The Torah and the World – Twelve Questions


THE WORLD IS SUSTAINED BY THREE THINGS

משנה מסכת אבות פרק א משנה ב שמעון הצדיק היה משירי כנסת הגדולה הוא היה אומר על שלשה דברים העולם עומד על התורה ועל העבודה ועל גמילות חסדים   משנה יח רבן שמעון בן גמליאל אומר על שלשה דברים העולם עומד על הדין ועל האמת ועל השלום שנאמר (זכריה ח) אמת ומשפט שלום שפטו בשעריכם Pirke Avot, Mishneh 2: Shimeon Ha Tzaddik, one of the last remaining members […]


Ludwig von Bertalanffy

 passages from General System Theory by Ludwig Von Bertalanffy (1968) Note Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1901-1972) has been on of the most acute minds of the XX century. Here is a miscellanea of passages from his General System Theory. The first part of the text focuses on the function of the theory of systems and on the main features of closed and open systems. The second part presents a […]


General System Theory by Walonick

  Index General Systems Theory © 1993, David S. Walonick, Ph.D. General systems theory was originally proposed by biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy in 1928. Since Descartes, the “scientific method” had progressed under two related assumptions. A system could be broken down into its individual components so that each component could be analyzed as an independent entity, and the components could be added in a linear fashion to describe […]


Roger Penrose and C.I.Lewis

In The Shadows of the Mind, Roger Penrose spends many pages discussing whether calculating machines (computers) can match human intelligence.  Penrose proposes to elucidate the nature of human consciousness through modern mathematical discoveries and quantum physics. He is working out the implications of Godel’s Theorem but in reverse, so to speak.  Since we cannot completely prove any axiomatic system in mathematics, when we do discover truth in mathematics […]


THE CONCEPT OF OBLIGATION

C.I. Lewis, the well-known 20th century American philosopher from Harvard notes in his book The Ground and Nature of the Right that the concept of obligation pervades all of human thinking. Obligation does not refer only to Moral behavior – it applies to every aspect of thinking and behavior that can called right as opposed to wrong. There is a right and wrong way to calculate numbers. There […]


Rav Yosef Ber Soloveitchik on The Nature of Torah Study

“You know, and I can tell you and I have told it so many times, and I will tell it again. Our methodology our analysis, our manner of conceptualizing, inferring, classifying and defining concepts of halakhic matter do not lag behind the most modern philosophical analysis. I happen to know something about modern philosophical analysis. We are far ahead of it, because the tools we employ to analyze […]


Beyond Axiomatics – A System of Law

Hilbert requires Completeness for an Axiomatic System; that the system itself be the basis for making all inferences and conclusions –But the Torah cannot be reduced to a mathematical, deductive system. It is a system of law. The System can never be incomplete. One must make a Halachic Ruling when practical questions arise. Furthermore, one of the axioms of the Torah is the possuk that one cannot deviate […]