The Hammer is Inconsistent with the Finger

I’m aware of perhaps half a dozen direct contradictions in my so called “philosophies”. There’s probably a dozen more that I’m not aware of. Yet the great thing about contradictions is that you can deduce anything with contradicting statements :)

That sounds like blasphemy to the logician, who asserts the virtue of objective truths. But I think it’s better to see them as tools. “Little theorems” if you will, the inconsistent type that could solve whatever problem and provide whatever theoretical basis for whatever you’re trying to do. It sounds sketchy, but this approach is actually very useful in practice.

Ask yourself: why bother with theoretical consistency at all? If one really wants to do something, why let the lack of a philosophical basis refrain her from doing it? Life is short, just do it. Pick one theory that does the job. Look, nobody complains about incompatible tools sharing the same warehouse. The hammer is compatible with the nail, but it contradicts with the finger. The screwdriver is compatible with the screw, but you can’t cut steak with it. But why should this bother anyone? Just choose the right tool for the job.

And how do you know which tool is right one? Well, you don’t, at least you don’t always know beforehand. So, if it doesn’t work, try another one.

There are only two cases I can think of, where one should be bothered by the lack of consistency. First, if you choose two tools that are not compatible, it’s not going to end well. So you have to be “locally” consistent for with the philosophical tools you’re using. That is, hammer your nails (pun not intended), don’t hammer your finger; Second, if you haven’t found meaning in your life, and don’t have anything better to do, but are just messing around with theory and semantics, well, you need to deal with consistency, because otherwise you’re doing nothing. But of course, you’re doing nothing at all in the first place, so basically the lesson is: if you don’t want to be useless trash, find some meaning in life instead of studying semantics (or whatever you call it, philosophy, logic, ethics, etc).

PS: And the way to find meaning in life is just to be humble and be grounded in reality. I think that’s all to it.

（原文於 2015 年 9 月發佈，略有修輯）