Common Sense Realism

 

“Common sense realism” is the important, but mostly forgotten, philosophy of the Scottish thinkers Thomas Reid (1710-96), James Beattie (1735-1803), and Dugald Steward (1753-1828), among others. It stands in striking contrast to the “irrational nonsense” philosophy of Parmenides, Protagoras, Zeno of Elea, Gorgias, Pyrrho, and Sextus Empiricus; as well as Berkeley, Hume, Kant, and Hegel. For the greatness and happiness of the Individual, as well as for the success and harmony of society, it’s crucial that the rational and sensible philosophy of Reid and company triumph.

Common sense realism is essentially a metaphysics and epistemology which is based upon common and universal beliefs which no-one fundamentally or truly doubts, or can reasonably or plausibly deny. This includes such claims as: X is X; X=X; if X, then X; 1+1=2; if A=B and B=C then A=C; existence exists; reality is real; Nature is natural; the universe is fundamentally material; truth and facts exist; the truth is true; facts are factually accurate; things exist; you exist; you’re conscious; you have free will; things change over time; you change over time; living rationally is rational; obeying science is scientific; life is better than death; health is better than disease or injury; pleasure is better than pain; happiness is better than misery; food is better than poison; Michelangelo paints better than an elephant; and The Beatles play better music than a 3-year-old banging on a pot. All such claims are clearly and obviously factually accurate and true to reality, just as all such denials of them lack foundation, soundness, coherence, plausibility, sensibility, logic, reasonableness, objectivity, and tangible evidence.

None of the claims above are dogmatic. None are based upon a leap of faith. None involve putting on blinders and not seeing all the difficulties, complexities, subtleties, and nuances of actual reality and life.    

The philosophy of Common Sense Realism is based upon, and derived from, simple, direct, basic reason, or unambiguous, fundamental logic, or beginning, clear, foundational science. CSR is founded upon self-evidence or self-proving propositions, facts, and truths; upon simple, clear, clean, direct, obvious, undoubtable axioms. To deny or doubt axioms requires immense imagination, delusion, irrationality, and faith. To ask for evidence or proof of axioms is illegitimate, improper, unreasonable, and absurd. The asker isn’t fit for philosophical inquiry or speculation. It isn't necessary -- or even possible -- to stand outside the universe in order to demonstrate something inside it.

If some philosophical claim “flies in the face of all reason” or “denies all common sense” or seems foolish, dumb, irrational, nonsensical, bizarre, or absurd, it must not be accepted as true, or even decently possible, without considerably powerful and persuasive reason, logic, facts, and evidence to back it up. These rarely or never exist.

If some philosophical claim, proposition, or premise asks you to abandon all reason, or suspend all normal judgment, or be intellectually dishonest, evasive, cowardly, and corrupt, then almost certainly this statement is untrue, and even unworthy of consideration. And certainly no claim should be accepted – or even much entertained – based upon mere authority, revelation, or faith – which are all about the same.

Fundamental and foundational truths exist. Initial, known, irrefragable, facts exist. Just as you “can’t prove a negative” so you “can’t prove an axiom”. Nor can you truly doubt one. It’s illegitimate, improper, unphilosophical, unscientific, irrational, and illogical to try. Self-evident truths and axioms are based upon overwhelming and ubiquitous external and internal evidence.

Kumbaya

Why the great battle between East and West? Why the current great Cold War of China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, and North Korea versus America, Britain, France, Germany, and Japan? The ideas and beliefs on both sides are essentially the same. Virtually everyone in all ten nations believes in the false and evil ideals of monotheism, altruism, and welfare statism. Virtually everyone agrees that reality isn't all that real; rationality isn't all that rational; people exist to serve others, such as god or the nation; and freedom needs to be carefully controlled and restricted by gov't. So what's all the fighting about? Both sides consist of essentially nothing but dolts and dirtbags who are in sweet accord on every important idea and issue. So let all the fatuous, depraved, absurd, and disgusting monkeys on Earth unite as One!

Kumbaya, ya fuckin' baboons!

Pitiful

 

The lowly Chinese are forever whining, weeping, and stomping their naughty-little-girl feet about China’s "century of humiliation". This would be the period between 1839 and 1949 when the West – observing their many dismal centuries of medieval mediocrity, backwardness, and failure – made the decision to civilize and liberate and vastly uplift them. For this, the gratitude of the contemptible Chinese to the noble West is virtually non-existent.

