When I was younger my family for me was simply my dad, my mom, and my siblings. Things were much simpler then. I didn’t even question the role of the family, never though about. A family just was and no one can make it any different. Then I started growing up. I had my first classmate in 4th grade whose parents were divorced. I heard from my older sister how one of her friends was the 2nd family of their dad. My concept of family was shaken and a philosophical debate raged in my head, the process of which I wasn’t aware of. I realized then some families just wasn’t – JUST WAS. I didn’t know what to make of that.

Then I went to high school and things got even crazier. I met a friend who shared to me one time during a quiet night how her own uncle used to rape her when they visited his house. Now this totally flipped my world around. I got really mad and kept on pushing my mom asking her how bad things like these can’t happen. I never told her what the real case was though. I learned then that not family members fulfill their roles and some family you can end up hating. I also learned that even when you are the child sometimes you have to be the one to shield your parents from the truth. That was when I started growing up.

Now, I have my own family and each day I am re-learning the beauty of family. Things don’t always go the way they should but we just have to sort things out in our mind. I sometimes wish things would be black and white and the horrible side of some families can be wiped clean but then again my definition of family has changed. It’s not family is just is, it’s not just the family you are born in, it’s who we choose to bring in our lives and chooses to bring ours in theirs. It’s the good with the bad and hopefully more good than bad.

Till now there are days when I keep turning the concept of family over and over in my head but what I have learned is that more important than the concept is simply being there with and for our family. And THAT is my family philosophy.

Ever wondered about the area about politics that makes it so ideal and pristine, Ethics. As it turns out, the very first philosopher to ever suggest the relationship between politics and ethics was the famous Chinese philosopher Confucius who emphasized personal and governmental morality. As we all know, most governments are founded on a set of rules or laws that have been refined and revised throughout that specific country’s history. The great civilizations of the ancient times such as the Egyptians and the Maya’s have their forms of governance patterned after nature and that in nature there is a supreme being that makes all things happen. This supreme being (which is embodied by a king or other form of ruler) can and has the right to revise and formulate laws as they see fit based on either personal preferences and historical facts (which is the written or oral history of the race or tribe which states or defines the role of the leader) however long the said culture might have existed. These cultures may have come and gone but their influence and views on how the world, life and self-governance happens is history. The English, French and other major civilizations of Medieval times went through several upheavals in government because of corruption and other related matters. The Greeks began the study of philosophy as part of their quest in understanding the why, what, where and who’s of life. Why did the sun set at night, why do the flowers bloom during spring and many other questions people might ponder about were thought of an explanation collectively by scholars and philosophers of the day.

Confucius is recognized worldwide as a philosopher whose works and theories have shaped the lives and governments of many Asian civilizations. His work in linking ethics (which is the study of how one should behave in relation to others) and Politics (which is the institution of governance) and how these two should begin at the personal level. The Romans have recognized the principle and was said to be one of the reasons why people got to the Senate. To be a good responsible citizen who is part of society, one must become part of the senate to show he has nothing to hide. This is true but man has a way of twisting and turning history and faith using it for personal benefit which can be seen as far back as recorded history can remember. Much of the works of the great philosophical fathers such as Socrates is known only through the writings of his student Plato who is also a philosopher who might have changed a few thoughts as he reviews and records them in writing. History is written memory of people and cultures that have long gone and much of our lives today will become the history of tomorrow. As the great Confucius would have put it, how have you lived today and what have you contributed to society. The good of the many, greatly outweighs the good of the one.

There have been many wars that the US has engaged in during the short span since the second world war. Vietnam, the liberation of Kuwait, invasion of Iraq and many more. Many of their enemies such as these terrorists whom they blame for the crashing of planes and subsequent demise of the twin towers, the World Trade Center (which was already targeted once from which they same was done by the same people so you would think they would have learned) and the deaths of many. These terrorists have capitalized on one thing that has led to many defeats such as the Black Hawk Down Incident in Somalia when they conducted a so-called flash raid to capture several key rebel leaders which ended in one of their most humiliating defeats since Vietnam, the leave no man behind policy.

