User:Josephprymak

Joseph Prymak hopes to inspire Canada's leaders with a plan for the largest wilderness park on Earth. Joseph is a researcher, outdoor educator, editor, volunteer, and writer in Canada. Joseph and his wife own and manage a bookstore. For over 20 years he has worked for a newspaper company. Joseph has contributed to Wikipedia since 2004 as an editor, providing original contributions, and making statements less vague.

As a teenager, Joseph worked at the family business of greenhouses and market gardens. Joseph graduated from the International Baccalaureate Program and refused a scholarship to first explore nature, travel, read, and to write. In the 1990's he spent many years alone in remote wilderness areas. Joseph then studied environmental science, anthropology, chemistry, math, and physics. He also studied conflict resolution, biology, botany, political philosophy, and logic. He helped to purchase land for a sustainable agriculture and alternative energy project. Joseph and his wife own and operate an outdoor education, historical research, and wilderness survival business. He was the Treasurer for the Eco-network and on the National Council for the Canada wide Environmental Network. Joseph is a researcher of history, the Hudson's Bay Company Archives, political philosophy, ethnobotany, and environmental issues.

Joseph is also a book collector, a gardener, a home school teacher, a husband, and a father. He is often searching for edible plants, learning about archaeology, or discovering petroforms. He loves learning about the fur trade in North America, prehistoric trade, Ojibwe history, out of print books, microfilms, historical maps, and treaty making in Canada.

Joseph developed a love for wilderness areas that are not clearly marked on any maps. He would hike and explore for miles into dense forests, off trail, far from the safety of civilization. He has been alone in the wilderness often, studying the natural realm. In nature one must remember the basic human needs and ideas to live, while also confronting fears. He has written journals of his adventures and ideas since the age of fourteen. Lucid dreaming had a profound affect upon his early life, along with ancient texts and classics. His favourite ancient book is Ecclesiastes.

You can contact him at caveofplato@live.com

Some contributions, some original, some edited:

and more.

I also hope to somehow incorporate some of the following ideas into Wikipedia:

I want to carefully show how basic ideas in logic and science are required to make any knowledge claims. True statements can exist simply because of definitions by demonstration. Any human, anywhere, at any time in history can and often did point to the Sun or Moon, that truly exist, and gave them a name, a common definition, or an etymological one. The Sun and Moon exist even if there are inconsistent, consistent, and more detailed definitions, words, symbols, and images that attempt to represent the actual and changing Sun and Moon.

Humans can build complex technology, do science experiments, get humans on the Moon, build interesting cities, and co-operatively drive on superhighways because language can very accurately correspond to what truly exists. The language of math has greatly enabled humans to apply the scientific method, to test a hypothesis, and to discover, not create, the true and probable statements about this universe. Words and language are a fantastic invention that allows humans to co-ordinate, map, plan, and prosper with great success. The words and symbols actually do communicate about what truly exists, as opposed to false claims about what exists. The search for true statements about the world around us and within us is an ancient art and science that attempts to demonstrate or prove what is true about what exists. There are far too many false opinions in the minds of humans that have done great harm. How can one know with certainty and proof? There are true or probable answers to many important questions, and logical ways to demonstrate fallacies, false statements, contradictions, inconsistencies, and lies.

The word "philosophy" is etymologically and historically from the Ancient Greek word of φιλοσοφία, or love of wisdom, compounded from φίλος (philos, meaning friend, or lover, in the ancient sense) and σοφία (sophía, meaning wisdom, defined differently than popular opinions today). Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are some of the most famous to use the word, and the first that we know of (through a great volume of written sources) to carefully reason about definitions and categories. The Ancient Greek word "philosophy" became widely known because of them, but the very first origin of the word is unknown. Many of Plato's lengthy dialogues and Aristotle's notes have been preserved (for good reasons) for over two thousand years and have helped to shed light on the ancient origins of philosophy, in their own words and texts. Of key importance here is to return to the original texts, in the original language, to study what some of the ancients thought of themselves, or about the universe, without applying many theories that can easily misinterpret what they truly thought about.

Universal Questions

Universal questions, or permanent questions are the great questions that many humans have asked for thousands of years, and that anyone, anywhere, can ask. Often these kinds of questions are very philosophical and some are unanswered. For example: Was the universe created? Does a Creator exist? How can we know what is a true or false statement? What should we do in certain circumstances? These questions and many more might have answers, but some might be impossible to answer, and some may require more time to discover the true answers through deduction, or the probable answers of induction. There have been many attempts to answer some of these questions, and some answers require difficult evidence and proof.

Science and the scientific method began historically with careful philosophical questions and different methods that are prior to the scientific method. The foundational questions themselves also come logically prior to scientific knowledge, or any knowledge that is carefully proven, measured, peer reviewed, and repeated using logic and reason. First principles must be proven before any other knowledge claims can be made.

Does an immaterial realm exist, of pure mathematics, geometry, and eternal beings? Can consciousness exist when the human brain is dead? What exactly is death? What is after death?

