Six axes

Each axis is a disagreement with a history. The midpoint is not wisdom, and neither pole is a virtue.

• Reality

  Physicalism / Idealism

  What has to be true of the world for a description of it to be finished?

• Knowledge

  Empiricism / Rationalism

  When observation and reasoning pull apart, which one do you let lead?

• Morality

  Consequentialism / Deontology

  When a constraint and a better outcome conflict, which one gives way?

• Freedom

  Determinism / Libertarian free will

  Was there an open alternative at the moment of choice, or only the appearance of one?

• Meaning

  Discovery / Creation

  Is the point of a life found, or instituted by commitment?

• Social life

  Individual priority / Communal priority

  When a person’s refusal and a community’s need conflict, which one limits the other?