This may have to do more of the moral implications and the opinions of their constituents when their fallen are left in the battlefield to be humiliated again and again by the enemy (and very much publicized by the ever present media who go where no media people have gone before capitalizing on the desecration and humiliation of dead people who should have otherwise been left alone out of respect and should be seen only by authorities and not the general public due to their graphic nature) Media has become an ever present entity on the battlefield which has given us front row seats in the bombing of the Iraqi capital in the “Shock and Awe Campaign”  (which also showed the first images of the smart-bombs or should we call them not-so-smart bombs that hit some unwanted targets causing some collateral damage(which could also have been the result of the Iraqi army lobbing shells at their own people making it look as if the smart-bombs missed). The morality being missed as they clamor to be the first to get there and break the news, in their never ending quest to bring the news(good or bad) straight to your TV as you are sitting down to eat dinner after a long hard day’s work The Military have had a policy of getting all their personnel out dead or alive as soon as possible to avoid a turning of tides at home where families can start complaining to the government that their son’s and daughter’s who went to war were not returned to them for a formal and decent burial which can have disastrous effects on their morale and the government’s political opponents agenda to use against it.

Many a soul on this earth, have gone through life without meaning. Some say that Philosophy is one’s search of meaning in one’s life and others say who cares. But one should always have a purpose for every second, minute, hour, day, month and year of life. Life is short though it may last a couple of decades, tis’ still short a time. Considering that the earth has been around for a couple of billion years, life truly is short.

What is life on this earth without purpose? A waste of borrowed time, for life without meaning is nothing and if it is nothing… then why live at all. We all have a purpose on this earth whether we like it or not. Some feel damned and some don’t, some are endowed and others are average whatever place you may have in the measures set by man on his fellow man you are unique. Unique, in a way that whatever you may think is important even if others don’t pay attention or don’t mind.

It doesn’t matter what others say about your purpose or destiny, that’s their view and their’s alone. Listen deep within and understand what is inside and not what others say, life is meaningless without purpose. What is happiness without sadness, triumph without defeat and so on and so forth. He had a way of assuring that we get both sides of the picture so we’d cherish them side by side.

Go simple, “ Do your ordinary duties, EXTRA ORDINARILY WELL”. Sounds nice doesn’t it? Feels even better…..

The Genome project has been an ongoing research program that has many critics due tot he possible implications such research may bring about. True to this, the identification of certain genes that may give a person more chances of being violent and others are raising the possibility of a genetic testing that may bring about discrimination. Other issues such as the area of stem cell research which could bring about cloning of humans (which in my opinion is already underway) making the movie 6th Day a reality with more than one version of yourself around to do your work.
Many ethical issues are rising form the research that have stemmed from the study of the human genome, and some philosophers have seen this as the move by man to become GOD. Manipulating genes to make better crops and animals, making them more productive and hardier to disease and other natural problems may have us dealing with artificial life that was created in a test tube or Petri dish in a few years time. Many have benefited from genetic engineering of rice that has resulted in higher yielding crops that are hardier to disease and better to withstand the wrath of nature. Mother Nature has been running the show till man decided he could get one good trait from one plant and give that to another plant with another great gene to make a totally new variety of plant that is better than both parents. This process normally happens naturally but man is meddling with matters that may become his end. The concerns about GMO’s are rising and people are not quite sure what they’re eating.
Medical experts say it’s bad to eat GMO’s but how do we feed the world which is growing by the millions each year. The rice shortage of the past few months highlights the need for more productive crops in order to feed the population of this earth. Domesticated animals thrive only with human care and medicine that boosts their immunity allowing them to ward of disease and other pests. The balance between need and the real world is a very thin line and the world of biogenetics has managed to keep up till man himself became alarmed at the implications of the things that he has invented. We are truly in a dilemma today regarding what side to choose, natural or manipulated and there may be too little we can do in the case for the law is supply and demand. What people wants, people get and at whatever cost.

