"Let's get to the bottom of this!" ... is something people say when they want to get to the truth in any given situation. The search for the truth is a search for foundations. If we don't know where we stand we really can't say we know where we are. In the last post I dealt with a common notion in our current culture that defines reality in "the moment", meaning that the supreme source of truth is personal experience. Let's relate this idea to the second law of logic, the Law of Cause & Effect. To assume that only my causes effect me alone is erroneous. Everybody knows there are effects outside of ourselves that impact our existence. To live otherwise would be insane! If a crosswalk light is red and you see it as green the consequences could be dire. Red may not be red to a person handicapped with colorblindenss but the personal experience of the sight impaired is not going to effect the reality. The effect will be opposite... reality will effect the experience of the person who misinterprets the data or for that matter interprets it correctly. This is why cause always precedes effect and brings us to the First Law of Logic.
When we speak of cause we are speaking of "origin" or "beginning". It is a common misconception of many to assume there are forms of logic. This is not so. Logic is the same in Tibet as it is in Wyoming. Whether you are Jew or Christian, male or female, rich or poor... logic applies equally in form and function. It is what it is and in a nutshell that is the first law of logic... the Law of Non-Contradiction or, what is... is what it is. In essence and for all practical purposes logic could easily be understood as THE interpretive grid. All efforts to understand reality must be based on reality. You really can't say you have your own little world unless and until you're willing to acknowledge your little world as fictional or not real. Theoretical conceptions are just that... theoretical! Of course when I say that you could easily say, "fine... but there are those that believe logic is just theoretical... you can't see, touch, taste, smell or hear logic! Hence it cannot be perceived by the senses relegating it to the domain of concept or idea". Fine... point well taken. In the next post we will deal with ideas or knowledge. More precisely that subcatagory of philosophy labeled Epistomology... how do we know what we know?