But what the savage Chinese don't complain about is the period between 1949 and 2025 – the three-quarters of a century of communist ultra-humiliation. They can’t blame Britain, America, or the West for that! In 1949, and ever since, the wretched Chinese had a choice between adopting the politics and culture of Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, William Pitt, or Thomas Jefferson. Needless to say, they made the wrong choice!

And now the loathsome, loser, insectoid Chinese are too weak, dumb, and slimy to overthrow their current Big Brother dictators. Cry about that, little girls!

Peace

 

Peace lovers are the scum of the Earth. Their motivations and standards are all wrong. Lovers of peace necessarily attack justice and morality. These are evil acts.

Yes, there are times in society when peace is a proper goal and something to be loved and pursued. But often enough war is the ideal and disideratum. It depends upon the situation.

When two individuals, groups, or nations hate each other, and have a strong dispute between them, sometimes the proper procedure and course of action is to talk it out, negotiate, and compromise with the enemy, thus resolving the conflict and achieving peace. But what happens if the opponent or his actions are objectively or even outrageously evil? Then the proper procedure and course of action is to attack and attempt to destroy the bad guys, and thus resolve the dispute in this fashion.

In both cases the final result is “peace”. But one type of behavior results in the triumph of all-important justice and morality, while the other type results in their defeat. Of course, the social and civilizational ideal in every instance is the victory of good over evil.

Unfortunately, in the current Dark Age world of illiberalism, poor thinkers, sloppy idealists, unprincipled amoralists, and lowlifes reign. Hence, peace is massively valued over justice and morality. Yes, people today weakly and abstractly want justice and morality too, but above all else they hunger for peace. The inevitable result is the triumph of the bad guys over the good.

Another invariable result is an unpleasant and ugly “peace” which is almost always temporary. After such an ideal-violating peace, a new war is almost sure to follow, often quickly. The truce or “cease-fire” or “peace treaty” which was foolishly and wickedly agreed to by the good guys won’t impress, make grateful, create friendship with, mollify, or successfully appease the bad guys. Soon enough the evil-doers will make new, outlandish, unjust, and immoral demands, thus providing impetus toward a new war.

Hence the previous activity of choosing peace over justice and moral goodness will not just have bad results in the short term, but also in the long. To truly and properly “love peace” – if this is the shallow, limited, compromised, corrupt, amoral, unprincipled, depraved ideal and goal – one must love and work for justice and morality first and most. This is so even if in the short term it means terrible war.

Baboon World

This is a baboon planet. Even Aristotle and Rand. Aristotle was never an atheist and Rand was long a cultist. Humans are a contemptible and disgusting species.

Yes, some baboons alive today, and in history, are worse than others. But evidently everyone is a filthy fucking monkey. Everyone except me.

Some people on this irrational, senseless, self-destructive, and socially-destructive Earth are Zeno and Gorgias, Jesus and Mohammad, Rousseau and Marx, Kant and Hegel, Stalin and Hitler. Others are merely followers of them. But no-one is decently good. No-one is objectively virtuous. The behavior proper to man – or at least to me – is to hate these people and their fatuous and depraved ideas, and to fight them.

But virtually no-one does. A few slightly-good people resent them and lightly resist them. But that’s about it. No-one really behaves as a human should, hating and fighting these outrageously false and evil ideas and people.

'Tourists' (brief short story)

At High Noon in New York City on May First of 2026, exactly 42 space aliens landed. They looked shockingly like humans. The main differences were they had extra large eyes and heads, 8-foot-tall bodies, long arms, almost no hair, and light blue skin.

After almost-soundlessly landing their spacecraft in Bryant Park, a small crowd began to gather. They surrounded the blue-green metallic, octagon-shaped, 76-meter ship – but kept their distance too. After two minutes at most the creatures emerged and briefly looked around.

A very average-looking one from the back spoke up: 

“We are Utu. We are tourists.” His English was perfect.

Many humans said “Hello!” and “Welcome!” and otherwise tried to talk with them. All felt a kind of portentous awe. It was clear these were impressive beings. After maybe half a minute of tranquil assessment and brief glances, one Utu stepped forward. He spoke calmly, but frankly and directly.

“Why are you such savages? Why do you behave like wild animals? Why do you prey upon each other? 

“We’re impressed by your cars, ships, planes, rockets, satellites, spaceships, telephones, radios, television, computers, highways, plumbing system, electrical grid, vaccines, drugs, organ transplants, and even nuclear bombs. 

“But why are almost all of you so criminal and tyrannical? Why do almost all of you systematically attack each other via government?”