That is a question each and every parent asks every time their kids go to school, or do they. The gun related incidents in several US schools and elsewhere around the world, have prompted legislation that makes gun ownership a bit tad harder but there are always loopholes as the incidents themselves have shown. Guns have been in the blood of all Americans since the Constitution includes a phrase that states, each and every American had the right to bear arms and it was interpreted literally as is. Gun control which has been in place ever since crooks started to tote guns and so law enforcers had to catch up and started to carry their own (for protection). Does the world need guns? Ask yourself, and you’ll say no but get involved or have somebody you know involved in gun related incidents and you’ll suddenly have a change of heart (most probably).
All of us have been exposed to a society that has been made and shaped by weapons of all shapes and sizes and all of them were invented for self-preservation from other humans. Guns is a way of saying don’t mess with me or I’ll mess with you and it’s not a very comforting idea to see one in public for it always raises your blood pressure at mere sight. The US has had a long and hard history of gun related violence and so has the rest of the world but the basic and main idea of bearing arms has been lost in translation so to speak in all the violence and crime that has been related to and blamed on these weapons of choice. They are small, deadly and easy to carry so what else could you ask for in a personal protection measure, others carrying the same weapons! Paranoia is the game and if society cannot deal with the problem, then should we allow society to take care of itself by allowing everybody to carry guns? You be the Judge!

This saying has had a profound influence on me and the way I look at the world. We humans have a funny way of defining our goals and the measure by which we reach those goals. Some People measure their success by the amount of monetary funds that have been gathered, some by the amount of assets they have. For most of us, well we go on living day by day in utter stupor without really knowing what we want till we get there. That is human nature and human nature makes us humans dissatisfied with mostly everything making it imperative to improve anything we see.

May it be technology, wealth, assets and many other forms of measure that we tend to gauge the productivity of our daily lives. Why not try, how many people have I helped today? How many hungry mouths have I helped feed? Or even, how many old people have I helped across the road? These are the values of yesterday that must still be behind each and every one. In our search for a reason to live we must always keep in mind that we are all brothers on this earth and the\is very earth is the only planet we can call our own. Pollution as a result of development has become a critical issue for us as we cannot go anywhere else once we ruin this earth of ours.

The preservation of life on this earth is the single most important reason for our existence and all should have that in mind whatever the race, skin color, or religion. All faith’s are based on the fundamental fact that we all share this earth with each and everyone of us and that what you do today can have influence on the future of your fellow man. The trash you throw today can be the environmental disaster of tomorrow so be responsible in your daily life. In our quest to find and understand human nature and the way we think the saying might be right for we never know the results of daily life till it has passed and that life as we live it is filled with uncertainty for all of us.

All around the world, people are wondering what tomorrow may hold for them. For the little who do prosper, a million continue to suffer. This has been a trend seen by many for many years. Go to the most secluded areas on the planet and ask anybody of what they are thinking of and they’ll say that tomorrow will tell me that. As the saying goes, “ Today I am pondering about yesterday, and by tomorrow I’ll be ready for today”.

We humans have a way of finding definition on our terms whatever experts tell us. True to this, lawyers can prove something terribly wrong to be righteously correct, politicians tell us that war is needed to keep the peace while peace does not exist within. People act as if they know what is happening and why it is happening even if they do not understand the reasons. A person acts blindly based on his own interpretation of the events around him. To some America is the culprit and to some the Communist’s are, both should be noted have played key parts in the development of the world as it is today. Capitalism and democracy might not be for everyone but it is surely longed for many. The basic right to freedom and the ability to express it is still void in many states. Many people suffer without voices and many more will suffer without anybody knowing about it.

