14 Aug

How is Semantics Related to Religion?

I focus on the problem of meaning in science. A lot of people ask me why. What does semantics have to do with religion? There are many levels at which this question can be answered, which are deeply enmeshed with the nature of the soul and God in Vedic philosophy, although the connection is not as apparent in other religions. The connection between semantics and religion therefore arises through an understanding of Vedic philosophy. This post explores and describes that connection.

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13 Aug

Economics and Reductionism

Profits require that the whole must be greater than the sum of the parts. For example, half a chair is not half price of the full chair; most times you cannot sell two halves of a chair separately, or price them separately, even when you assemble the chair yourself from packaged parts. Similarly, the price a carpenter will charge for a chair is necessarily greater than the cost of the parts that make up the chair. In that sense, the whole cannot be reduced to the parts because the price of the whole is necessarily greater than the costs of the parts. If we equated prices to costs, there would be no economy because nobody will find that proposition profitable.

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01 Aug

Universalism and Personalism in Science

The laws of nature in current science are mathematical formulae that predict the behavior of objects deterministically, which precludes any role for choice and morality in nature. Therefore, if nature permitted choices, how would we reconceive natural laws? In Vedic philosophy, the law is a material entity called a role which defines the expected behaviors but doesn’t preclude choice. The interaction between choice and expectation creates a consequence, which moves the actor into new roles. There is determinism as far as the outcome of the choice-expectation interaction is concerned but the determinism is based on the local conditions or role without precluding choices. The current contradiction between choice and determinism in science is actually reflective of a mistaken notion of material reality and its laws. This post discusses how natural laws can be reconceived compatible with the existence of choices.

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