My illogical set of philosophical beliefs.

Chagen

Yes, that's part of what I believe. The point is to be able to make quick decisions with simplified logic mixed in with emotions. If you're in a quick situation, you should at least go over it very quickly with simple logic and act on it.

FrodoGoofballCoTV

My dad told me it is actually a sign of maturity to realize and accept that some of your beliefs are paradoxical, because it shows you accept you don't understand everything and aren't insisting that everything in life submit to a single ideology.

Perhaps there is room in life for both empiricism and idealism.  Case in point: Lemaitre.

Gelzo

I might disagree with your dad depending on the definition of paradoxical being used. There are a lot of things that only appear paradoxical on the surface.

Beholderess

Hmm, actually, that strangely similar to this one's own set of beliefs, except the religion bit, which is rather complicated.

Anyway, quite a lot of these things do not contradict each other - they are simply applied to different things. Quantum physics does not contradict history of arts.

TheMightyAnonym

A couple of things you might find interesting, Chagen:

The blind men and the elephant and Holism, for starters, can be taken to be about many true ideas sounding contradictory. I have many beliefs that *seem* contradictory, myself, but I have them altered a bit to be more fitting. Take heart to know that there is an extent of truth in many of the ideas you state, with their only real flaw being that they are under developed. Therefore, pay close attention to your ideas and solidify them. Contradictions are obviously problematic, but aren't proof that one of the ideas is false.

Coherentism is a belief that states that any idea only works if it is a member of a coherent set, and likewise, the Correspondence theory of truth states that ideas must be coherent with reality. Interpret these how you wish.

And now for the heck of it, I'll crosspost my beliefs from an OTC thread, because I have an enormous ego:

1. Try to find the best solution, being as careful as possible.
   Completely relying on ethical theories like utilitarianism to make
   decisions for you is stupid and weak, as there are many valuable things
   to be protected, maximized, minimized, and even things other than
   what we would maximize/minimize. The ends do not justify the means, nor
   do the means justify the ends.
   
2. Whenever possible, follow laws and rules. The law helps people
   on the large scale, and moral rules are often motivating in a positive
   way. - {"Laws" referring to Deontology, "moral rules" referring to virtue ethics.}
   
3. Always take care and reexamine all possibilities and
   perspectives. Extremism is always, always dangerous. Nine times out of
   ten moderation is preferable. - {somewhat related to (but not entirely
   the same as) Pragmatism.}
   
4. You cannot always change the world, but you can always change
   yourself. Imagine two people, equally happy. However, one of them is a
   hero who has saved many people, at great personal cost, while the
   other has done nothing. Both are equally happy, but the former has done
   more. Be the former person, and you will be both happy and moral. - {Stoicism?}
   

Guiding rules and principals which aid the above:

• Ideal observer theory. 
  - (To help remove biases.)
  
  
• Analytic philosophy. - (Useful for getting a grasp on what is known.)
  
  • Logical positivism. - (Knowledge is best obtained through experience, and rationality should be applied to this.)
    
    • Constructivist epistemology. 
      - (While
      some may state that this is contradictory with positivism, I believe
      that one should consider that their knowledge is in fact put together,
      and thus carefully kept in check.)
      
      
• Coherentism. - (Contradictions are cause for great concern, and should never be ignored.)
  
  • Correspondence theory of truth. -
    (Ideas should not contradict reality, thus coherent ideas should be compared to the simple truth in real life.)
    
    
• Contextualism. -
  (Context should never be forgotten, as it often can invalidate held ideas.)
  
  
• Naive realism. -  ( I mention this not in the sense that it should be held as the entire
  truth, but because one should never lose sight of things by
  over-complicating problems. Thus look to the simple truth every so often)
  

Finally, all of the above ideas are subject to Holism, which I would analogize to the blind men and the elephant - that is to say, ideas are almost certainly incomplete, though many hold some wisdom.