Let’s start with my axioms. In parentheses are the philosophical concepts that are most closely related to those beliefs. This whole section also comes from the caveat that I generally think philosophy is a bunch of wankery full of useless distinctions.
1. Reality exists. (Philosophical Realism)
4. Logic is infallible. (Rationalism)
Of those, I think maybe number 4 needs the most explanation. Logic gets a bad rap, mostly because of Spock. Logic isn’t absolutely opposed to emotion, and I’m not saying that it’s the king of decision making. But logic, as a system, absolutely cannot fail. If A = B, and B = C, then A = C. There are obviously things that can’t be proven logically (see
Gödel’s incompleteness theorems), but the basic axiomatic statement I’m making is that things, once established, do not change unless you got it wrong the first time (which is very probable).
From 3 and 4, I get another theory; that a combination of senses and logic can actually tell me things about the world (Empiricism) (5). (From there comes a disbelief in a large number of things, which are mostly defined by their innate inability to be proven, such as miracles and supernatural forces. If something supernatural were able to be explained by science, then it would cease to be supernatural. Nonexistence is one of those things that can’t always be disproven.)
Eventually a study of existence seems to reveal (to me) that the whole of it is made up of stuff (energy, matter, etc.) which follows laws (Metaphysical naturalism) (6). This would imply that things happen because of prior events, including conscious choices (Determinism) (7). It would also imply that consciousness itself is somehow physical in nature (Materialism) (8).
In summation: free will is an illusion, consciousness is some kind of emergent phenomenom, and the universe is composed entirely of things which are natural and driven upon laws which are likewise natural. There are some other philosophical questions to which I also hold beliefs, but which are somewhat less connected to the main axioms and derived truths.
2. My experience of consciousness is roughly equivalent to the experience of consciousness as experienced by other people.
3. I exist as the end result of mostly randomness.
4. Reality as we know it is (probably) virtual.
5. There are no moral absolutes.
Upcoming parts will probably include Morality, Spirituality, and Politics.