The message was delivered forthrightly, respectfully, and intelligently to about 400 English listeners in the plain of the park. But almost instantly it was translated into essentially all human languages, and delivered all over the globe in holographic imagery. The space visitors directed that people transmit the answers to their questions to certain radio and space frequencies, as well as certain internet sites, which the Utu evidently could monitor. Then all 42 space creatures sedately returned to their vessel. Over the next few hours, as news reports confirmed this unprecedented visitation, many human beings warmly and fawningly welcomed the aliens, just as a small minority of people tried valiantly to respond to their critical inquiries.

But the replies evidently didn’t meet with Utu approval. At noon on May 2nd over 90% of humans died. Their intact bodies laid in the streets, parks, buildings, homes, transports, and other places where they unceremoniously perished. Cause of death was unknown.

The Utu repeated their questions. They added: “Why are you so illiberal? Why are you so irrational and senseless in your beliefs and behaviors? Why are you so self-hating and self-destroying? 

Moreover: Why do you so much reject reason and science? Why do you believe in ‘god’? Why do you believe self-sacrifice is a virtue? Why do you believe welfare statism is benevolent and beneficial?”

The remaining 81 million of so humans answered with renewed urgency. Elite think-tanks, universities, and journals made a special effort.

But these answers too seemingly met with minimal approbation. By noon of May 3rd about 3 million people were left. Close to two-thirds were Americans. Almost a million were Europeans, especially from the northwest and England. Fewer than a thousand were Chinese or Russian. This population decline left the survivors stunned and numb.

The Utu then had nothing more to do with humanity. They proceeded to tour the museums, art galleries, entertainment venues, tourist traps, major cities, and exotic plants and animals. By May 6th they were evidently fully satisfied – or fed up. Either way, they left.

But before they departed for good, the Utu transmitted a final message:

“Not all humans are complete barbarians and monsters – which is good. Those remaining should live much better now. All the illiberals are gone. All your major feral beasts. All your main thieves, assailants, tyrants, and torturers. But you need to watch out. Don’t repeat the mistakes of the destroyers. That’s no way to live, and we may come back.

“We leave behind the cures and treatments of your top ten diseases and injuries. We give you a nutrition and drug cocktail to triple your lifespan. But we won’t tell you how to defeat death. You’re unworthy. Try to do better before our next visit.”

VerminWorld

 

Why do I hate the guts of every last one of you, and hope you all suffer and die? Well, basically because you’re so loathsome and evil. You seem to be some sort of hideous, monstrous, alien species. And you’ve evidently turned this planet into a special Hell of your making. At the least, you demons have established Earth as something like an escape-proof, horrific, criminal, insane asylum.

When I was a few days old, for absolutely no reason, I was genitally mutilated without anesthesia. This probably caused profound and irreparable psycho-spiritual damage. I was raised by parents, teachers, and social leaders with systematic irrationality, senselessness, injustice, and immorality. Almost everyone I met believed in “god” and the virtue of self-sacrifice. I was taught to expect incipient nuclear annihilation. And I experienced gross sexual perversion and deprivation. Mankind’s heartless cruelty and immense destructiveness toward me never ended.

The intellectual dishonesty and cowardice of you people was stunning. Your intellectual, moral, and spiritual strangeness, hostility, and inferiority was extreme and appalling. Your illiberal philosophy, culture, lifestyle, and attitude almost couldn’t be more mistaken, disgusting, and depraved. And your welfare statist criminality and tyranny against me was and is ubiquitous and relentless.

So I hope you all suffer in misery and agony, and then die. A nuclear or bio-chemical war claiming billions would be nice. I want this not because I’m somehow low in character and virtue, or deficient in social skills. I wish it because you’re seemingly all beasts and devils who’re asking for this. Because you’re evidently all vermin who deserve it.

Selfishness and Greed

 

Selfishness is correctly defined as "concern for the self". Greed is correctly defined as "the desire and pursuit of values". Thus selfishness and greed are necessary, but not sufficient, for personal moral goodness. Selfish and greedy persons must also be rational, enlightened, and wise to be genuinely morally good.

Selfishness and greed – despite what virtually everybody has believed since about 500 B.C. -- are not necessarily or naturally anti-social or socially destructive. These two related virtues don’t necessarily or naturally involve predation or parasitism. Indeed, just the opposite. Society prospers under them.

