philosophy

An Introduction to Philosophy (RLL style) Week 07  Metaphysics 4  (Metaphysical Determinism) –  Part 5: How are you?

by

Much of our behavior is shaped less by conscious choice than by social conditioning. We learn what to say, how to respond, and when to conform long before we realize we’re doing it. Determinism invites us to notice how powerful the pull of the group can be, and how often “I’m fine” is less a truth than a reflex. Awareness doesn’t free us from influence, but it gives us the chance to choose our surroundings more deliberately.

Read the letter →

An Introduction to Philosophy (RLL style) Week 07  Metaphysics 4  (Metaphysical Determinism) –  Part 4: What is your favorite color?

by

Our strongest preferences often arrive without our permission. We don’t choose what feels familiar, comforting, or compelling; we notice it after the fact. Determinism invites us to see preference as discovery rather than decision, shaped by histories we didn’t author. Philosophy asks whether freedom lies in choosing our reactions, or in understanding the forces that formed them.

Read the letter →

An Introduction to Philosophy (RLL style) Week 07  Metaphysics 4  (Metaphysical Determinism) –  Part 3: Why did you do that?

by

Determinism suggests that much of our behavior unfolds before conscious awareness arrives on the scene. When we say “I don’t know why I did that,” we may be acknowledging that causes were already in motion. Philosophy invites us to reconsider free will not as total spontaneity, but as something shaped by habits, conditioning, and learned responses. The deeper question becomes not why we act, but how our patterns were formed in the first place.

Read the letter →

An Introduction to Philosophy (RLL style) Week 07  Metaphysics 4  (Metaphysical Determinism) –  Part 2: Will you have the usual?

by

Much of what we call choice unfolds automatically, guided by habits and patterns formed long before we notice them. Determinism invites us to look beneath conscious decision-making and recognize how repetition, comfort, and familiarity shape our behavior. When we see how often we choose “the usual,” we begin to question how much of our lives are authored in advance by routines we rarely examine.

Read the letter →

An Introduction to Philosophy (RLL style) Week 07  Metaphysics 4  (Metaphysical Determinism) – Part 1: Introduction – What’s the first thing you remember?

by

Determinism invites us to notice that our lives begin long before we become aware of ourselves as choosers. By the time memory appears, patterns are already in place shaping how we think, feel, and respond. Philosophy asks whether freedom means acting without causes, or whether it means understanding the forces that formed us. Sometimes the most unsettling question isn’t whether we are free, but how much of who we are was decided before we ever noticed we were deciding.

Read the letter →

An Introduction to Philosophy (RLL style) Week 06 – Metaphysics 3 (Metaphysical Monism) – Part 7: Summary – Do you want to be a millionaire?

by

Metaphysical monism leaves us without certainty but not without meaning. Whether we live as if the physical world is the destination or as if something deeper is unfolding beneath it, our choices reveal what we believe is real. Philosophy invites us to live deliberately, aware that the ability to reflect, to question, and to choose at all may be the most extraordinary reality we ever encounter.

Read the letter →

An Introduction to Philosophy (RLL style) Week 06 – Metaphysics 3 (Metaphysical Monism) – Part 6: Does God have a body?

by

Idealism asks us to take seriously the reality of things that cannot be weighed or measured. Love, presence, memory, and meaning shape our lives without occupying physical space. If what matters most about us isn’t our bodies but our ways of thinking, loving, and relating, then reality itself may be more than matter alone. Philosophy invites us to look beneath appearances and consider whether consciousness, not physical form, is the deeper ground of being.

Read the letter →

An Introduction to Philosophy (RLL style) Week 06 – Metaphysics 3 (Metaphysical Monism) – Part 5: Want to compare scars?

by

Physicalism reminds us that identity is not hidden somewhere beyond the body. It’s carried in posture, memory, habit, and scar tissue. Our experiences leave marks, shaping how we move through the world and how the world moves through us. Philosophy invites us to take the body seriously, not as a container for the self, but as the self in motion, shaped by every lived moment.

Read the letter →

An Introduction to Philosophy (RLL style) Week 06 – Metaphysics 3 (Metaphysical Monism) – Part 4: How old will you be in heaven?

by

Asking how old we would be in heaven reveals more than curiosity about the afterlife. It exposes our assumptions about identity itself. Idealism loosens time and age into irrelevance, while physicalism ties who we are to the body and its limits. Philosophy doesn’t rush to answer the question; it invites us to notice what our instinctive answers say about how we understand reality.

Read the letter →

An Introduction to Philosophy (RLL style) Week 06 – Metaphysics 3 (Metaphysical Monism) – Part 3: Would rather be buried, cremated, or cryofroze?

by

Physicalism offers a sobering clarity: if consciousness ends with the body, then this life is not a rehearsal. Philosophy invites us to meet that truth without despair, recognizing that meaning doesn’t require permanence. The finitude of life sharpens its value, reminding us that what matters most is how we live, love, and leave traces of care in the world while we are here.

Read the letter →