Architecture
Since antiquity, the nature of Nature drove natural philosophy. Science has now amassed enough cross-referential evidence to be certain about the architecture of existence.
Inference remains essential. Evidence only points the way, by showing what is not fundamental. The dialectic of discarding what reality cannot be leaves only 1 possibility.
Theory
The purpose of a good theory is to provide a conceptual framework for viewing and understanding phenomena. ~ American systems analyst David Swenson
All theory is subordinate to perception. ~ Dutch psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden
The power of a theory lies in its ability to explain and predict. Relevant facts which do not fit suggest that a theory is at least incomplete. Any phenomena which contradict a theory demonstrate its invalidity.
The theory that can absorb the greatest number of facts is the one that must rule all observation. ~ English philosopher Adam Smith
All theories comprise interrelated concepts which explain events and processes. The concepts within a theory must be congruent. A good theory is internally consistent.
Underlying the foundation of a valid theory are assumptions which cannot be disproven. Axioms are only as good as their unimpeachable veracity.
A theory involves a construction of concepts that create a context. That the context of a theory nicely coincides with the environment of the phenomena explained portrays the theory’s quality.
One of the principal objects of theoretical research is to find the point of view from which the subject appears in the greatest simplicity. ~ American scientist Josiah Willard Gibbs
Elegant theories have long been cherished for their being readily comprehended. Favoring parsimony is founded on the dubious assumption that one of the purposes of the theory is to explain reality by simplification. This view is incorrect in that Nature exhibits intertwined layers of complexity. Simplification can only be a source of distortion.
Why should things be easy to understand? ~ American novelist Thomas Pynchon
A worldview is a schema of theories. A worldview can only be authentic if the theories of which it is composed are consistent within and in relation to one another, and, crucially, the worldview envelops all that is known.
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Theories about the architecture of existence bifurcate into dualism or a monism: mutually exclusive possibilities. By all appearances, dualism is obvious, as we are in possession of a body housing a mind and are beings in a tangible world external to us. As you have already experienced in your own life countless times, appearances can be deceptive.
The senses deceive from time to time, and it is prudent never to trust wholly those who have deceived us even once. ~ René Descartes
