmology,
- Relational metaphysics: Coherence II, The Relational Self, Relations, Relatedness, Coherence, The Level Playing Field, [later additions: Unreasonable Coherence, Coherence, Coherence Theory, Quine's Holism, The Observation Factor, & (part 2)]
- Other: The Intangibles, Teleology, History & Nature,
3. God:
Introduction to God, & (part 2), Beyond Naturalism?, Rationalism, Rational Theism, The Ecology of Existence, Pantheism, How Many Buddhas?,
- concealing: Concealment, & (part 2),
- revealing: Revelation,
4. Metanarrative:
- Creation: Creation?, Genesis, Distinction, Explaining Science, Creation & Maya, Creation vs. Evolution, Bootstrap,
- Eschatology: Eschaton, Millennium & Eschaton, Our Dramatic Cosmos, Omega,
- Millennium: Millennium, but now see End Times & Apokatastasis for a possible major revision.
- Strategy: Strategy, Straw Man, Recap, Taking Stock,
- Messianism: Saving the World, The 'Competition', Christocentric?, Pre-Millennialism, Only One Show?, Messianism,
- Messianic Initiative (in chron. order: 8/25/02 - 8/29): Messianic Gambit?, Breaking the Barrier of Materialism, On the Verge of God, Creation, Glass Ceiling, Trickster, & (part 2), The Messiah Contingency, How to Save the World, & (part 2),
Commentary (7/12/02)
[Note that the most recent additions, in the form of a weblog, appear grouped in chronological order near the top of this page.]
Here you have it in a nutshell. If you have a familiarity with these four topics as treated herein, you may claim to have an overview of my philosophy, for better or worse. Please note the three separate introductory pages under each major topic as well as the Introduction. As of just now I would point to Introduction to God (part 2) as nearest to the crux of the issues being treated here. [4/21/05 - Now also consider this.]
The idea of the BPW is the logical start and finish. We like to complain about things, and with much cause, but that hardly proves that this is not the best possible world.
If any part of this world turns out not to be explained by just atoms swerving in the dark, then, hallelujah, none of it need be so explained. Then we are permitted to turn our metaphysical attention from Newton to Leibniz, the originator of the BPW concept. End of story, almost.
Taking the leap from materialism to immaterialism opens the door to the gestalt of a world stood on its head, and to almost every other possibility including, of course, the BPW possibility.
In questioning the authority of atoms, we consider reductionism vs. relationalism. It is hard to see how reductionism still retains as much influence as it does. We press ahead to the relational view associated with immaterialism and idealism. Coherence wins the day. Is anyone rooting for incoherence?
If the atoms are not in charge, and naturalism is on shaky ground, to what do we turn? How about to the Self and thence to the supernatural? It may not be your father's God, but she will do in a pinch. It will justify our consideration of the BPW. We take up the all revealing issue of concealment.
And finally the Big Story. I don't want to give away too much, but it does have a beginning, middle and end. It is a participatory drama in three acts and no intermissions. It might behoove us to have a strategy regarding our participation. Just a thought.
Index (old)
An annotated contents (old)
email: dantsmith@comcast.net
9/8/02