Results from my research "sabbatical"

During my hiatus from the blog, I acquired new research tools and conducted some ground-breaking experimentation...

In my quest for knowledge about the nature of Feng Shui facts, I bought an interactive CD-rom (it is narrated and plays soothing music, which is known to put one in the mood to contort one's home decor) and a "365 Dos and Taboos" desk calendar. I have been trying to follow the daily advice though, admittedly, I am not yet wise enough in the ways of Feng Shui to perform all of the recommended tasks. For example, I fell short on January 4th, as I was uncertain as to what constituted an "enery cleaning of my home" (though I agree that it is advisable, as the chi has been somewhat stagnant around here as of late).

However, I have been somewhat more successful in the research that I have been conducting through my knowledge acquired by means of that venerable source, the internet. Here are some of the experiments and my findings...

Activation of the South Wall as means of increasing Fame and Wealth:
To-Do: Place red (I interpret that as "red objects") on your South Wall to activate it.
Procedure: I took the only "red objects" that I could find (my vaccum cleaner and a bottle of nail polish) and rested them up against the South Wall.
Results: Though I did not notice any increase in my Fame, nor any notable financial growth, it is worth mentioning that when I moved my vacuum cleaner and nailpolish back to their proper homes, shortly thereafter my stipend check arrived much later than scheduled (hmm...)

Rearranging Bedroom Furniture so that one is not "shot with secret poison darts" (by the corners of your furniture) while resting:
To-Do: Rearrange all of your bedroom furniture so that no corners are "pointing" towards your bed. This prevents your furniture from shooting secret poison darts at you while you are asleep--which, I have been informed, is detrimental to one's well-being.
Procedure: Move Furniture, Dodge Darts.
Results: Though my furniture failed to display any obvious agression, it is only a fool who leaves open the possibility. I can now safely assume that any physical maladies that I experience are due to biological causes, and not my irresponsible placement of furniture.

Proper Chi Cultivation and Maintainance:
To-Do: Chi is a crucial, if not picky, force to have in your home. The quality and quantity of chi in your environment dramatically affects virtually every aspect of your life: luck, wealth, fame, happiness, friendship, love, health (which you will need if you are careless with the arrangement of your furniture), knowledge, beauty, etc. Chi will move too fast (which is bad) if there is too little furniture, it will move too slow (which is bad) if there is too much furniture or clutter, it will be reflected out of any windows or doors (which is bad) if there is a mirror facing that way and it will escape through your plumbing (which is--you guessed it--bad) if you leave drains uncovered and toilet lids up.
Procedure: Chi apparently wants nothing more than to endlessly parade your home at juuuuust the right speed, bestowing all things wonderous upon you as it goes along its merry way. That is, if you get the too much/too little furniture balancing act right...and mind your mirrors...and plumbing, and... It is advisable to keep your home well lit (apparently this keeps the chi moving). Also, if you have so much clutter that it is difficult to navigate around your home, you may safely presume that your chi is experiencing the same difficulty (and presumably looking for some open plumbing...)
Results: This was my favorite experiment. It just so happened that I was having a particularly not-fantastic week (I mean, it really was a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day...seven times over). I just couldn't figure it out. I mean, I thought I had the right dynamic going with the furniture, I had activated the south wall, I was a pro at remembering to keep the toilet lid down...I was running out of potential causal explanations! Then, it occured to me...I moved my mirror into the living room when I was deciding what to wear to the department party (better lighting, more chi) and left the mirror there...for a week...directly facing my front door!!! Well, you can be sure that I learned MY lesson!

More research coming soon!

The Journey of One Thousand States of Affairs Begins with the Moving of One Couch...

Some people wonder just what it is, exactly, that philosophers do. Sometimes I wonder just what it is that philosophers do. Perhaps that is why I feel that I need to spend an indefinite number of years as a graduate student--whatever it is that we do, I am apparently committed to spend sufficient time, at the graduate level, worrying about what we are doing so that I may someday professionally worry about it. Perhaps, after reading this blog, you will come to the conclusion that we apparently don't have enough to do. And, perhaps, you are right.

At any rate, to return to the original concern: mathematians do math, astronomers do astronomy, scientists do science, zoologists do zoology...so, by analogy, philosophers do philosophy. This may not shed much light on the situation. We know (basically) what it is to do math, astronomy, science and zoology. No one, I hope, is genuinely stumped with respect to guessing what is the general subject of study in these fields. Philosophy is a different sort of critter. On the one hand, we aren't entirely sure what the subject(s) of study are in our field (disagreement runs rampant on that one) nor are we entirely sure (no general consensus) what is the nature of that which exists, how well our language fits the world, what we ought to do nor what in the world, precisely, is a mind. And this is not an exhaustive list. On the other hand, "stuff," "Evil Demon" and "rigid designator" are all technical vocabulary terms, so that's definitely a plus...

I am attending a graduate program that focuses primarily on the analytic tradition. Since entering this program, I have encountered several pluralists. Pluralists believe that there are many kinds of facts. Having never been exposed to pluralism, I began to wonder to myself, what other kinds of facts could there be? Though it goes against my long-standing commitment to monism (that there is only one kind of fact, physical facts), I decided that my commitment to being an honest philosopher was stronger still. There are plenty of good people wondering about non-physical and/or moral facts. I wanted to bring something new to the table.

In the process of my inquiry into what kinds of facts there might be, I came across a kind of fact which appeared to be underrepresented in current mainstream philosophical literature--feng shui facts! I wondered, what are the ontological implications of feng shui facts? Are they reducible to physical facts? Should we be realists about feng shui facts? Instrumentalists?

I intend for this blog to track my research into the nature of feng shui facts. More to come soon...