Hi anons, I have noticed something that most philosophers I know of are not talking about, at least resembling the way I am going to.
This has become increasingly obvious to the point of being quite painful to watch, every time it happens.
First I'm gonna lay out two concepts, and with every word I am using, I am not referring to the academic definition of that word, I'm going with common dictionary definitions.
Now, as I see it, there are two ways or techniques that people have argued a point in the past, and continue, to this day. The problem is that one of these has been used, in recent times, to a point of extreme unbalance.
The first way of arguing, I'll call something like foundationalism, or constructionism.
In this method, a person starts with the most simple, applicable, and prominent aspects of reality. In this method, a person uses truisms, laws of the universe, and very simple and effective reason to make their argument. They start with simple concepts, where there can really be no misinterpretation of meaning, and every concept they introduce is resting of the foundation of principles and laws that are so simple as to be common sense, or unmistakable. Any higher level concepts they introduce, any higher levels of abstraction, must rest firmly on these common sense principles and laws, and be clearly defined by these unmistakable terms.
In this way, the argument is constructed like a pyramid, with every level firmly resting and being supported by every layer below it, and every next higher layer is set upon the existing solid proofed structure, and is placed in a meaningful and supportive way, as an architect would be planning what he can put on the next story up, given what supports and walls and utilities are directly below it. In this way, the method builds layer upon sodlid layer, until eventually reaching the cap stone, the pinnacle of the argument.
The other method is quite easier to explain, because of how loose it is. This method I would call somethingPost too long. Click here to view the full text.