Meanwhile, those who are anti-social, socially destructive, predatory, or parasitic in their behavior are not acting with rationality, enlightenment, or wisdom. They are not being truly selfish and greedy. With personal activity of this kind, almost never does the Holy Individual profit or achieve his values.

Those who break their diet and exercise regimen end up fat, weak, and unhealthy. This is not to their self-interest or greedy benefit. Those who fail to show up at their job, or work lazily or poorly, end up fired and broke. Their behavior does not constitute genuine selfishness and greed. Those who abuse or betray their family and friends end up disowned by their relatives and friendless. Such acts aren't seriously selfish or greedy. It’s obvious that those who habitually assault and rob their fellows wind up hated by all and in jail. And certainly those who generally act as monsters and destroyers in their lifestyle are failing to live up to the human ideal of being creative, inventive, and productive. They are damaging or surrendering their reputation, social trust, honor, pride, self-esteem, integrity, ideals, inner peace, and noble soul. The long-term and overall selfish and greedy rewards of such behavior is nil.

Perhaps in some limited and crude way such dreadful and failed people could fairly and truly be described as acting in a "virtuously" selfish and greedy manner. But such fools and scoundrels lack insight and cleverness. The absence of rationality, enlightenment, and wisdom in their behavior means they end up miserable and devastated. Such animals lose their humanity, vitality, vivacity, spirit, sense of satisfaction, feeling of confidence and tranquility, and almost everything that makes life worth living. Callousness, betrayal, brutality, robbery, and murder are not conducive to personal greatness and happiness. A person's real self-interest and best values are forfeited. Ultimately, such lowlifes and losers can accurately be described as self-sacrificing, self-immolating, self-repudiating, and self-destroying.

Not much selfishness and greed in that!

Basic Sense

The universe consists of four elements: objects, categories, creatures, and ideas. Objects are non-living things while creatures are living ones. Categories consist of divisions of things into those which are the same as, and those which are different from, other things. Ideas consist of images of things which are also the same as, or different from, other images. Categories exist in Nature while ideas only exist in the minds of living beings. Categories and ideas correspond.

The universe is both physical and mental, material and intellectual. Creatures and their ideas aren’t remotely unnatural or alien in this universe filled with objects and categories of objects. The minds of the creatures generally comprehend these objects and categories quickly, easily, profoundly, and exactly. Appearance and reality rarely deviate. The universe has no reason or desire to hide from, or mislead, its living components, and virtually no such ability.

The objects, categories, creatures, and ideas of reality are extremely well integrated and exist in fundamental and overflowing harmony. There’s virtually no reason to suppose the universe is different from what it seems and virtually no evidence for it. No aspect or component of existence opposes, contradicts, or clashes with any other. There’s absolutely no conflict between any of the objects, categories, creatures, or ideas inside it.

Creatures are living objects which have free will, and thus direct their own actions, while non-living objects move in purely mechanical ways, based on physics and chemistry, but also very occasionally at random. The ideas inside the minds of the living entities can be mistaken, as in not corresponding to reality, but they rarely are. And yet, creatures sometimes have enough free will to deceive themselves. For the highly sentient, ironically, a rebellion against reason and basic sense is possible. The cosmos generally responds to creatures with an exceptional amount of mistaken ideas by ending their lives and reducing their components back to mere objects.

The universe continually cleanses, purifies, improves, and uplifts itself. Creatures with excessive levels of false and evil ideas inside themselves – living beings which are significantly ignorant, mistaken, retarded, demented, corrupted, or dishonest – are systematically expunged from Nature. Human creatures who have been fooled by the irrational and nonsensical metaphysics and epistemology of Parmenides, Protagoras, Zeno, Gorgias, Pyrrho, Empiricus, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, and Hegel generally don’t do well in the real world. They’re in constant danger of receiving cosmic justice and having their lives terminated.

Woke Bigotry

 

"Diversity, equity, and inclusion" (DEI) are deliberately obscure code words for bigotry. These deceptive, hard-to-understand terms mostly mean racism against whites and sexism against men. But Natural Morality and right reason demand that all people be treated equally, impartially, and objectively, without bias or prejudice. Decency and propriety require that all persons, of whatever identity or type, be judged based upon talent, merit, value, and excellence. This means that all people at all times should be treated based upon justice and morality alone. All judgments by individuals, groups, society, and government based upon biological distinctions, such as race, gender, and sexuality, are inherently dishonest and socially malicious instances of bigotry and depravity which undermine and harm society, and thus should be resisted and terminated. Justice and morality demand that DEI DIE.