Claims to be verified, debated, discussed, and explored

Imagining our lives, as sparks on a planet, that are short in time and small in space. Physical existence is a fleeting moment, full of vanity and chasing after the wind. Anything of lasting, true value, requires generations of human beings to keep it alive. Living wisdom is true knowledge about what is good, and the courage to act accordingly. What is the true purpose of human beings on this planet? If the changing material world is vanity, then what can we partake in that is eternal?

What are the best and true writers of all time? Ancient texts of Jews and Christians, Moses, Jesus, Ecclesiastes, Plato, Socrates, the Koran, Cicero, Newton, Einstein, and who else?

The afterlife is our eternal home, and there is some evidence for this from recent experiments and interviews with those who have been revived from cardiac arrest. Assuming the afterlife is real and true, what can we gain on Earth that can be taken with us after death?

What we do on Earth, as physical, changing beings, will all be lost and forgotten eventually. New generations will take over, and what is true and wise will continue on in their living minds and bodies. The living will be responsible for what is gained from a good education. A good education for freedom of thought and free will keeps many of the ancient and eternal ideas alive and present. The fundamental foundations for self-conscious beings are eternal ideas and eternal substances. Natural numbers is an example. Such as 1 - 11 - 111 - 1111 - 11111 - 111111 and so on. Basic mathematics, chemistry, and physics are discovered and this is universal to any intelligent beings, anywhere, and at any time in this universe.

Many moral relativists reject claims of truth, but they also allow for all claims, even false ones. Some relativists tolerate all opinions, and often ask how someone feels above what they know to be true or even probable. Some say that a diversity of opinions is good and normal, and that no one should make claims of what is right, wrong, best, illogical, or proven. The belief of no truth and no natural morality and ethics will lead to more illogical appeals by the majority, appeals to authorities, to fame, and to force. The tyranny of the majority, or through consensus, can be a real danger if unreasonable and without evidence or proof. A majority in some group can be wrong or immoral.

It is important to know the origins of our opinions throughout history, and to discuss and question which claims are false or true. Evidence, logic, witnesses, various sources, science, and philosophical methods are needed to answer a variety of important questions. Different methods are needed for different kinds of questions. Specific and detailed answers are needed, without making many illogical over generalizations.

Humans need to be well educated, able to read and write, able to use logic, mathematics, and to apply the right methods. Written words can be carefully looked at, analyzed, changed, improved, and edited. Oral communication is often less precise and careful, not allowing for a lot of editing and improvement over time. Great books have the test of time, often in response to the previous ideas written down, and are a great historical lineage. There are human minds filled with idle chatter, trivia, false information, noise, wasted words, and mere opinions. Do you know the origins of your opinions?

Only individuals can keep alive the true and probable statements that are proven. Books alone, if not read, will become useless, decay, or they will be lost in a vast archive. Words on paper are dead without enough readers. A few individuals are the wisest in any time, and they think about more true and probable statements about logic, math, reason, ethics, science, the First Cause, the afterlife, what exists, nature, laws, and justice. What can humans know with proof?

Words are not the real things, not pure awareness, and not the real beings that exist! Words are often just the sounds we imagine in our heads, and not spoken. Words only point to reality, or correspond to what exists to some degree. Words can partially make up the content of memories, thoughts, and mind. Some statements point to and represent reality more accurately than others. Some statements are false, improbable, or lies. Some statements are mere opinions, without verification. Mathematics, logic, geometry, and the scientific method can very precisely and accurately describe physical laws, matter, energy, and processes. There are true and probable answers to proper questions, but the best answers are not always known to each individual human being.

Words are needed to fully explain all the types of human characters that exist on Earth. History is needed to record all the real and possible kinds of ways of living. Words are needed to describe feelings, music, and various subjective experiences. The inner possibilities of human consciousness cannot be captured with pictures and the scientific method. Decisions are made due to how one thinks, feels, and according to what actions are possible. Material causes are not the only possible causes for how a human will or will not think, feel, and act.

What universal actions, emotions, ideas, categories, contents of intelligence, symbols, first principles, and mathematics are universal to any planetary species, any self conscious beings, anywhere, anytime?

What exists eternally, without change? Some basic natural laws, logic, and mathematical first principles? Some a priori categories of matter and energy? Either this universe had a causal beginning, or an infinite regress of cause and effect. However, in either case, is there some matter, energy, constants, and/or laws that stay the same always, and why?

It is fascinating to explore the nature of consciousness. What is lucid dreaming? How can one know if one is dreaming or not? Is there an afterlife, or self-consciousness existing and separate from the physical body?

How many are fully self aware and self-conscious of their existence? How many react and act like robots, with little or no awareness of their body, emotions, and the contents of their mind?

What does it mean to be fully awake?

If you are here to know more about the arguments against racial theories, then link here. Enjoy.

Joseph also supports the Longest Lasting Letter.