Turn on the Television, radio and read the newspaper and we see in bold letters all the worst things that are happening around the world. What about the good things that have happened in the past 24 hours like news about the many children who have learned to read and write, what about the child who got his sight for the first time since birth? These are news that are considered not to be significant due to their lack of commercial importance, commercial importance that means people will not get anything for telling these types of headlines. Scholars argue about their beliefs over the internet claiming rights to works they publish on blogs, Author’s publishing works and claiming royalty and crying piracy and a violations of their intellectual rights. Hello people, isn’t that what the so-called .NET was supposed to be for. The .NET framework is a social network which means everybody has the right to say whatever they may choose to and use material they get to aid in their study or in their aims to get a better understanding of the world around them. Want intellectual right’s protection, publish your work in print and not online. Social networks are there to promote the ideals of freedom to do and say whatever you may wish. The stand of many people are contradictory, they move to the net (on the social network) as a way to reach more people but want their work to be exclusive which is at the same time against the basic principle of a social network, which is which.

Make up your mind people for the world is truly opening up and you need to stand up for something or nothing at all.

I came upon another blog that referred to a group of segments of the BBC News Agency in one of it’s programs/special reports about democracy and it’s implications on world society as a whole. The discussion on Philosophy News was a true and timely battle of the minds that asked, “Can democracy work for the whole world?” This is a very challenging question which was showed in the programs many discussions on what it means to people from all walks of life from all corners of the globe.

For those who have been enjoying democracy, they should be thankful to their forefathers for the great job that they have done in establishing and propagating the idea of democracy. For those who are now only getting a taste of what it is and what it can do, well that’s not a very simple matter to contend with. Most of the former communist countries, who have started to embrace Western culture and some form of democracy it is a very scary story indeed. A society that has evolved to be a workforce that does all the leaders of their countries tell them to can be intimidated by the prospect of having to choose whatever and whoever they wish to become. Like the children in China who are now being taught in school of the concept of democracy who were dumbfounded by the ideals and differences that it had to their own society.

For now, the world is evolving as well as human society. The financial crisis of times past and the many natural disasters that have plagued us ever more frequently have opened many doors for people who have usually been left in the dark about the rest of the world. True to this, to ask the question of “Why Democracy?” is not only a very difficult one but quite sensitive for many a wealthy nations are still run under rule of a monarchial government. Some still follow time honored traditions that were reminiscent of the medieval ages when we had kings and queens and that succession was a right rather than a voted upon right.

Democracy might not be for everyone but it may be time that all of us embrace it for it allows us the freedom not only of society but of the global scene and the part that we can play in it if we were all allowed to participate. No society is ever self-sufficient for all those that have tried have miserably failed. We humans have a built-in drive to do what we want, when we want it and where ever we want it to be. Many say that there is no such thing as a democracy but we must always remember that democracy is a form of government that can be defined on paper and is subject to personal interpretation. So for now, democracy has still offered the best tools for the growth of countries around the world. The famous philosopher Kant predicted 200 years ago that democracies don’t go to war with each other but with those who do not embrace it and promote it. In a way this might sound true but a discussion on that must be left to another day. So till then enjoy life and embrace it for all the good and bad. It’s not about the trip, but about the journey that has passed and we currently are on….

I came upon an article on the EPhilosopher news regarding the Metaphysics of Ceteris Paribus Laws that made quite a lot of sense and was nice to ponder. The term Ceteris Paribus is Latin for all other things being equal stating the generalizations that science in all it’s history has placed upon certain aspects of science as a whole. But pondering the said term and it’s literal meaning it comes under great fire for many matters on this earth and even the sciences that aims to quantify it has evolved into a science of exceptions meaning that the rule doesn’t apply because….
This might be so for science is never constant as time is and that everything is evolving into something that we don’t know yet. Science has blessed us with many a wonder yet science itself seems to always re-define what it has already termed as known or defined. We humans have a never-ending quest for discovery and re-discovery and something that seems impossible should never be termed as so, someone just hasn’t figured out a way of doing it……
So the term Ceteris Paribus is a fundamental foundation for something that is termed to be an analytic truth which in science terms if definite, defined, final. Or is it???? Thanks to the people who continuously form, challenge and subsequently change the definitions of everything else for in the process we gain a little more understanding of our purpose on this earth which as scientists say is just one of millions if not billions of possible inhabited planets in our solar system alone(Let us just hope that the beings on those other worlds are thinking of the same stuff we are).