Ashish Dalela
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Advancing the Scientific Study of Meaning. Through my writing I explore the connection between meaning and science. I write about two broad themes: (1) the problems of indeterminism, incompleteness, uncertainty and inconsistency in different fields of science (mathematics, physics, computing, linguistics and biology) and their relation to meaning, and (2) the manner in which meaning and matter..
Ashish Dalela
2y ago
Aristotle divided all Platonic forms into two classes—theoretical and practical. The theoretical forms could be quantified by converting them into geometry, essentially reducing them to shape. The practical forms, such as beauty, justice, and truth, could not be so converted and had to be decided by people’s intuition, opinions, or choices. Thus, a classic divide ..read more
Ashish Dalela
2y ago
Epistemology in the West is defined as the “theory of knowledge”, especially with regard to the methods of knowing and questions about whether these methods deliver truth. However, owing to numerous dualisms in Western philosophy, including the strict separation between the observer and the observed, it has never been clear if knowledge is possible. Even ..read more
Ashish Dalela
2y ago
A few articles ago, I discussed the nature of Personhood as six traits—self-awareness, intention, emotion, cognition, conation, and relation. Then we discussed Personalism vs. Depersonalization: A person is governed by free will and the depersonalized is governed by laws. As a follow-up, in this article, I will discuss what I mean by a machine in ..read more
Ashish Dalela
2y ago
I have many amusing and yet frustrating exchanges where people tell me: So, you are saying <something which I never said>. Then I refute that claim and clarify it. But then I get even more amusing and frustrating answers: So, you are saying <some new concoction which I never said>. Can you confirm? Sometimes, the ..read more
Ashish Dalela
2y ago
Śrila Prabhupāda’s Praṇām Mantra describes the Western world as nirviśeśa and sūnyavāda, which are translated as impersonalism and voidism. This has always perplexed me because the West sees itself rooted in Christian theistic Personalism. In what sense can a society based on theistic Personalism be called impersonalism or voidism? The problem compounds if we consider ..read more
Ashish Dalela
2y ago
In the last article, we briefly discussed the personhood of God and soul, and this one elaborates on that discussion. In the West, a person is defined as something that has rights. The definition of who has rights is influenced by Christian doctrines. For example, forests, rivers, mountains, animals, and oceans have no rights because ..read more
Ashish Dalela
2y ago
The problem of evil has two distinct flavors. The first flavor says: There is famine, war, pestilence, and disease in this world and since God created an evil world, therefore, He must be evil. The second flavor says: So much suffering is caused by evil people, and since God created people, therefore, He must be ..read more
Ashish Dalela
2y ago
A law is defined as things that could or could not happen, should or should not happen, and would or would not happen. The limitation of could and could not depends on a person’s ability; a more capable person can do more things and a less capable person cannot do those things. The limitation of ..read more
Ashish Dalela
2y ago
Western philosophy has a famed distinction between appearance and reality. This distinction began with the idea that appearances are outward projection, while reality is the thing in itself. For example, consider a cheater, who talks suavely and pretends to have your best interests at heart, but in fact, he is trying to deceive you. Here ..read more
Ashish Dalela
2y ago
Western philosophy has a famed distinction between appearance and reality. This distinction began with the idea that appearances are outward projection, while reality is the thing in itself. For example, consider a cheater, who wears nice clothes, talks suavely, and pretends to have your best interests at heart, but in fact, he is trying to ..read more